Manufacturing Engineer

IFABCORP; Charlotte (NC); On-site; USD 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

IFABCORP in Charlotte, NC is seeking a Manufacturing Engineer to own how parts are made, designing and improving fabrication and assembly processes including stamping, welding, CNC machining, and painting to ensure standardization and predictable cycle time, yield, and cost.

You will own routings, work instructions, tooling, fixturing, and process capability on the shop floor, supporting production with a focus on cost, quality, and safety.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing, Mechanical, Industrial, or Welding Engineering or 6+ years manufacturing experience.
• 3+ years in manufacturing engineering for metal fabrication, stamping, welding, machining, or assembly.
• Ability to write routings, standard times, and shop-floor work instructions that hold up under production.
• Working knowledge of GD&T, weld symbols, and dimensional measurement.
• Practical root-cause problem-solving (8D, 5-Why) with documented results.
• CAD proficiency for fixture and layout work; ERP experience with routings and BOMs.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain manufacturing routings, operation sequences, standard times, and cycle-time models.
• Author and control work instructions, setup sheets, and visual standards for operators.
• Select processes, equipment, tooling, fixtures, and process parameters.
• Design fixturing and workholding and validate via first-article and capability runs.
• Quantify labor, machine, material utilization and yield; drive cost reductions.
• Lead process-side root-cause analysis for scrap and defects; support quality objectives.

Skills

Process design

Root-cause analysis

CAD proficiency

ERP experience

GD&T knowledge

Shop-floor documentation

Education

Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing/Mechanical/Industrial or Welding Engineering

Tools

SolidWorks/Inventor/AutoCAD

Job description

Position Summary

The Manufacturing Engineer owns how parts are made. This role designs, documents, and improves the fabrication and assembly processes — stamping, forming, welding, CNC machining, assembly, and paint — so that production can run to standard with predictable cycle time, yield, and cost. The Manufacturing Engineer is the technical owner of routings, work instructions, tooling and fixturing, and process capability. The role supports production but does not supervise production employees or control the master schedule.

Scope and Boundaries

This role owns:

• Process design, routings, standard times, work instructions
• Daily production supervision and labor assignment
• Tooling, fixturing, gauging, and equipment process parameters
• Master schedule, release/freeze, or customer promise dates
• Process capability, scrap and rework root-cause elimination
• Final customer-quality disposition (Quality function)
• Capital and tooling justification input, layout and flow design
• Purchase commitment and vendor selection (Purchasing)
• Engineering change execution on the floor
• Machine maintenance execution (Production/Maintenance)

Key Responsibilities

Process engineering and documentation

• Develop and maintain manufacturing routings, operation sequences, standard times, and cycle-time models for fabricated and assembled products.
• Author and control work instructions, setup sheets, and visual standards at the operation level so any qualified operator can run the job to standard.
• Select and specify processes, equipment, tooling, fixtures, gauges, consumables, and process parameters (weld schedules, press settings, feeds and speeds, paint parameters).
• Design fixturing and workholding, coordinate build or purchase, and validate through first-article and capability runs.

Cost, capacity, and productivity

• Quantify labor, machine, material utilization, and yield content in each process; identify and eliminate the largest cost drivers.
• Improve throughput and OEE through setup reduction, line balancing, layout and material-flow changes, and automation where justified.
• Build cost and payback justification for tooling, equipment, and capital projects; manage assigned projects from approval through validated results.
• Support quoting and make/buy analysis with credible process routings, cycle times, and cost estimates.

Quality and process capability

• Lead process-side root-cause analysis and permanent corrective action for scrap, rework, and internal or customer defects.
• Establish and improve process controls, in-process checks, error-proofing, and capability studies in partnership with Quality.
• Support APQP/PPAP deliverables from the process side — process flow, PFMEA process content, control plan process controls, and run-at-rate — in coordination with the APQP and NPI roles.

New product and engineering change

• Provide manufacturability and design-for-fabrication feedback on new parts, prints, and customer drawings before commitment.
• Execute engineering changes on the floor: revision control, tooling and instruction updates, run-out and cut-in planning, and operator retraining coordination.
• Support new-part launch and safe-launch containment through stabilization and handoff to production.

Systems and data

• Maintain accurate manufacturing master data in the ERP environment (Sage 500): routings, work centers, standard times, scrap factors, and bills of material in coordination with Engineering and Business Systems.
• Build and use production data and reporting to make process decisions with evidence rather than opinion.

Safety and compliance

• Design processes, guarding, ergonomics, and material handling to meet safety requirements; participate in risk assessments for new equipment and layout changes.
• Ensure process documentation meets applicable quality-system requirements (ISO 9001 / IATF 16949 as applicable) and remains audit-ready.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing, Mechanical, Industrial, or Welding Engineering (or an equivalent combination of an associate degree and 6+ years of hands-on manufacturing engineering experience).
• 3+ years of manufacturing engineering experience in metal fabrication, stamping, welding, machining, or assembly.
• Demonstrated ability to write routings, standard times, and shop-floor work instructions that hold up in production.
• Working knowledge of GD&T, print and weld-symbol interpretation, and dimensional measurement.
• Practical root-cause and problem-solving discipline (8D, 5-Why, fishbone, DOE basics) with documented results.
• CAD proficiency (SolidWorks, Inventor, or AutoCAD) for fixture and layout work.
• ERP experience with routings, BOMs, and work centers.
• Comfortable spending the majority of the day on the production floor.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience across multiple fabrication processes in one facility (press, brake, laser/plasma, robotic and manual welding, CNC, paint).
• Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma credentials (Green Belt or above); SMED, standard work, and value-stream mapping experience.
• APQP/PPAP and automotive or heavy-truck supply-chain experience; IATF 16949 environment.
• Robotic welding or automation programming and integration experience.
• Sage 500 or comparable mid-market ERP experience.
• CWI or weld-process qualification background (AWS D1.1 / D1.3).
• Bilingual English/Spanish — strongly preferred for direct communication with the production workforce.

Competencies

• Technical credibility on the floor — earns operator and supervisor trust by solving real problems, not issuing memos.
• Evidence over opinion — quantifies before and after; does not claim savings without validation.
• Ownership through implementation — stays with a change until it runs to standard on the floor.
• Cross-functional discipline — works within Quality, Supply Chain, and Production decision rights instead of around them.
• Clear documentation — writes instructions that a new operator can follow without interpretation.

Performance Measures (First 12 Months)

Measure Target orientation

Routing and standard-time accuracy on assigned product lines

Documented, validated, and loaded in ERP

Scrap and rework cost on assigned processes

Reduction against baseline

Throughput / cycle time on assigned work centers

Improvement against baseline

Setup time on targeted high-changeover equipment

Reduction against baseline

Work instruction coverage and currency

Complete and revision-controlled

Assigned capital and tooling projects

On time, on budget, with validated results

Engineering change execution

Clean cut-in with no unplanned downtime or obsolescence

Physical Requirements and Work Environment

Manufacturing plant environment with exposure to noise, welding fume and light, dust, machinery, and variable temperatures. Requires standing and walking on the production floor for extended periods, occasional lifting up to 40 lbs, and consistent use of required PPE. Occasional travel between IFAB sites, to customers, and to suppliers. Occasional off-shift or weekend support for trials, installations, and launches.