Process Engineer - Plant 3

Howmet; Whitehall Township (MI); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Howmet in Whitehall, MI, seeks a systems-minded engineer to support Plants 1 & 3 in its Whitehall Casting Operation. You will drive process control and improvement initiatives, ensuring product integrity and strong customer contacts, and you will document work instructions and analyze job cost to improve profitability.

The role emphasizes robust process development, metallurgical quality, and yields improvement through new methods, NPI collaboration, and cost modeling.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering from an accredited institution.
• Experience in a casting environment preferred.
• Internship or co-op in manufacturing or lab environment preferred.
• Strong verbal, written, and analytical skills.
• Proficiency in MS Office and Excel; familiarity with statistical tools.

Responsibilities

• Investigate external escapes and develop action plans.
• Determine and support manufacturing requirements for qualification.
• Develop and improve processes to raise yields and reduce labor content.
• Provide manufacturing support: training, work instructions, interpretation.
• Lead meetings and provide technical data for customer needs.
• Conduct NPI reviews with customers on design concepts.
• Develop material, scrap and labor costs for cost modeling.
• Contribute input on BOM, routings and milestones for tooling.

Skills

Systems thinker

Optimizer

Anticipation

Operational accelerator

Organization and structure

Influence

Data informed

Prioritized reaction

Relationship

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering

Tools

ProCast

SOLIDCast

Minitab

JMP

MS Office

Excel

Six Sigma

Lean Manufacturing

ABS

Job description

Job Roles

• Systems thinker--sees the business and its operation holistically; understands actions and reactions; considers multiple pathways of potential effect before decisions; thinks strategically about interventions with an eye toward scale
• Optimizer--constantly challenging the organization to work smarter; supports others to ensure they have what they need to do their work successfully
• Anticipation--looks ahead to minimize potential issues and maximize advantages; prepares others for what comes next
• Operational accelerator--drives continuous improvement; understands ramifications of automation and other advances; advocates for safety, ergonomics and scalable solutions
• Organization and structure--works within existing structures while striving to improve and standardize them; provides accurate information; galvanizes others toward common goals
• Influence--leverages knowledge, relationship, data and perspective to persuade, educate and navigate; gains buy in and adoption of ideas and practices at scale; interacts with a variety of stakeholders
• Data informed--focused on things that drive quantifiable business outcomes; evaluates based on quantitative feedback; knows and explains the "why" behind actions
• Prioritized reaction--handles the unexpected without losing sight of important objectives; reacts where greatest leverage points exist
• Relationship--connects individually and with teams across shifts and practices; builds rapport and commonality; creates a "win together" ethic; serves as liaison between shop floor and engineering; keeps the pulse of the floor; helps people feel heard

Job Responsibilities

This position will be located in our Plants 1 & 3, Whitehall Casting Operation, and will support manufacturing through process control and improvement initiatives, assume responsibility for integrity for assigned products, establish and maintain external and internal customer contacts, document and prepare part‑specific work instructions, maintain knowledge of job cost, and develop and implement plans to improve profitability.

Job Responsibilities:

This position is responsible for developing robust processes that consistently meet or exceed our customers' requirements for the metallurgical quality and performance of aerospace components. Continuous improvement of processes is achieved by improving methods and developing new methods of manufacturing, leading to increased yields and reduced labor content.

• External customer escapes – Investigates and analyzes root cause; develops and implements correction action plans.
• Part qualification and re‑qualification – Determines and supports manufacturing requirements necessary to meet customer requirements; performs metallurgical investigations; assembles process documentation per customer requirements.
• Process development and improvement – Monitors and analyzes yield, labor, and materials data to develop process improvement ideas for new and established processes.
• Manufacturing support – Monitors manufacturing output to ensure process control; responds to manufacturing needs: training, work instructions and interpretation; creates and updates work instructions needed to perform manufacturing processes.
• General technical support – Conducts meetings and provides technical data to meet customer needs.
• NPI concurrent engineering – Conducts meetings with customers to review design concepts.
• Quotation prep – Develops material, scrap and labor costs for cost modeling.
• Tooling development and build – Attends NPI meetings and provides input based on customer specifications for BOM, routings and milestone plans.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering from an accredited institution.
• Employees must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire. Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering from an accredited institution in the following disciplines preferred: Materials Science and Engineering, or Metallurgical Engineering.
• Experience working in a casting environment.
• Previous internship or co‑op experience in a manufacturing environment or lab environment.
• Strong verbal, written, and analytical skills.
• Knowledge of MS Office and Excel.
• Experience with solidification modeling such as ProCast or SOLIDCast.
• Working knowledge of statistical analysis and tools such as Minitab, JMP.
• Knowledge of Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing, and ABS.
• Experience with Design of Experiment concepts.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Howmet is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

If you need assistance to complete your application due to a disability, please email [e-mail].