Plastics/Tooling Development Manager

Truck-Lite; Erie (Erie County); On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Truck-Lite is seeking a tooling and molding leader to manage injection mold tooling development on an internal engineering team. You will supervise 2-3 Mechanical Technicians and serve as the internal expert for plastic mold design and qualification.

You will coordinate with the NPI team across Mechanical, Electronics, Optics, and Manufacturing to ensure cost, quality, and on-time delivery of LED headlamps, fog lamps, and related lighting products for commercial vehicles.

Responsibilities

• Manager: Tooling expert with management responsibilities over direct reports (2-3 Mechanical Technicians).
• NPI (New Product Development) Team Member: internal expert for plastic injection mold design and development on a multi-disciplinary Engineering team.
• Life Cycle / Subcontracted Tool Support: provide support and input for life of product line, tooling repairs, engineering changes, troubleshooting.
• Product Types: LED headlamps & fog lamps, LED signal & marker lighting, wire harnesses for commercial vehicles.
• Quote Development: provide budgetary quotes and timing to the NPI team for quoting purposes.
• Prioritization: prioritization of projects for Tool Engineers and Mechanical Technicians.
• Processing: support to manufacturing teams for in-house mold qualifications and problem solving for tooling, materials, or processes.
• Tool Build Expert: tooling build/development oversight for tools built at internal shop.

Job description

**Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. without employer sponsorship. We do not offer visa sponsorship, transfers, or immigration-related employment support for this role.

Essential Job Functions:

Align with our company culture, mission, values, philosophy, and policies and procedures by exemplifying our C.L.E.A.R. Principles.

• Curiosity- look for a better way as a solutions-oriented problem solver.
• Leadership- take ownership and be the catalyst of change.
• Enthusiasm- be motivated and passionate about your work.
• Accountability- deliver commitments and acts with integrity.
• Respect- be present, listen and engage with inclusive, open, honest, and direct communication.

Responsibilities include:

• Manager: Tooling expert with management responsibilities. Position will include management of the following direct reports:
• 2-3 Mechanical Technicians (Mold makers)
• NPI (New Product Development) Team Member: Position and department serve as internal experts for plastic injection mold design and development on a multi-disciplinary Engineering team. NPI teams consist of technical experts in areas of Mechanical Design, Electronics, Optics, Manufacturing/Process, and Validation.
• Life Cycle / Subcontracted Tool Support: Provide support and technical input as requested for life of product line (tooling repairs, Engineering changes, troubleshooting, etc.).
• Product Types: Products include (but are not limited to) LED headlamps & fog lamps, LED signal & marker lighting, wire harnesses, and other state-of-the-art lighting and visibility products for commercial vehicles.
• Primary Job & Departmental Functions:
• Quote Development – Provide budgetary quotes and timing to the NPI team for quoting purposes.
• Prioritization – Prioritization of projects for both Tool Engineers and Mechanical Technicians.
• Performance Reviews, Training, and Development – Required tasks pertaining to your team.
• Plastic Materials – Provide input to plastic material selection based on intended use, operating environment, and part appearance requirements.
• Plastic Part Design & Analysis – Provide input to plastic part design for optimized quality, manufacturability, and appearance. Design input is based on factors such as wall thickness, intended gating, draft & texture requirements, tooling construction – parting line, slides & secondary actions, etc.
• Moldflow Analysis – Perform initial analysis to validate initial design and establish ideal molding process (gate location, tonnage, cycle time, weld/knit line locations, predicted warpage).
• Injection Mold Tooling Development – The position will have primary responsibility for overall plastic part tooling development:
• Develop Mold Specifications (cavitation, gate & runner type, tooling materials, etc.)
• Sourcing – Manages tool sourcing & development process following Truck-Lite procedures and practices. (Quote, vendor selection, design & build, sampling/verification, and final approvals)
• Design: Review and approve mold designs developed by selected tooling suppliers. Oversee tooling design & development activities to ensure cost, quality, and timing objectives are met. Directly responsible for mold designs for tools built at our internal shop.
• Qualification: Attend mold qualification trials, establish, and document ideal process parameters, verify molded part quality, provide final approvals and sign-off.
• Processing: Provide support to manufacturing teams for in-house mold qualifications. Assist in problem solving efforts to resolve manufacturing issues related to injection mold tooling, material, or processes.
• Tool Build Expert: Tool building/development is a requirement as it is needed to support the Mechanical Technicians that report to this position.

Position requires compliance with the Technology Control Plan and the Federal Export Control Policy established for the Corporation.