Manufacturing Engineering Manager chez Polygon Company

Description

The Manufacturing Engineering Manager at Polygon will lead Polygon’s Manufacturing Engineering function, the organization at the forefront of continuous improvement and manufacturing technology at the company. The Manager will be responsible for overseeing Polygon’s Manufacturing Engineering team (4 FTE) and leading cross-functional projects to improve key manufacturing KPIs including quality, on-time delivery, capacity, and operator safety. The Manager will both lead and directly execute projects identified in partnership with the company’s executive leadership team. The Manager will be a champion for operational excellence, leveraging existing technology and tools while also adopting new ones to continue to elevate Polygon’s standards for manufacturing excellence. 

Requirements

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Manufacturing Engineering Team Leadership

• Provide mentorship and leadership training for direct reports, developing engineers in their technical fluency and ability to manage people and process.
• Establish priorities for the team and manage project prioritization and work-in-progress to ensure proper focus and delivery.
• Develop the long-term goals for the manufacturing engineering team that align the group with the overall company strategy.
• Define the key KPIs internal to the manufacturing engineering team to maintain a focus on business partnership and value delivery.

Continuous Improvement

• Serve as the company’s champion for continuous improvement (“CI”), extending and deepening a culture focused on seeking better to produce world-class products.
• Identify and use continuous improvement tools to achieve desired improvements on the plant floor or in supporting engineering workflows (NPIs, ECOs, etc.). 
• Own the achievement of specific process improvement goals for the year such as improved bottleneck utilization, reduced process variability, work-center productivity growth, and improved product flow.
• Develop CI tools that can be repeatably deployed to solve problems on the plant floor – evolve the team from “reinventing the wheel” on each project to leveraging playbooks.
• Provide guidance on projects to ensure that projects achieve their objective and are implemented sustainably before concluding.
• Oversee design and implementation of jigs, fixtures, and process aids to ensure repeatability and operator safety across diverse product families.

Manufacturing Change Control

• Oversee team activities related to manufacturing change control, specifically including the engineering change order (ECO) and router management processes.
• Guide the team in the development and updating of job instructions for key manufacturing processes for use by operations leadership.
• Participate in the new product introduction (NPI) process, ensuring that operational requirements are captured and new customers have a seamless implementation experience.

Manufacturing Intelligence

• Leverage the existing information collected by the business to identify areas where the production process can be improved and identify priority areas where new information should be collected. 
• Use analytical tools from manufacturing and statistics to guide improvement efforts on the plant floor. Provide expertise in tools like Design of Experiments and statistical analysis (e.g. regressions, etc.) to help uncover new insights from data.
• Lead efforts to provide timely and accurate information to operations on manufacturing performance through the development of reporting tools via platforms like PowerBI and Grafana.
• Oversee manual data collection efforts such as time studies to ensure high-quality and usable information.
• Develop the manufacturing engineering team into the company’s power users of plant floor data. Actively maintain and expand the data collection on the plant floor (e.g., sensor deployment) as part of the company’s Industrial Internet of Things (“IIOT”) strategy. 

Process Automation

• Lead Polygon’s automation efforts, partnering with management to identify high-priority automation opportunities and directly owning the development of automation solutions in partnership with outside vendors.
• Manage outside partnerships with machine manufacturers and systems integrators, ensuring that Polygon has high-quality partners for major projects.
• Coordinate both internal and external stakeholders involved in automation projects, project managing to ensure the projects’ successful development and deployment.
• Build internal capability on the Manufacturing Engineering team related to automation, both in terms of data collection and process automation. 

Quality

• Participate in the material review board (“MRB”) and assist Quality with root cause analysis and corrective actions for identified quality issues.
• Assist quality in process improvements to reduce scrap or process variability contribution to deviations.

General

• Perform additional duties as assigned.
• Commitment to uphold Polygon’s Core Values: Safety, Deliver Quality, Initiative, Collaboration, and Innovation. 

EDUCATION & TRAINING

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering Technology, Industrial Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Mechatronics, a related engineering field or equivalent experience.
• Competitive applicants may hold relevant industry certifications such as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (LSSBB), Certified Manufacturing Engineer (CMfgE), Certified Manufacturing Technologist (CMfgT), American Society of Quality Engineer (ASQ), or Certified Automation Professional (CAP).

KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE

Priority Experiences:

• Manufacturing Technical Leadership: Minimum of 2-5 years of manufacturing leadership experience, including management of technical team members such as engineers, quality professionals, IT specialists, etc.
• Project Leadership: Experience and demonstrated success leading cross-functional teams in a project-based environment from initiative design through execution and sustainability. Additional consideration will be given to candidates with experience in program management (waterfall or Agile-based).
• Discrete Manufacturing Expertise: Experience optimizing production in a high-mix, variable-volume environment using tools like setup reduction (SMED), changeover standardization, and flexible work instructions.
• Direct Project Execution: Experience in hands-on execution of manufacturing improvement projects on the plant floor from general process improvement (e.g., 5S, time studies, DMAIC) to capital-based improvements (e.g., machine improvements, cellular manufacturing, layout redesign). Top candidates will be able to link their experience executing on these projects to improvement in manufacturing KPIs.

Core Role Knowledge:

• Process Improvement Methodologies: Improvement methodologies for manufacturing such as Lean Manufacturing, Theory of Constraints, or Operations Research models (e.g., “Little’s Law”) to model plant or production line performance and identify improvement opportunities.
• Analytical Frameworks and Tools: Statistical analysis tools such as Design of Experiments (DOE), Statistical Process Control (SPC), and descriptive statistics that allow for targeted identification of issue and improvement areas in production. 
• Engineering Support Processes: Familiarity with key manufacturing support processes such as Engineering Change Orders (ECOs) and new product introductions (NPIs) to ensure appropriate change control.
• 3D CAD Proficiency: Knowledge of design and review of parts and machinery developed via tools including Solidworks and AutoCAD.
• Manufacturing IT Systems Knowledge: Understanding of the function of both an ERP and MES and their system workflows that manufacturers rely on will be imperative. Familiarity with Infor Syteline is a plus.
• Automation and Operational Technology - Bonus: Knowledge of automation and Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) best practice would be valued but not required. 

SKILLS & ABILITIES

• Sense of Urgency and Accountability: Must possess a high sense of urgency and accountability. 
• Mentorship and Development: A priority skill for the role is mentorship and leadership of technical SMEs, with a focus on development of technical and soft skills for engineers.
• Collaborative Leadership: The Manufacturing Engineering team is a central coordinator of improvement activities within production, and an individual in this role must be able to communicate and collaborate effectively with stakeholders from multiple teams.
• Iterative Problem-Solving Mindset: An individual in this role will frequently be faced with ambiguous problem statements and will need to investigate the problem, develop a hypothesis on root cause, design a solution, and then test and iterate until the goal is achieved.
• Drive for Execution and Resiliency: Every manufacturing environment is dynamic and has shifting priorities, and a successful individual in this role will bring the appropriate focus and flexibility to advance and complete mission-critical projects.
• Data Acumen: A high data acumen is required for the role, including the ability to collect, analyze, and effectively report on the implications of data with tools like Excel, SQL, PowerBI, or Grafana.
• Avid Technologist: An individual in this role will be a trusted partner to management to evaluate new technologies and assess their potential benefit for the business. 

WORKING CONDITIONS

The physical demands are representative of those that must be met by an associate to successfully perform the essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, associate is regularly required to sit, stand, stoop, climb, walk, use hands, talk, and hear for a minimum of eight (8) hours per shift. 

Hours / Shifts: Varies depending on customer needs.