Interim Chief Digital Officer — Electronics Smart Factory

The mandate

A manufacturing execution system cutover was rolled back after serial traceability and work-order completion diverged from physical output, and the digital chief was removed. One plant is operating through controlled manual capture while three further sites wait on a credible recovery design.

The interim must join within three weeks for fourteen months, covering pilot recovery and staged multi-site rollout. Permanent recruitment begins after the pilot runs for ninety days, with extension possible for six weeks if the final site or successor timing shifts.

Handover is complete when the pilot and two additional sites operate with reconciled serial genealogy, inventory and quality records, manual workarounds close, uptime and adoption remain within threshold for a quarter, and the successor approves the final rollout wave.

The interim may stop cutovers, re-sequence the ₹35 crore programme, enforce integrator remedies and appoint temporary site leads. Architecture replacement, incremental capital above ₹20 crore, permanent leadership hiring, production shutdown over twenty-four hours and changes to regulated retention require committee or board approval.

Product engineering, factory expansion and enterprise ERP replacement are outside scope. The role repairs manufacturing execution and its necessary interfaces without assuming the whole industrial transformation agenda.

Why this seat is open

The rollback showed that technical completion was disconnected from physical and quality truth. Site teams now distrust the central programme, while the integrator disputes source-data ownership. A temporary digital chief can reset acceptance before permanent rollout leadership is chosen.

What you will own

• Reconstruct the cutover failure across master data, routing, serial capture, equipment events, inventory and ERP posting.
• Decide the minimum pilot remediation and reject customisation that does not close a measured manufacturing need.
• Establish cutover gates for data, line rehearsal, operator readiness, fallback, reconciliation and quality release.
• Approve production restart only after physical output matches digital genealogy and work-order records.
• Enforce integrator corrections through acceptance holdbacks, defect evidence and accountable dates.
• Complete three-site operation with stable traceability, adoption and uptime across one full quarter.
• Transfer architecture decisions, site readiness, supplier claims, remaining waves and digital talent assessment to the permanent CDO.

Candidate qualifications

• Held Chief Digital Officer, manufacturing CIO or digital-operations director authority in electronics or advanced manufacturing.
• Recovered a failed MES or shop-floor system cutover affecting genealogy and inventory.
• Led multi-site digital manufacturing rollout with ERP, automation and quality interfaces.
• Exercised production-stop and rollback authority under shipment pressure.
• Managed integrator contracts using business acceptance rather than technical milestone claims.
• Can translate operator adoption and physical flow into board-level digital investment decisions.

Non-negotiables

• Available in Chennai within three weeks and present for all cutover periods.
• No current relationship with the MES vendor or systems integrator.
• Will not accept serial traceability through manual reconciliation as steady state.
• Must have led a live manufacturing-system recovery.

1. 49 words maximum. Confirm availability and disclose any MES, integrator or electronics-manufacturer conflict.
2. 49 words maximum. Describe a manufacturing cutover you rolled back and the reconciliation that failed.
3. 49 words maximum. Which physical-to-digital test is mandatory before MES restart?