Tooling Engineer

TriMas Corporation•City of Industry, CA

2d•$90,000 - $130,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Tooling Engineer designs, develops and continuously improves tooling used to manufacture aerospace fasteners, with a focus on cold heading pins and sleeves. Working closely with Production, Quality and Manufacturing Engineering, this role ensures tooling meets part specifications and tolerances, extends tool life, and reduces machine downtime and cost per part. The position is onsite five days a week at the City of Industry, California facility. The role designs heading tooling and forming progressions, supports new product introduction from quote through first article inspection, selects appropriate tool materials and treatments, and coordinates tooling fabrication and qualification. It also analyzes tool wear and failures, leads root-cause and corrective-action work, runs tool-life studies, and partners with Production to improve setups, changeovers and throughput. The Tooling Engineer supports tooling quality and compliance with AS9100 and customer requirements, manages tooling records and documentation, helps implement a tool management system, writes setup and maintenance procedures, and provides technical direction and training to Tool Technicians and setup personnel. The role also supports tooling budgets, capital equipment recommendations and department goals.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering or a related field.
At least 3 years of tooling or manufacturing engineering experience.
Strong understanding of cold heading and forming processes, tool design, material flow, wear mechanisms and metallurgy, including titanium, aluminum, steel and nickel alloys.
Proficiency in CAD such as SolidWorks or AutoCAD, and ability to produce and interpret complex GD&T drawings.
Experience selecting tool materials, heat treatments and coatings.
Hands-on experience with root-cause analysis methods such as 8D, 5 Whys and fishbone.
Familiarity with tool management systems and ERP/MRP systems.
Working knowledge of AS9100 quality requirements.
Strong communication skills and ability to work effectively with machine operators, technicians, inspectors and engineers.
Ability to work onsite five days a week at the City of Industry, California facility.

Nice To Haves

Experience in cold heading, forging or fastener manufacturing.
Aerospace experience.

Responsibilities

Design and detail heading tooling, including dies, punches, cutoff tooling, transfer fingers and related components, using CAD and producing drawings with full GD&T.
Develop tooling and forming progressions for new part numbers and engineering changes, supporting new product introduction from quote through first article inspection.
Select tool materials, heat treatments and coatings based on part material, forming loads and wear requirements.
Coordinate with internal toolrooms and outside tooling vendors to fabricate, inspect and qualify tooling to drawing.
Analyze tool wear, breakage and failure modes, and lead root-cause analysis and corrective actions to extend tool life and reduce scrap.
Run tool-life studies and trials, using data to guide design changes, standardize tooling and lower tooling cost per part.
Partner with Production to optimize machine setups, reduce changeover times and increase pin and sleeve heading throughput.
Support Lean, 5S and continuous improvement initiatives in the heading department.
Work with Quality to ensure manufactured and purchased tooling meets dimensional and tolerance requirements.
Support nonconformance investigations, MRB and corrective actions related to tooling.
Ensure tooling documentation and processes comply with AS9100 and customer requirements.
Lead implementation and use of a tool management system to track tool life, usage and inventory, integrated with ERP/MRP where applicable.
Maintain tooling drawings, revision control, tool lists and setup documentation for heading part numbers.
Write SOPs for tool setup, handling, inspection and maintenance.
Provide technical direction and training to Tool Technicians and setup personnel.
Assist with tooling budgets, capital equipment recommendations and department goals.
Serve as a technical point of contact for tooling among Production, Quality and Engineering.