Senior Wiresaw Engineer

Corning, Inc.; Hemlock (MI); On-site; USD 114,000 - 157,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company-wide bonuses & incentives

Company-paid pension plan & 401(k)

Health, dental, vision benefits

Job summary

Corning, Inc. is recruiting a seasoned Wire Saw and Wafer Manufacturing Engineer to lead ingot conversion and wafer operations on the production floor. You will tune wire-saw processes, optimize recipes, and drive improvements in wafer thickness, bow, kerf loss, and throughput.

You will debug issues, implement controls, and collaborate with maintenance, quality, and product engineering to enable new wafer sizes and technologies in a high-volume solar wafer environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical discipline; equivalent experience may be considered.
• 10+ years of progressive engineering/technical manufacturing experience in high-volume environments.
• 8+ years hands-on silicon wafer manufacturing, ingot conversion, wire sawing or similar.
• Expert-level understanding of silicon wire-saw processes including diamond-wire sawing.
• Ability to troubleshoot and optimize wire-saw recipes, wire management, cutting parameters, and wafer quality outcomes on the floor.
• Strong knowledge of wafer quality metrics and failure modes (thickness, TTV, bow, warp, kerf loss, contamination).
• Proven success in improving wafer yield, throughput, first-pass yield, uptime, and cost.
• Experience with DOE, SPC, PFMEA, 8D, A3 problem solving; on-floor execution.
• Willingness to spend majority of time on the manufacturing floor.

Responsibilities

• Provide hands-on technical leadership for silicon ingot conversion and wafer manufacturing, with wire-saw expertise.
• Develop, optimize, and control wire-saw recipes and parameters to improve wafer quality and yield.
• Lead troubleshooting and root-cause analysis for wire breaks, defects, and process excursions.
• Establish robust manufacturing controls, work instructions, and inspection criteria.
• Partner with maintenance to improve reliability, equipment performance, and process capability.
• Lead process development, DOE, capability studies, and qualification of new/upgraded equipment.
• Support new product introduction with manufacturable processes for varied ingot sizes and wafers.
• Serve as site SME for wafering; train production personnel on operation and defect recognition.

Skills

wire-saw operation

wafering processes

process optimization

root-cause analysis

production floor

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering

Tools

DOE

SPC

JMP

Minitab

Python

SQL

Excel

Job description

Requisition Number: 79765

**The company built on breakthroughs.**

**Join us.**

Corning is one of the world’s leading innovators in glass, ceramic, and materials science. From the depths of the ocean to the farthest reaches of space, our technologies push the boundaries of what’s possible.

How do we do this? With our people. They break through limitations and expectations– not once in a career, but every day. They help move our company,and the world, forward.

At Corning, there are endless possibilities for making an impact. You can help connect the unconnected, drive the future of automobiles, transform at-home entertainment, and ensure the delivery of lifesaving medicines. And so much more.

Come break through with us.

Our Solar business delivers industry leading, U.S.-made solar components. We manufacture hyper-pure polysilicon, high-quality solar wafers, and innovative photovoltaic modules, leveraging our leadership in advanced manufacturing to serve growing energy demand. You will be a part of advancing critical U.S. supply chains and delivering unmatched quality and reliability to customers.

Role Purpose

We are seeking a highly experienced, hands‑on Wire Saw and Wafer Manufacturing Engineer to serve as the technical authority for ingot conversion and wafering operations in a solar wafer manufacturing facility.

This is a manufacturing‑floor role for an individual who works directly with wire saws, operators, technicians, maintenance, process engineering, quality, and upstream/downstream manufacturing teams. The successful candidate will improve wafer yield, quality, throughput, equipment uptime, consumable utilization, kerf loss, breakage performance, process stability, and manufacturing cost.

The ideal candidate has deep practical experience with silicon ingot cropping, squaring, grinding, wire sawing, wafer cleaning, drying, inspection, sorting, handling, and packaging. The candidate must be comfortable working directly on production equipment, observing process behavior, adjusting and validating recipes, troubleshooting failures, leading trials, and sustaining improvements in a high-volume wafer manufacturing environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide hands‑on technical leadership for silicon ingot conversion and wafer manufacturing, with particular expertise in wire-saw operation, wafering processes, equipment setup, troubleshooting, process optimization, and production support.

• Develop, optimize, and control wire-saw recipes and critical process parameters to improve wafer thickness, TTV, bow, warp, surface and edge quality, geometry, breakage performance, cutting yield, kerf loss, consumable usage, cycle time, and overall conversion cost.

• Lead troubleshooting and root-cause analysis for wire breaks, cutting instability, wafer breakage, dimensional variation, contamination, process excursions, equipment downtime, and other wafering defects using production data, equipment trends, metrology, defect analysis, and downstream performance feedback.

• Establish robust manufacturing controls, including equipment recipes, operating windows, setup instructions, first-article requirements, in-process controls, inspection criteria, reaction plans, preventive maintenance requirements, and standard work. Implement and sustain corrective and preventive actions through documented process controls and operator training.

• Partner with equipment engineering and maintenance teams to improve reliability and process capability, including wire-feed and tension systems, guide systems, table motion, spindles, slurry/coolant delivery, filtration, temperature control, sensors, vision systems, material handling, calibration, preventive maintenance, and equipment recovery.

• Lead process development, experimentation, and qualification activities, including structured trials, DOEs, capability studies, validation plans, equipment commissioning, and qualification of new or upgraded wire saws, cleaning systems, inspection equipment, automation, and critical consumables.

• Support new product and technology introduction, developing manufacturing-ready processes for new ingot sizes, wafer thicknesses and geometries, crystal types, resistivity ranges, and customer requirements, including advanced technologies such as ultra-thin and large-format wafers, low-kerf and diamond-wire cutting, automated handling, advanced cleaning, and in‑line metrology.

• Serve as the site technical subject‑matter expert and cross‑functional partner for wafering, working closely with crystal growth, shaping, cleaning, inspection, quality, product engineering, maintenance, suppliers, and downstream cell manufacturing. Train production personnel on equipment operation, material handling, defect recognition, troubleshooting, process controls, and new‑process readiness.

Experiences/Education - Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Physics, or a related technical discipline; equivalent extensive, directly relevant industry experience may be considered.

• 10+ years of progressive engineering or technical manufacturing experience in high-volume, precision manufacturing environments, including significant hands‑on responsibility for process optimization, equipment troubleshooting, yield improvement, and production support.

• 8+ years of hands‑on experience in silicon wafer manufacturing, ingot conversion, wire sawing, precision slicing, semiconductor wafering, or a comparable high-volume precision‑materials manufacturing environment.

• Demonstrated expert-level understanding of silicon wire‑saw processes, preferably including diamond‑wire sawing and associated wafer cleaning and inspection operations.

• Proven ability to independently troubleshoot and optimize wire‑saw recipes, wire‑management systems, cutting parameters, consumables, equipment performance, and wafer‑quality outcomes on the manufacturing floor.

• Strong knowledge of wafer quality metrics and failure modes, including thickness, TTV, bow, warp, kerf loss, surface damage, edge quality, breakage, cleanliness, and contamination.

• Demonstrated success improving wafer yield, throughput, first‑pass yield, silicon utilization, consumable cost, equipment uptime, and process stability.

• Experience interpreting equipment trends, production data, dimensional metrology, inspection data, defect paretos, breakage records, and downstream performance feedback.

• Experience using structured problem‑solving methods such as DOE, SPC, PFMEA, 8D, A3, root‑cause analysis, and corrective/preventive action.

• Ability and willingness to spend the majority of the workday working directly on the manufacturing floor.

Experiences/Education - Desired

• Direct experience with high-volume diamond‑wire saw equipment used for silicon solar‑wafer manufacturing.

• Experience with large‑format, thin, or ultra‑thin silicon wafers and high‑efficiency solar‑cell product requirements.

• Experience with in‑line wafer metrology, including thickness, TTV, bow, warp, geometry, surface inspection, crack detection, contamination monitoring, and automated sorting.

• Experience with wafer‑cleaning and drying systems, chemical handling, water‑quality control, recycling/reclamation systems, and slurry/coolant filtration.

• Experience leading new equipment installation, equipment commissioning, production ramp‑up, technology transfer, or new‑product introduction.

• Familiarity with crystal growth, ingot shaping, wafer recycling, and downstream solar‑cell manufacturing requirements.

• Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, DOE, or equivalent continuous‑improvement training.

• Experience using MES, SCADA, equipment historian systems, SPC tools, JMP, Minitab, Python, SQL, or advanced Excel for process analysis.

This position does not support immigration sponsorship.

The range for this position is $114,457.00 - $157,379.00 assuming full time status. Starting pay for the successful applicant is dependent on a variety of job‑related factors, including but not limited to geographic location, market demands, experience, training, and education.

**A job that shapes a life.**

**Corning offers you the total package.**

Your well‑being is our priority. Our compensation and benefits package supports your health and wellness, financial aspirations, and career from day one.

• Company‑wide bonuses and long‑term incentives align with key business results and ensure you are rewarded when the company performs well. When Corning wins, we all win.

• As part of our commitment to your financial well‑being, we provide a 100% company‑paid pension benefit with fixed contributions that grow throughout your career. Combined with matching contributions to your 401(k) savings plan, Corning’s total contributions to your retirement accounts can reach between 7% and 12% of your pay, depending on your age and years of service.

• Our health and well‑being benefits include medical, dental, vision, paid parental leave, family building support, fitness, company‑paid life insurance, disability, disease management programs, paid time off, and an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to support you and your family.

• Getting paid for our work is important, but feeling appreciated and recognized for those contributions motivates us much more. That’s why Corning offers a recognition program to celebrate successes and reward colleagues who make exceptional contributions.

We prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, veteran status or any other legally protected status.

Corning is committed to providing equal employment opportunities and considers requests for reasonable accommodations in accordance with applicable laws. Individuals with disabilities or sincerely held religious beliefs may request reasonable accommodations to participate in the application or interview process, perform essential job functions, or access other benefits and privileges of employment. To submit a request for reasonable accommodation related to disability or religion, please contact us at [e-mail] .