Manufacturing Engineer

Icon Vehicle Dynamics LLC•Riverside, CA

18d•$85,000 - $115,000

About The Position

The Manufacturing Engineer improves, supports, and sustains existing manufacturing operations across RANDYS Worldwide’s Riverside facilities. The role provides direct engineering support to drivetrain assembly, kitting, suspension packaging and assembly, shock absorber manufacturing, welding, and related production departments. It is a hands-on, manufacturing-floor-focused position centered on improving how existing products are made through tooling, fixtures, equipment, workstations, process controls, layouts, and standardized production methods. The engineer works directly with operators, supervisors, Quality, Maintenance, and Operations leadership to identify constraints and solve production problems. The role focuses on improving ergonomics, reducing cycle time, increasing throughput and labor utilization, and reducing scrap and rework. It does not own new-product development, product-line strategy, competitive product benchmarking, or new suspension or drivetrain product design. Potential product-design changes are documented with supporting data and coordinated through Product Engineering and established change-control processes. The position also supports process validation, manufacturing documentation, operator training, equipment and tooling investments, root cause analysis, Lean and Continuous Improvement activities, and assigned projects from problem definition through production release and post-implementation verification. Product changes affecting form, fit, function, performance, safety, or customer requirements require approval from the responsible Product Engineering authority.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related field is required.
3–7 years of manufacturing or production engineering experience; ideally in automotive, aftermarket parts, drivetrain, suspension, or similar high-mix mechanical assembly environments.
Direct manufacturing-floor experience designing tooling, fixtures, jigs, and workstations.
Working knowledge of Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, or Continuous Improvement methods, such as kaizen, 5S, standardized work, and line balancing.
Proficiency with CAD software such as SolidWorks or similar for tooling and fixture design and documentation.
Experience with time studies, process capability analysis, root cause analysis (5 Why, fishbone, 8D), and labor standards development.
Experience partnering cross-functionally with Quality, Maintenance, EHS, and Operations.
Strong hands-on troubleshooting skills and comfort spending the majority of the workday on the manufacturing floor.

Nice To Haves

An advanced degree is a plus but is not required.
Green Belt or Black Belt certification is a plus.
Familiarity with welding, torque-controlled assembly, press operations, or shock absorber/drivetrain assembly processes is a strong plus.

Responsibilities

Provide daily, hands-on engineering support to Riverside manufacturing operations, including drivetrain assembly, kitting, suspension packaging and assembly, shock absorber manufacturing, welding, and related production areas.
Spend significant time on the manufacturing floor observing processes, working with operators and supervisors, troubleshooting problems, and verifying improvements.
Design and implement tooling, fixtures, jigs, gauges, assembly aids, error-proofing devices, material-handling solutions, carts, and ergonomic workstations.
Create CAD models, drawings, specifications, bills of materials, and documentation for manufacturing tooling, fixtures, equipment, and workstation improvements.
Evaluate production processes using time studies, operator observation, process mapping, data analysis, and direct measurement.
Identify bottlenecks, excessive motion, waiting, material-flow issues, unbalanced work content, ergonomic risks, and other constraints affecting safety, quality, throughput, labor efficiency, and cost.
Develop and implement solutions to reduce cycle time, improve line balance, increase capacity, improve material flow, and eliminate non-value-added work.
Establish and maintain manufacturing cycle times, labor standards, staffing requirements, equipment and capacity assumptions, and production-rate expectations.
Assist Operations and Planning with determining production capacity, staffing requirements, equipment needs, and resources required to meet production demand.
Develop and improve manufacturing layouts, workstation arrangements, point-of-use material presentation, product flow, and operator movement.
Define approved manufacturing processes for existing products, including operation sequence, tooling, critical process parameters, equipment settings, inspection points, and acceptance criteria.
Validate processes to confirm they are safe, repeatable, capable, documented, and able to meet quality and production requirements.
Partner with Quality and Operations to create, validate, and maintain SOPs, work instructions, visual work instructions, setup instructions, process specifications, inspection requirements, and standardized work.
Ensure manufacturing documentation accurately reflects approved production processes and is practical for operators to follow.
Support standard-work implementation and sustainment by training operators, supervisors, leads, and maintenance personnel on tooling, equipment, and process requirements.
Develop process controls and mistake-proofing solutions to prevent assembly, component, orientation, torque, labeling, and packaging defects.
Support process improvements involving welding, machining, torque-controlled assembly, press operations, mechanical assembly, shock absorber assembly and testing, drivetrain assembly, kitting, labeling, and packaging.
Lead or support structured root cause analysis for manufacturing problems, equipment-related defects, excessive cycle times, ergonomic concerns, scrap, rework, and production interruptions.
Implement corrective actions and verify their effectiveness through data and floor observation.
Analyze scrap, rework, first-pass yield, downtime, labor performance, production output, and other manufacturing data to identify and prioritize improvement opportunities.
Work with Quality to investigate dimensional, tolerance, fitment, assembly, and process-capability issues affecting existing products.
Perform tolerance analysis, measurement, testing, and engineering evaluation to determine whether problems originate from product design, incoming components, tooling, equipment, or the manufacturing process.
Document and escalate proposed product-design changes through the established engineering change process; obtain approval from the responsible Product Engineering authority for changes affecting product form, fit, function, performance, safety, or customer requirements.
Develop equipment and tooling requirements, technical specifications, performance criteria, and acceptance testing plans for manufacturing investments.
Support evaluation, selection, purchase, installation, qualification, and production launch of manufacturing equipment, tooling, fixtures, and automation.
Coordinate with equipment, tooling, fabrication, and integration vendors to ensure solutions meet Riverside production requirements.
Conduct equipment and process acceptance testing to verify safety, functionality, repeatability, capacity, cycle time, and quality performance before production release.
Partner with Maintenance to establish equipment setup requirements, critical spare-parts recommendations, preventive-maintenance needs, and troubleshooting documentation.
Partner with Environmental Health and Safety to incorporate ergonomics, machine guarding, safe material handling, and other applicable safety requirements into manufacturing solutions.
Prepare cost estimates, implementation plans, project schedules, capital requests, and return-on-investment analyses for proposed improvements.
Manage assigned manufacturing-engineering projects from problem definition through design, fabrication, installation, validation, employee training, production release, and post-implementation verification.
Track and quantify improvement results, including changes in throughput, cycle time, capacity, labor hours, scrap, rework, downtime, quality, safety, and ergonomics.
Support Lean manufacturing and Continuous Improvement activities, including kaizen events, 5S, standardized work, visual management, line balancing, waste reduction, and mistake-proofing.
Maintain organized engineering records for manufacturing equipment, tooling, fixtures, process changes, validations, drawings, specifications, and completed improvement projects.