Plastics Plant Engineer

Kids for the Future; Wytheville (VA); On-site; USD 75,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Profit-Sharing Bonus

Annual Stock (ESOP)

Job summary

Kids for the Future is seeking a Plant Engineer to support plastics manufacturing operations with a strong focus on equipment reliability, process improvement, troubleshooting, and continuous improvement. The role involves hands-on work with production equipment, maintenance teams, and plant leadership to enhance safety, quality, efficiency, and overall plant performance.

A bachelor’s degree in engineering and 4+ years in plastics manufacturing are preferred, with a base salary of $75,000 to

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant engineering field is required.
• Approximately 4+ years of engineering experience in a plastics manufacturing environment preferred.
• Hands-on experience with manufacturing equipment, processes, and maintenance teams.
• Experience in plastics extrusion, pipe manufacturing, or polymer processing is a plus.
• Ability to analyze data and translate findings into practical improvements.

Responsibilities

• Provide hands-on engineering support to daily plant and production operations.
• Troubleshoot equipment and processes to identify root causes and corrective actions.
• Collaborate with production and maintenance to improve reliability, uptime, throughput, and quality.
• Identify opportunities to improve processes, workflow, and equipment performance.
• Lead or support continuous improvement initiatives focused on safety, quality, and cost.
• Assist with installation, commissioning, modification, and startup of equipment.
• Develop and improve preventive and predictive maintenance programs.
• Analyze downtime, production data, scrap, and quality issues to identify improvements.
• Perform root cause analysis and develop sustainable solutions.
• Maintain process documentation, equipment specs, SOPs, and engineering records.
• Collaborate with Operations, Maintenance, Quality, and Engineering to achieve plant objectives.
• Perform other engineering and operational duties as assigned.

Skills

Preventive maintenance familiarity

Data-driven process improvement

Problem solving & project management

Effective communication with team &领导

Manufacturing data systems knowledge

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical/Industrial/Chemical/ Manufacturing Engineering or related field

Tools

MS Office

ERP systems

CMMS

CAD software

Job description

• Location 510 Kents Lane,Wytheville, VA, 24382,United States
• Base Pay $75,000.00 - $85,000.00 / Year
• Other Compensation Profit-Sharing Bonus + Annual Stock (ESOP)

Job Summary:

The Plant Engineer will support our plastics manufacturing operations with a strong focus on equipment reliability, process improvement, troubleshooting, and continuous improvement. This position is intended for an engineer who enjoys being hands‑on in a manufacturing environment, working directly with production equipment, maintenance teams, operators, and plant leadership to improve safety, quality, efficiency, and overall plant performance.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Provide hands‑on engineering support to daily plant and production operations.
• Troubleshoot manufacturing equipment, processes, and recurring production issues to identify root causes and implement corrective actions.
• Work closely with production and maintenance personnel to improve equipment reliability, uptime, throughput, quality, and labor efficiency.
• Identify opportunities to improve manufacturing processes, workflow, equipment performance, and overall plant efficiency.
• Lead or support continuous improvement initiatives focused on safety, quality, productivity, waste reduction, and cost improvement.
• Support the installation, commissioning, modification, and startup of new or upgraded manufacturing equipment.
• Assist with the development and improvement of preventive and predictive maintenance programs.
• Analyze equipment downtime, production data, scrap, quality issues, and other operational metrics to identify improvement opportunities.
• Perform root cause analysis and develop sustainable solutions to recurring equipment or process problems.
• Develop and maintain process documentation, equipment specifications, standard operating procedures, and engineering records.
• Collaborate with Operations, Maintenance, Quality, Engineering, and other departments to support plant objectives.
• Perform other engineering and operational duties as assigned.

Requirements

Required Skills & Abilities:

• Familiarity with preventive maintenance programs and manufacturing equipment reliability practices.
• Ability to analyze manufacturing data and translate findings into practical process improvements.
• Strong problem‑solving, organizational, and project management skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively with plant leadership, engineers, maintenance personnel, production supervisors, and hourly employees.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications; experience with ERP, CMMS, CAD, or manufacturing data systems is beneficial.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related engineering field required.
• Approximately 4+ years of engineering experience within a plastics manufacturing environment preferred.
• Hands‑on experience working directly with manufacturing equipment, production processes, maintenance teams, and plant operations.
• Experience within plastics manufacturing, plastics extrusion, pipe manufacturing, polymer processing, or a similar continuous manufacturing environment strongly preferred.

Physical Requirements:

• Must possess mobility to work in a standard office setting and use standard office equipment, including a computer.
• Subject to standing, walking, bending, reaching, stooping, and lifting of objects up to 50 pounds; may occasionally be exposed to dangerous machinery, extreme weather conditions, and extreme noise when working at plant locations.
• Ability to travel as needed to support plant requirements.
• Strong attention to detail, organizational skills and strong mathematical aptitude.

The base salary range for this position is $75,000 - $85,000/year.