Manufacturing Engineer

Description

Summary:

The Manufacturing Engineer is responsible for improving, supporting, and sustaining existing manufacturing operations across RANDYS Worldwide’s Riverside facilities. The position will provide direct engineering support to drivetrain assembly, kitting, suspension packaging and assembly, shock absorber manufacturing, welding, and related production departments.

This is a hands-on, manufacturing-floor-focused position. Its primary purpose is to improve how existing products are manufactured by developing tooling, fixtures, equipment, workstations, process controls, layouts, and standardized production methods.

The engineer will work directly with operators, supervisors, Quality, Maintenance, and Operations leadership to identify production constraints, solve manufacturing problems, improve ergonomics, reduce cycle time, increase throughput, improve labor utilization, and reduce scrap and rework.

This position does not own new-product development, product-line strategy, competitive product benchmarking, or the design of new suspension or drivetrain products. When a manufacturing issue requires a potential product-design change, this position will document the problem, develop supporting data, and coordinate the proposed change through the appropriate Product Engineering and change-control processes.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Provide daily, hands-on engineering support to Riverside manufacturing operations, including drivetrain assembly, kitting, suspension packaging and assembly, shock absorber manufacturing, welding, and related production areas.
• Spend significant time on the manufacturing floor observing processes, working with operators and supervisors, troubleshooting problems, and verifying that improvements are effective.
• Design and implement tooling, fixtures, jigs, gauges, assembly aids, error-proofing devices, material-handling solutions, carts, and ergonomic workstations.
• Create detailed CAD models, drawings, specifications, bills of materials, and documentation for manufacturing tooling, fixtures, equipment, and workstation improvements.
• Evaluate existing production processes through time studies, operator observation, process mapping, data analysis, and direct measurement.
• Identify bottlenecks, excessive motion, waiting, material-flow issues, unbalanced work content, ergonomic risks, and other constraints that affect safety, quality, throughput, labor efficiency, and cost.
• Develop and implement practical solutions that reduce cycle time, improve line balance, increase capacity, improve material flow, and eliminate non-value-added work.
• Establish and maintain accurate manufacturing cycle times, labor standards, staffing requirements, equipment, capacity
• assumptions, and production-rate expectations.
• Assist Operations and Planning in determining production capacity, staffing requirements, equipment needs,
• and the resources required to meet production demand.
• Develop and improve manufacturing layouts, workstation arrangements, point-of-use material presentation,
• product flow, and operator movement.
• Define the approved manufacturing process for existing products, including operation sequence, required
• tooling, critical process parameters, equipment settings, inspection points, and acceptance criteria.
• Validate existing manufacturing processes to confirm they are safe, repeatable, capable, appropriately
• documented, and able to consistently meet established quality and production requirements.
• Partner with Quality and Operations to create, validate, and maintain manufacturing SOPs, work instructions,
• visual work instructions, setup instructions, process specifications, inspection requirements, and standardized
• work.
• Ensure manufacturing documentation accurately reflects the approved production process and is practical for
• operators to understand and follow.
• Support the implementation and sustainment of standard work by training operators, supervisors, leads, and
• maintenance personnel on new tooling, equipment, and process requirements.
• Develop process controls and mistake-proofing solutions that prevent incorrect assembly, missing components,
• improper orientation, incorrect torque, labeling errors, packaging errors, and other recurring manufacturing
• defects.
• Support process improvements involving welding, machining, torque-controlled assembly, press operations,
• mechanical assembly, shock absorber assembly and testing, drivetrain assembly, kitting, labeling, and packaging.
• Lead or support structured root cause analysis for manufacturing problems, equipment-related defects,
• excessive cycle times, ergonomic concerns, scrap, rework, and production interruptions.
• Implement corrective actions and verify through data and floor observation that the actions effectively prevent
• recurrence.
• Analyze scrap, rework, first-pass yield, downtime, labor performance, production output, and other
• manufacturing data to identify and prioritize improvement opportunities.
• Work with Quality to investigate dimensional, tolerance, fitment, assembly, and process-capability issues
• affecting existing products.
• Perform tolerance analysis, measurement, testing, and engineering evaluation when necessary to determine
• whether a problem is caused by product design, incoming components, tooling, equipment, or the
• manufacturing process.
• Document and escalate proposed product-design changes through the established engineering change process.
• Changes affecting product form, fit, function, performance, safety, or customer requirements must be approved
• by the responsible Product Engineering authority.
• Develop equipment and tooling requirements, technical specifications, performance criteria, and acceptance testing
• plans for manufacturing investments.
• Support the evaluation, selection, purchase, installation, qualification, and production launch of manufacturing
• equipment, tooling, fixtures, and automation.
• Coordinate with equipment, tooling, fabrication, and integration vendors to ensure manufacturing solutions
• meet Riverside production requirements.
• Conduct equipment and process acceptance testing to verify safety, functionality, repeatability, capacity, cycle
• time, and quality performance before production release.
• Partner with Maintenance to establish equipment setup requirements, critical spare-parts recommendations,
• preventive-maintenance needs, and troubleshooting documentation.
• Partner with Environmental Health and Safety to incorporate ergonomics, machine guarding, safe material
• handling, and other applicable safety requirements into manufacturing solutions.
• Prepare cost estimates, implementation plans, project schedules, capital requests, and return-on-investment
• analyses for proposed manufacturing improvements.
• Manage assigned manufacturing-engineering projects from problem definition through design, fabrication,
• installation, validation, employee training, production release, and post-implementation verification.
• Track and quantify the measurable results of each major improvement, including changes in throughput, cycle
• time, capacity, labor hours, scrap, rework, downtime, quality, safety, and ergonomics.
• Support Lean manufacturing and Continuous Improvement activities, including kaizen events, 5S, standardized
• work, visual management, line balancing, waste reduction, and mistake-proofing.
• Maintain organized engineering records for manufacturing equipment, tooling, fixtures, process changes,
• validations, drawings, specifications, and completed improvement projects.

Requirements

Preferred Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related
• field (required); advanced degree a plus but not required for this hands-on role
• 3–7 years of manufacturing/production engineering experience, ideally in automotive, aftermarket parts,
• drivetrain, suspension, or similar high-mix mechanical assembly environments
• Direct floor experience designing tooling, fixtures, jigs, and workstations — not just CAD/theoretical design
• Working knowledge of Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, or Continuous Improvement methods (kaizen, 5S,
• standardized work, line balancing); Green Belt/Black Belt certification a plus
• Proficiency in CAD software (SolidWorks or similar) for tooling/fixture design and documentation
• Experience with time studies, process capability analysis, root cause analysis (5 Why, fishbone, 8D), and labor
• standards development
• Familiarity with welding, torque-controlled assembly, press operations, or shock absorber/drivetrain assembly
• processes is a strong plus given this role's scope
• Experience partnering cross-functionally with Quality, Maintenance, EHS, and Operations
• Strong hands-on troubleshooting skills and comfort spending the majority of the workday on the manufacturing floor

RANDYS Worldwide is an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for

employment without regard to status as a protected veteran a qualified individual with a disability, or other

protected status, such as race, religion, color, national origin, sex, or age.