Process Engineer

The Lumber Manufactory

5d • $133,000 - $180,000

About The Position

The Lumber Manufactory (TLM) is seeking a Process Engineer to design, optimize, and continuously improve operations across its sawmill, planer mill, and engineered wood facilities. The role owns material flow from log intake through finished goods, evaluates and specifies equipment to maximize recovery and throughput, and works with production, maintenance, and capital projects teams on modernization initiatives. It involves substantial hands-on work on the mill floor, including studies, layout validation, and commissioning equipment, with the goal of improving yield and efficiency.

The position requires at least 25–50% travel, initially concentrated at TLM’s mill sites in New Albany, Mississippi, with additional onsite support at other US locations as operations grow.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering, Process Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or an equivalent technical discipline.
• At least 5 years of process or industrial engineering experience in wood products manufacturing, such as sawmill, planer mill, OSB, LVL, plywood, or MDF environments.
• Working knowledge of primary and secondary wood breakdown processes, including log merchandising, sawing patterns, kerf and recovery optimization, surfacing, and grading.
• Hands-on mill layout design and material flow planning experience, including green-end and dry-end configurations, lumber handling systems, and sort and stacker integration.
• Proficiency with layout tools such as AutoCAD.
• Familiarity with scanning and optimization systems and how optimizer settings affect recovery and grade yield.
• Experience evaluating and implementing mill automation, including PLC-controlled sort lines, automated stackers, kiln tracking systems, and MES or production reporting platforms.
• Proficiency in time study methods, OEE analysis, and capacity modeling for high-volume, continuous-flow wood processing.
• Knowledge of kiln drying operations and the interactions among drying schedules, kiln capacity, and green inventory management.
• Understanding of lumber grading rules and how product mix and grade targets influence equipment sequencing and line design.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and ability to work across mill operations, construction and installation, maintenance, forestry and procurement, and sales teams.

Responsibilities

• Design and optimize material flow from log intake through processing, drying, surfacing, and finished-goods staging, reducing handling, rehandling, and queues.
• Develop and maintain mill layouts for sawmills, planer mills, panel plants, and engineered wood facilities, including equipment footprints, flow paths, chain configurations, and trim and sort systems.
• Determine primary and secondary breakdown equipment requirements and sequencing to maximize recovery and throughput.
• Evaluate and specify scanning and optimization systems, PLC-controlled sort systems, and automated stacking and strapping lines.
• Perform line balancing and bottleneck analysis across mill operations, matching equipment utilization to production targets.
• Conduct time studies and production flow analyses to establish standard work, crew sizing, and shift capacity targets.
• Partner with maintenance, production, and dry kiln teams on equipment installations, mill reconfigurations, and capacity expansion projects while minimizing downtime.
• Apply lean principles to wood products manufacturing and identify waste in lumber handling, sorting, stacking, trim optimization, and grade flow.
• Support capital project development for modernization initiatives, including vendor evaluation, installation, and commissioning.
• Own and maintain mill flow diagrams, equipment layout drawings, and standard operating procedures, updating documentation as equipment, products, or processes change.
• Adapt to changing priorities and support team and operational needs as they evolve.

Benefits

• 100% employer-paid health coverage for employees and dependents, including medical, dental, and vision.
• 100% employer-paid life insurance and disability coverage.
• Paid time off and company holidays.
• Flexible, unlimited time off.
• Opportunity to help build something from the ground up in an essential, evolving industry.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level