Process Engineer: Mill Optimization & Flow (Unlimited PTO)

Cantos Ventures; Philadelphia (Philadelphia County); On-site; USD 150,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage

Life insurance

Disability coverage

Paid time off

Company holidays

Job summary

The Lumber Manufactory is seeking a Process Engineer to design, optimize, and continuously improve mill operations across sawmills and engineered wood facilities. You will own material flow from log intake through finished goods, evaluate equipment, and partner with production, maintenance, and capital projects teams to drive modernization and efficiency.

You will spend time on the mill floor performing studies, validating layouts, and commissioning new equipment, turning data into measurable

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering, Process Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or an equivalent technical discipline.
• 5+ years of process or industrial engineering experience in wood products manufacturing (sawmill, planer mill, OSB, LVL, plywood, MDF, or similar environments)
• Hands‑on experience with mill layout design and material flow planning, including green end and dry end configurations, lumber handling systems, and sort and stacker integration, with proficiency in layout tools such as AutoCAD
• Familiarity with scanning and optimization systems and how optimizer settings translate to recovery and grade yield outcomes
• Experience evaluating and implementing automation in mill environments, including PLC-controlled sort lines, automated stackers, kiln tracking systems, and MES or production reporting platforms
• Proficiency in time study methods, OEE analysis, and capacity modeling applied to high-volume, continuous-flow wood processing
• Knowledge of kiln drying operations and how drying schedules, kiln capacity, and green inventory management interact with mill flow
• Understanding of lumber grading rules and how product mix and grade targets influence equipment sequencing and line design
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to work effectively across mill operations, construction and installation teams, maintenance, forestry and procurement, and sales teams

Responsibilities

• Design and optimize material flow from log intake through primary breakdown, secondary processing, drying, surfacing, and finished goods staging, minimizing handling, rehandling, and queue buildup between operations
• Develop and maintain mill layouts for sawmills, planer mills, panel plants, or engineered wood facilities, incorporating equipment footprints, log, cant, and lumber flow paths, green chain and dry chain configurations, and trim and sort systems
• Determine primary and secondary breakdown equipment requirements, including headrigs, frame saws, and gang saws, and define optimal sequencing to maximize recovery and throughput
• Evaluate and specify automation and optimization systems such as scanning and optimization technology (log, cant, and lumber optimizers), PLC-controlled sort systems, and automated stacking and strapping lines
• Perform line balancing and bottleneck analysis across the mill, from the log deck and debarker through the green chain, kiln scheduling, dry mill, and shipping
• Conduct time studies and production flow analyses to establish standard work, crew sizing, and shift capacity targets across mill departments
• Partner with maintenance, production, and dry kiln teams to plan and execute equipment installations, mill reconfigurations, and capacity expansion projects with minimal downtime
• Apply lean principles to wood products manufacturing, identifying waste in lumber handling, sort and stacking operations, trim optimization, and grade flow
• Support capital project development for mill modernization initiatives, including scanning upgrades, automated grading systems, and materials handling improvements, contributing to vendor evaluation, installation, and commissioning
• Own and maintain mill flow diagrams, equipment layout drawings, and standard operating procedures, authoring and updating documentation as equipment, products, or processes change
• Adapt to changing priorities and support team and operational needs as they evolve

Skills

Problem solving

Cross-functional collaboration

On-floor verification

Data analysis

Time study

Education

Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering

Tools

AutoCAD

PLC systems

MES software

Job description

The Lumber Manufactory is seeking a Process Engineer to design, optimize, and continuously improve mill operations across sawmills and engineered wood facilities. You will own material flow from log intake through finished goods, evaluate equipment, and partner with production, maintenance, and capital projects teams to drive modernization and efficiency.

You will spend time on the mill floor performing studies, validating layouts, and commissioning new equipment, turning data into measurable