Manufacturing Engineering Manager

Manufacturing Engineering Manager

The Manufacturing Engineering Manager leads the Manufacturing Engineering team and is responsible for improving current manufacturing processes, equipment reliability, facilities support, and lean execution. This role works closely with Operations, Quality, Product Engineering, Supply Chain, and Maintenance to improve safety, quality, productivity, flow, and equipment uptime.

The position provides day-to-day leadership, sets priorities, develops team capability, and ensures manufacturing engineering resources are focused on practical improvements that support production. The role evaluates current equipment condition and performance, develops repair, upgrade, or replacement recommendations, and provides the supporting operational data to the Advanced Manufacturing Engineer for strategic evaluation, business-case development, and roadmap prioritization.

Team Leadership & Accountability:

• Lead, coach, and develop the Manufacturing Engineering team
• Set priorities, assign resources, and hold team members accountable for commitments and results
• Establish clear project ownership, timelines, and communication expectations
• Build consistent manufacturing engineering methods, documentation, and problem-solving capability

Current-State Process Improvement:

• Partner with production teams to improve existing manufacturing processes and production flow
• Identify and eliminate waste, bottlenecks, quality risks, and ergonomic concerns
• Lead lean initiatives and structured problem-solving activities
• Develop, improve, and sustain standard processes, work methods, layouts, tooling, fixtures, and documentation for existing production

Production & Engineering Support:

• Provide timely manufacturing engineering support for daily production issues
• Coordinate root cause analysis and corrective actions related to process, tooling, fixtures, and equipment
• Support Product Engineering changes and ensure manufacturing changes are implemented effectively
• Partner with the Advanced Manufacturing Engineer and New Product Introduction team during process implementation, production validation, workforce readiness, and ramp-up; assume ownership of the established production process following launch and formal operational handoff

Maintenance, Reliability & Equipment Replacement:

• Coordinate necessary equipment repairs to minimize production disruption
• Establish and support preventive maintenance for critical manufacturing equipment
• Identify critical spare parts and maintain appropriate repair-part inventories
• Track recurring equipment issues and implement corrective actions to improve uptime
• Evaluate aging, unreliable, unsafe, or capacity-constrained equipment and develop documented repair, upgrade, or replacement recommendations based on equipment condition, maintenance history, operational performance, safety, quality, and capacity risk
• Provide equipment recommendations and supporting condition, maintenance, capacity, and risk information to the Advanced Manufacturing Engineer for strategic evaluation, business-case development, and roadmap prioritization

Facilities Maintenance & Site Coordination:

• Coordinate routine facility maintenance, repairs, and services to support a safe and reliable work environment
• Manage onsite contractors and ensure compliance with applicable safety requirements
• Coordinate minor operational facility improvements and provide current-state facility condition, infrastructure, production, and maintenance requirements to the Advanced Manufacturing Engineer for long-range facility planning
• Support site preparation, production coordination, resource planning, installation, commissioning, operator readiness, and operational handoff for approved equipment and facility projects; the Advanced Manufacturing Engineer retains technical leadership for major capital, automation, and technology implementations

Cross-Functional Partnership:

• Partner with Operations, Quality, Product Engineering, Supply Chain, IT, and the Advanced Manufacturing Engineer while maintaining clear ownership of current-state production support and sustainment
• Communicate project priorities, status, risks, and resource needs
• Ensure completed improvements are documented, trained, adopted, and sustained

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing, Mechanical, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical field
• Five or more years of manufacturing engineering experience in an industrial environment
• Prior experience leading or supervising manufacturing engineering personnel
• Demonstrated experience with lean manufacturing, process improvement, tooling, fixtures, equipment reliability, and production support
• Strong problem-solving, project management, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in heavy equipment, attachments, or industrial manufacturing
• Experience supporting fabrication, welding, machining, paint, and assembly operations
• Experience with CAD, ERP systems, preventive maintenance systems, or manufacturing data collection
• Lean, Six Sigma, or project management training or certification

Key Performance Indicators:

• Manufacturing Engineering projects completed on time and delivering expected results
• Improved safety, quality, productivity, flow, and labor efficiency in existing operations
• Reduced equipment downtime and improved preventive maintenance performance
• Equipment repair, upgrade, and replacement needs identified early, documented with supporting operational data, and transferred for roadmap and capital evaluation before reliability, safety, quality, or capacity issues significantly affect production
• Timely resolution of production, tooling, fixture, and process issues
• Manufacturing Engineering team development, accountability, and workload execution
• Implemented improvements and launched processes formally handed off, documented, trained, adopted, and sustained

Diamond Mowers is an EEO/AA Employer M/F/Disability/Vet.