Manufacturing Engineer

Manufacturing Engineer - New Product Introduction Engineer

The New Product Industrialization Engineer is responsible for leading the transition of new products from design and development into full-scale manufacturing. This role serves as the key interface between Product Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Quality, and Operations to ensure products are designed for manufacturability, assembled efficiently, and launched successfully while meeting safety, quality, delivery, and cost requirements. The engineer will drive manufacturing readiness activities, develop production processes, coordinate equipment and tooling requirements, and support initial production builds through successful ramp-up to volume manufacturing.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead manufacturing industrialization activities for new product launches.
• Participate in cross-functional product development teams from concept through production release.
• Develop and execute manufacturing launch plans and readiness assessments.
• Coordinate prototype, pilot, and production validation builds.
• Establish manufacturing strategies to support product cost, quality, and delivery targets.
• Design and implement efficient manufacturing and assembly processes.
• Develop process flow diagrams, work instructions, and standard operating procedures.
• Determine labor, tooling, equipment, and facility requirements.
• Conduct time studies and line balancing activities.
• Support automation and process optimization initiatives.
• Collaborate with Product Engineering to ensure designs support manufacturability and assembly efficiency.
• Identify and resolve manufacturing risks during product development.
• Lead Design for Manufacturing and Design for Assembly reviews.
• Recommend design changes that improve quality, cost, reliability, and throughput.
• Lead product validation activities as required.
• Coordinate process qualifications and capability studies.
• Support manufacturing trials and process validation activities.
• Drive closure of launch-related issues and corrective actions.
• Define manufacturing equipment and tooling requirements.
• Support specification, procurement, installation, and validation of production equipment.
• Coordinate with suppliers and internal resources to ensure launch timing requirements are met.
• Manage capital projects associated with new product introductions.
• Support PFMEA development and control plan creation.
• Drive root cause analysis and corrective action implementation.
• Monitor launch metrics and production performance.
• Identify opportunities to improve safety, quality, productivity, and cost.
• Serve as primary manufacturing representative during product development.
• Collaborate with Quality, Supply Chain, Production, Product Engineering, Maintenance, and Procurement teams.
• Communicate project status, risks, and mitigation plans to leadership.
• Support customer and supplier technical discussions related to manufacturing readiness.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or related engineering discipline.
• 5-10 years of experience in manufacturing engineering, industrialization, new product introduction, or production launch environments.
• Experience leading manufacturing launches from prototype through production.
• Knowledge of manufacturing processes, assembly systems, and production equipment.
• Experience with Lean Manufacturing principles, Kaizen methodology, and continuous improvement methodologies.
• Strong project management and cross-functional leadership skills.
• Excellent problem-solving, communication, and organizational abilities.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in highly regulated or high-volume manufacturing environments.
• Knowledge of APQP, PPAP, PFMEA, Control Plans, and MSA.
• Experience with automation and production line design.
• Six Sigma Green Belt or equivalent certification.
• Project Management certification (PMP or similar).
• Experience with ERP and MES systems.
• Proficiency with CAD software and manufacturing simulation tools.

Success Measures:

• On-time product launches
• Manufacturing readiness achieved prior to SOP (Start of Production)
• Achievement of quality and scrap targets during launch
• Successful ramp-up to planned production rates
• Reduction in launch-related manufacturing issues
• Achievement of cost and productivity targets
• Customer launch success and satisfaction