Manufacturing Engineer (Production Systems, Throughput, Automation)

Wild West Systems•Leander, TX

5d•Onsite

About The Position

Wild West Systems is rapidly moving and growing early-stage American defense technology company with the mission to equip the civilized world with superior and affordable arms and advanced technologies – to dominate the battlefield of present and future threats, in a new era of asymmetrical warfare. We fuse versatile domain experience with novel approach and creativity to change the paradigm of defense – both for military arenas and civilian soft targets. Expectations for this position are simple and demanding. You would make production work and then make it scale. Wild West Systems is building production in real time. Processes are incomplete systems are evolving, and problems show up daily. This role solves those problems; The selected candidate will own production performance across all product lines. They will identify issues, implement solutions into standard processes that scale. If something slows production, you fix it, if defects occur, you eliminate the root cause, if processes are unclear or inefficient, you redesign them.

Requirements

You solve problems and see them through to completion
You are comfortable in working in a shop environment with operators and machines
Experience revamping unreliable processes into clean, repeatable systems
Mentality to move fast and iterate on fly, not waiting for perfect conditions
Experience balancing speed with discipline
Ability to build and scale structure where none exist
Comfortable challenging designs when manufacturing is hindered
Day to day ownership of ecosystem. This is not a support function
Manufacturing engineering fundamentals
Process design and optimization in both assembly & machining
Fixturing and tooling design (CAD required – SolidWorks, Onshape, etc.)
Experience with CNC and manual machining environments
Understanding of production flow, cycle time, and bottleneck analysis
Ability to implement practical automation
Experience working with 3D printing in production environments
Process documentation and standard work creation
Experience utilizing root cause analysis & problem solving
5+ years of manufacturing or production engineering experience
Experience improving throughput, yield, and process efficiency
Background working in either aerospace manufacturing, defense production, automotive or relative scaling production environments
Experience solving difficult production problems and implementing lasting solutions
U.S. Citizen or National, U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), Refugee under 8 U.S.C § 1157, or Asylee under 8 U.S.C § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Responsibilities

Production performance across the shop
Throughput improvement
First pass yield
Cycle time reduction
Process design and refinement
Work instructions and process documentation
Fixturing and tooling design
DFM feedback into engineering
Work on the shop floor daily to identify and solve production problems
Own issues end-to-end from root cause through implementation and validation
Design and refine assembly and machining processes to improve flow and efficiency
Increase throughput by simplifying processes, removing waste, and introducing practical automation where it makes sense
Improve first pass yield by eliminating sources of variation and rework
Design and build fixturing and tooling to support in assembly, machining, and inspection
Support CNC and manual machining operations by improving setup, flow, and consistency
Integrate 3D printing into production workflows where it adds value (fixtures, tools, rapid iteration)
Develop and maintain work instructions, SOP's, and process documentation
Train operators and technicians on new processes and ensure adoption
Hold production accountable to defined processes and standards
Partner with design engineering to drive Design for Manufacturability (DFM) improvements
Work across production, engineering, quality, and automation to ensure alignment and execution
Operate in an environment where processes are evolving and structure must be built in real time