Hands-On Production Engineer: Automation & Improvement

Holt Engineering; Southampton; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

Holt Engineering in Southampton is seeking a hands-on Production Engineer to support and improve automated production lines within our growing in-house site. You will work on machinery, setup, changeovers, RCA and documentation, driving reliability and standardisation across operations.

The role combines process improvement with practical engineering on the shop floor, building manuals, SOPs and training for setters and operators to enhance performance and reduce downtime.

Qualifications

• Experience in a Production Engineer or similar role.
• Background around automated production machinery.
• Strong problem solving and process improvement.
• Able to create SOPs and machine guides.
• Experience with RCA and continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

• Provide day-to-day engineering support across automated production lines
• Investigate production issues and identify practical technical solutions
• Support machine setters with setup, changeover and operating problems
• Help identify causes of downtime, quality issues and poor line performance
• Create and maintain machine manuals, SOPs and operating instructions
• Document setup requirements, standard settings and product changeover methods
• Improve consistency between shifts, operators and production runs
• Lead or support RCA activity for recurring machine and process issues
• Support corrective actions following machinery, process or quality problems
• Improve changeover methods and reduce unnecessary downtime
• Support breakdowns, fault finding and practical repairs where appropriate
• Assist with planned maintenance activity and spare-parts requirements
• Work with suppliers or specialist contractors where additional support is needed
• Guide and train machine setters and production staff on improved ways of working
• Support continuous improvement projects across reliability, productivity and process control

Skills

Automated machinery

Root cause analysis

SOP development

Team training

Job description

Holt Engineering in Southampton is seeking a hands-on Production Engineer to support and improve automated production lines within our growing in-house site. You will work on machinery, setup, changeovers, RCA and documentation, driving reliability and standardisation across operations.

The role combines process improvement with practical engineering on the shop floor, building manuals, SOPs and training for setters and operators to enhance performance and reduce downtime.