Manufacturing Process Engineer: Lean Improvement & Capital Projects

Top Echelon LLC; Decorah (IA); On-site; USD 75,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Top Echelon LLC in Decorah, Iowa, is seeking a Manufacturing/Process Engineer to develop, maintain, and improve production processes, focusing on stability, continuous improvement, and capital project support.

You will partner with Operations, Quality, Maintenance, and Supply Chain to ensure safe, repeatable manufacturing, document work instructions, lead kaizen events, and drive waste reduction.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Manufacturing, Industrial, Mechanical, or related field) required
• 4-7 years of hands-on manufacturing or process engineering experience in a production environment
• Demonstrated ability to independently analyze, improve, and sustain manufacturing processes
• Experience in lean manufacturing
• Experience with capital projects
• Strong working knowledge of process capability, cycle time analysis, scrap reduction, and efficiency metrics
• Proven experience developing and maintaining detailed work instructions, standard work, and process documentation
• Experience supporting capital equipment installation, commissioning, and process validation activities
• Hands-on focus with production teams and advanced problem-solving skills (root cause analysis)
• Ability to interpret engineering drawings, specifications, and manufacturing data
• Strong communication skills across Operations, Quality, Maintenance, and Supply Chain
• Willingness to travel up to 15% to support business needs

Responsibilities

• Support daily manufacturing operations by monitoring process performance and addressing issues
• Develop, document, and maintain work instructions, process flows, routings, and standard work
• Analyze production data to identify process improvement opportunities
• Implement process changes to improve safety, quality, efficiency, and throughput
• Lead root cause analysis and implement corrective actions
• Champion kaizen events and monitor improvement metrics and results
• Oversee capital project initiatives including equipment selection, installation, and startup
• Prepare ROI analyses and technical specifications for capital requests
• Coordinate cross-functional collaboration with vendors, Maintenance, and Operations
• Support process validation, capability studies, and acceptance testing
• Maintain and update documentation reflecting capital project changes
• Ensure alignment with internal quality systems and customer requirements
• Support non-conformance investigations and corrective actions
• Integrate safety and ergonomics into process design
• Assist with internal audits and documentation reviews

Skills

Lean manufacturing

Six Sigma

Root cause analysis

Cross-functional collaboration

Process improvement

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering

Job description

Top Echelon LLC in Decorah, Iowa, is seeking a Manufacturing/Process Engineer to develop, maintain, and improve production processes, focusing on stability, continuous improvement, and capital project support.

You will partner with Operations, Quality, Maintenance, and Supply Chain to ensure safe, repeatable manufacturing, document work instructions, lead kaizen events, and drive waste reduction.