SR Cost Industrial Engineer
About The Position
The Senior Cost Industrial Engineer is a key link between manufacturing operations, process optimization, financial cost management, and people leadership. The role evaluates, develops, and optimizes manufacturing processes to improve productivity, quality, safety, and cost efficiency. It analyzes labor, materials, equipment, workflows, and production data to establish standard costs, identify inefficiencies, reduce waste, and lead cost-reduction initiatives. The position partners with Production, Quality, Maintenance, Supply Chain, Finance, Operations, plant management, and other teams to implement sustainable improvements and support operational excellence. The role leads a team of approximately 3–4 direct reports, setting objectives and expectations and providing coaching, development, performance management, and strategic direction. It builds a high-performing team and fosters accountability, collaboration, associate engagement, and continuous improvement. The Senior Cost Industrial Engineer also leads improvement projects using Lean manufacturing principles, automation, and other continuous improvement methodologies, applying data analysis, engineering expertise, and financial insight to improve consistency, throughput, quality, and manufacturing costs. The position is assigned to multiple manufacturing facilities and is based in the Martinsville, Virginia location. Frequent travel of up to 70% is required. The role involves work in manufacturing, warehouse, and office environments, including regular interaction with production machinery and material-handling equipment, and requires compliance with applicable safety procedures and PPE requirements.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering or a similar engineering field.
- At least 10 years of manufacturing experience.
- Proficiency in ERP systems, such as NetSuite and Scale.
- Advanced data modeling and spreadsheet capabilities, including Access, Excel, SQL, and Power BI.
- Track record of working across functional teams, driving change, and implementing processes that significantly improve manufacturing efficiencies.
- Demonstrated leadership experience and ability to lead, coach, develop, and motivate technical or operational teams in a manufacturing environment.
- Ability to work with different technologies to develop efficient solutions that achieve required results.
- Lean manufacturing or Six Sigma certification, with Green Belt as the minimum stated level.
- Strong Microsoft Office skills.
- Ability to communicate with employees at all levels of the organization.
- Ability to influence others to implement process changes.
Nice To Haves
- Master’s degree.
- Manufacturing experience in the textile industry or a similar industry.
- Lean manufacturing or Six Sigma Black Belt certification.
Responsibilities
- Establish and update product standard costs, including labor standards, machine rates, and bill of materials accuracy.
- Investigate and report manufacturing variances, including labor efficiency, material usage and yield, and purchase price variance.
- Conduct time studies, line balancing, and value stream mapping to reduce unit production costs without sacrificing quality.
- Evaluate equipment purchases, automation upgrades, and layout changes using payback periods, net present value, and internal rate of return.
- Partner with plant management, Finance, Production Control, Supply Chain, and other cross-functional teams to align operational targets with budget constraints.
- Lead cost-reduction workshops, waste-elimination initiatives, Lean manufacturing events, and continuous improvement projects.
- Lead, coach, develop, and manage approximately 3–4 direct reports, including performance management, talent development, succession planning, and associate engagement.
- Establish team objectives and priorities aligned with plant, operational, and business goals.
- Resolve technical and process-related issues affecting manufacturing performance, product quality, and reproducibility.
- Analyze production data and key performance indicators to identify trends, risks, and improvement opportunities.
- Support equipment design, installation, validation, maintenance, and capital project implementation.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to improve manufacturability, product quality, and operational performance.
- Evaluate product designs and manufacturing processes to improve manufacturability, efficiency, and product quality.
- Maintain engineering documentation, including process flows, PFMEAs, control plans, work instructions, and standard operating procedures.
- Develop and implement workstation, process, and layout improvements to enhance safety, quality, ergonomics, and productivity.
- Recommend and support policies, procedures, and best practices that promote operational excellence.
- Promote accountability, safety, continuous improvement, and operational excellence through leadership and communication.
- Conduct coaching, feedback, and development discussions to build technical capability and leadership bench strength.
- Build partnerships across the organization and model company values and leadership expectations.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Stand Out From the Crowd
Upload your resume and get instant feedback on how well it matches this job.
What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
