Manufacturing Project Engineer

Caterpillar Inc.•Decatur, IL

1d•$112,710 - $169,060•Onsite

About The Position

This Manufacturing Project Engineer role serves as a global manufacturing engineering leader for Rigid Frame Truck (RFT) Heavy Structures and is embedded within the Product Engineering organization to ensure manufacturability is integrated into the design process from concept through production. In this role, you will lead the development, deployment, and sustainment of common manufacturing processes across the company's global manufacturing footprint, with responsibility spanning structural fabrication, welding, machining, assembly, and inspection. You will collaborate with Product Engineering, regional manufacturing teams, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, and automation specialists to standardize methods, equipment strategies, tooling concepts, quality systems, and operational best practices. Your work will improve safety, quality, delivery, cost, and capacity performance while enabling repeatable, scalable manufacturing solutions across RFT facilities worldwide.

Requirements

Manufacturing Engineering, Structural Fabrication & Automation: Possesses deep expertise in manufacturing engineering for large structural fabrication environments, including welding, machining, assembly, quality systems, CAD-supported design reviews, robotics, automation, process optimization, and New Product Introduction (NPI) readiness.
Project Management & Capacity Planning: Leads complex global manufacturing and capital projects while utilizing advanced capacity planning, forecasting, resource management, budgeting, scheduling, and risk mitigation practices to achieve business objectives.
Strategic Problem Solving & Continuous Improvement: Applies analytical thinking, technical troubleshooting, and data-driven decision-making to solve complex manufacturing challenges, optimize processes, eliminate waste, and drive sustainable operational improvements.
Global Manufacturing Leadership & Collaboration: Builds alignment across engineering, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and operations teams by influencing stakeholders, driving process standardization, mentoring engineers, and sharing best practices across global organizations.
Manufacturing Technology & Digital Engineering: Leverages CAD tools, manufacturing data analytics, automation technologies, manufacturing execution systems, and digital manufacturing solutions to improve product manufacturability, production performance, and operational scalability.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Welding Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
AWS Certified Welding Inspector (CWI) certification or equivalent welding qualification.
Experience with robotic welding, automation technologies, and advanced manufacturing systems.
Demonstrated success developing and implementing global manufacturing standards in a multinational organization.
Experience leveraging manufacturing data analytics, digital work instructions, manufacturing execution systems, and offline programming solutions to drive operational excellence.

Responsibilities

Lead the development and execution of a global manufacturing process commonality strategy for RFT Heavy Structures, establishing standardized methods, best practices, and scalable manufacturing solutions across global facilities.
Serve as the manufacturing engineering representative within the Product Engineering organization, advising design engineers on manufacturability, recommending DFM driven design improvements, and helping drive more efficient and standardized products and processes.
Drive global process standardization for fabrication, welding, machining, assembly, material handling, dimensional inspection, and process control to improve quality, efficiency, operational consistency, and manufacturing readiness.
Lead capital investment and manufacturing improvement projects, managing scope, budgets, schedules, risks, and stakeholder alignment while delivering measurable business and operational results.
Develop and optimize manufacturing processes for large welded structural assemblies, including welding technologies, tooling, automation, quality systems, and production readiness activities, while identifying opportunities to commonize processes across products and manufacturing locations.
Apply Lean Manufacturing and Operational Excellence principles to identify process variation, eliminate bottlenecks, resolve manufacturing challenges, and implement sustainable improvements in safety, quality, delivery, and cost.
Partner with Product Engineering and cross-functional teams throughout the product development lifecycle to support Design for Manufacturability (DFM), APQP activities, process validation, manufacturing readiness, and successful new product introductions.
Strengthen the technical capabilities of the global manufacturing engineering organization by facilitating collaboration, sharing best practices, mentoring engineers, and serving as a subject matter expert for structural manufacturing processes and technology roadmaps.