Position Summary
Wyman Gordon Pennsylvania, a division of Precision Castparts Corporation (PCC), manufactures flash-welded and cold-rolled near-net-shape rings for the aerospace gas turbine industry. The Senior Plant Metallurgist provides hands-on metallurgical leadership and technical support to the Mountaintop and Tru-Form facilities, with primary residence at Mountaintop. The role partners with Quality, Manufacturing, Engineering, laboratory personnel, suppliers, and customers to ensure safe, capable, compliant, and cost-effective processes. Primary material systems include nickel-and cobalt-base superalloys, titanium alloys, stainless steels, and other iron-base aerospace alloys.
Essential Duties And Responsibilities
- Provide day-to-day metallurgical leadership for the Mountaintop and Tru-Form facilities and serve as a primary technical resource for manufacturing, quality, engineering, laboratory, and commercial teams.
- Establish, document, and maintain metallurgical controls for flash welding, heat treatment, forming, rolling, machining, and materials testing.
- Develop concise operating procedures, work instructions, process specifications, and control plans that promote repeatability and preserve critical process knowledge.
- Lead the Process Control Welding Initiative by defining process parameters, control limits, reaction plans, and verification methods in partnership with Engineering and Manufacturing.
- Build practical knowledge of flash welding and ring manufacturing through direct shop-floor engagement, review of internal technical records, and collaboration with operators and engineers.
- Interpret customer, industry, and regulatory requirements and translate them into clear manufacturing, inspection, testing, and acceptance criteria.
- Own metallurgical aspects of new product introduction, process development, qualification, and customer approval activities, including technical planning, trial execution, data review, and final reporting.
- Investigate test failures, nonconformances, customer complaints, returns, and process excursions using structured problem-solving methods; define containment, root cause, corrective action, and effectiveness verification.
- Apply statistical methods—including SPC, capability analysis, measurement-system evaluation, and trend analysis—to reduce variation, improve first-pass yield, and lower scrap, rework, concessions, and cost of poor quality.
- Establish and maintain controls for raw-material purchases, outside testing, subcontract laboratories, and calibration providers; work with suppliers to improve technical and quality performance.
- Support continuous Nadcap accreditation for Welding, Heat Treat, and Materials Testing Laboratories, as well as compliance with AS9100 and customer-specific requirements.
- Prepare for and participate in internal, customer, regulatory, and third-party audits; lead timely closure of metallurgical findings and preventive read-across actions.
- Maintain the specification and testing-requirements database, evaluate revisions, and ensure changes are incorporated into affected procedures, routers, and process controls.
- Represent the company in customer technical discussions, product-development activities, issue-resolution meetings, and technical presentations.
- Participate in applicable industry or SAE committees and support the development or revision of flash-welded ring standards.
- Mentor engineers, laboratory personnel, technicians, and operators in metallurgy, process control, defect prevention, and structured problem solving.
- Support plant safety, lean manufacturing, on-time delivery, and zero-defect initiatives, and perform other technically related duties as assigned.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Metallurgical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, or a closely related discipline.
- Minimum of five years of metallurgical, materials, manufacturing, or process-engineering experience in an ISO 9001/AS9100-regulated manufacturing environment.
- Demonstrated experience in technical problem solving, process development, product qualification, or continuous improvement.
- Ability to interpret customer and industry specifications, engineering drawings, test requirements, and process standards and convert them into effective controls.
- Working knowledge of root-cause analysis, 8D, SPC, MSA, PFMEA, control plans, and process-capability methods.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to prepare clear technical reports and deliver presentations to customers and leadership.
- Ability to work effectively across manufacturing, quality, engineering, laboratory, supply-chain, and customer organizations.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Teams.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities, exercise sound technical judgment, and spend significant time in an active manufacturing environment.
Preferred Qualifications
- Advanced degree in Metallurgical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, or a related field.
- Experience with nickel-and cobalt-base superalloys, stainless steels, titanium alloys, or other aerospace materials.
- Hands-on experience with flash welding, forming, ring rolling, heat treatment, machining, metallography, mechanical testing, or chemical analysis.
- Knowledge of Nadcap Welding, Heat Treat, and Materials Testing Laboratory requirements and AS9100 quality-system expectations.
- Experience supporting customer or regulatory qualifications, new product introduction, and fixed-process or process-change approvals.
- Lean, Six Sigma Green Belt, or comparable continuous-improvement training.
- Experience leading or mentoring technical employees, laboratory personnel, or cross-functional project teams.
KEY RELATIONSHIPS
- Plant leadership and operations management
- Quality, Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, and laboratory teams
- Operators, supervisors, maintenance, and continuous-improvement personnel
- Raw-material suppliers, outside processors, subcontract laboratories, and calibration providers
- Customers, auditors, regulatory bodies, and industry technical committees
PHYSICAL DEMANDS
- Regularly work in office, laboratory, and manufacturing environments, including extended periods of sitting, standing, and walking.
- Use a computer and standard office equipment frequently.
- Occasionally stoop, kneel, reach, climb stairs, and work near operating manufacturing equipment.
- Occasionally lift and carry up to 25 pounds.
- Meet applicable visual-acuity and color-perception requirements for assigned technical activities.
- Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
WORK ENVIRONMENT
- Work is performed in office, laboratory, and industrial manufacturing settings.
- Potential exposure may include moving mechanical equipment, heat, fumes, airborne particles, grinding dust, outside weather conditions, penetrant materials, and metallographic or chemical etchants.
- Employees must follow all site safety requirements and use company-provided personal protective equipment appropriate to the task and work area.
- Travel between the Mountaintop and Tru-Form facilities is required; occasional travel to suppliers, customers, or other company locations may also be necessary.