Tool & Fixture Manager

Amerequip•Kiel, WI

About The Position

The Tool & Fixture Manager develops and executes the company’s weld fixture and tooling strategy, including long-term plans to improve fixture quality, lead time, cost, and standardization. The role establishes fixture design philosophies, best practices, specifications, requirements, and acceptance criteria, while driving continuous improvement across tooling processes. The position manages the development and implementation of 50–200 weld fixture and tooling projects annually, leading tooling activities from concept through production readiness. It coordinates timelines, milestones, readiness reviews, and tooling availability for prototype, pilot, and production schedules, while identifying and mitigating launch risks. The manager identifies, qualifies, and develops domestic and international tooling suppliers; leads RFQs, supplier selection, negotiations, and commercial agreements; and manages supplier performance, capacity, and capability. The role partners with Product Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering to define requirements and ensure tooling supports safety, ergonomics, quality, manufacturability, and productivity. The position establishes tooling validation, approval, and acceptance processes; coordinates try-outs, runoffs, and production readiness reviews; and resolves tooling-related quality issues. It also leads efforts to reduce lead times and costs, improve launch performance, and implement standard work, metrics, dashboards, automation, digital tools, and other technology advancements. The role provides cross-functional leadership across Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, and Quality, influencing teams without direct authority and promoting accountability for timelines, quality, and results. Performance areas include tooling cost versus budget, cost reductions, supplier competitiveness, tooling ROI and productivity, first-pass acceptance, production disruptions, corrective actions, supplier quality, fixture standardization, design reuse, supplier improvements, and lead-time reduction.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute the company’s weld fixture and tooling strategy.
Establish long-term plans and design philosophies to improve fixture quality, lead time, cost, and standardization.
Create and maintain standardized fixture specifications, requirements, best practices, and acceptance criteria.
Drive continuous improvement in tooling processes across the organization.
Manage the development and implementation of 50–200 weld fixture and tooling projects annually, from concept through production readiness.
Establish project timelines, milestones, and readiness reviews, and align tooling availability with prototype, pilot, and production schedules.
Identify and mitigate tooling-related launch risks.
Identify, qualify, and develop domestic and international tooling suppliers and strategic supplier partnerships.
Manage RFQs, supplier selection, contract negotiations, and commercial agreements.
Develop supplier performance scorecards and improvement plans, and evaluate supplier capacity and capabilities.
Partner with Product Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering to define fixture requirements.
Ensure fixtures support safety, ergonomics, quality, manufacturability, and productivity objectives.
Participate in design reviews and Design for Manufacturability activities.
Promote fixture standardization and reuse across product families when appropriate.
Support implementation of new manufacturing technologies and tooling innovations.
Establish tooling validation and approval processes and coordinate fixture try-outs, runoffs, and production readiness reviews.
Develop tooling supplier acceptance criteria and quality standards, and resolve tooling-related quality issues through structured corrective actions.
Ensure tooling supports product quality and customer requirements.
Lead initiatives to reduce tooling lead times, improve launch performance, and lower total tooling costs.
Drive process improvements through standard work, metrics, and best practices; establish tooling performance dashboards and KPI reporting.
Identify opportunities for automation, digital tools, and technology advancements.
Provide cross-functional leadership across Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, and Quality; facilitate decision-making and issue resolution.
Build strong relationships with customers, suppliers, and internal stakeholders and promote accountability for timelines, quality, and results.
Track performance in tooling cost versus budget, cost reduction, supplier competitiveness, tooling ROI and productivity, first-pass acceptance, production disruptions, corrective actions, supplier quality, standardization, design reuse, supplier improvement, and lead-time reduction.