Responsible for initiating and directing process and continuous improvement projects that: reduce material waste, improve quality of product and processes, increase productivity of production lines and other cost improvement efforts to achieve improved profitability. Individuals will routinely interact with all levels of plant and division staff through events, meetings, reviews, and daily improvement activities. This position requires a hands-on, on the production floor, daily commitment mentality driven to implement and sustain systematic improvement.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Performs continuous improvement and process engineering duties for: Extrusion lines, including supporting equipment, with product development, best practices, competitive technology, workstation design, implementing and sustaining 6S principles.
• Develops and improves manufacturing processes (recipe) for new and existing products to achieve optimum extrusion productivity and yield. Reviews and analyzes profiles, specifications, and standards to determine extrusion feasibility.
• Partners with plant operational staff on implementing, growing, and sustaining the business processes. Supports and trains operators in the fundamentals of the Extrusion process.
• Develop all necessary process and audit documentation (i.e. FMEAs Control Plans, Capability Studies, Balanced Line Capacity Models, Flow Analysis, etc.).
• Monitor progress, assist with questions, and develop corrective actions to ensure system processes are maintained and that a culture of continuous improvement is sustained.
• Assess existing processes for areas of improvement utilizing Lean Manufacturing concepts (Kaizen, TPM, Value Stream Mapping, etc.) Six Sigma, designed experiment techniques, capability studies, etc.
• Develop systems required to monitor and measure facility performance. Ensure that scorecards are aligned with plant strategic goals and objectives. Maintain action plans for the facility Key Performance Indicators.
• Conduct and analyze trials to support new products and problem solving. Interprets failure data and tests to identify material issues. Works closely with Sales, Manufacturing, Die Shop and Quality Departments.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related discipline, or equivalent combination of experience and education
• Five (5) to Ten (10) years manufacturing experience in process/manufacturing engineering is preferred. Specific technical knowledge may be required as applicable.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Safety and quality minded.
• Organized and detail oriented. Self-motivated and team oriented.
• Knowledge of Lean Manufacturing concepts. Knowledge of MS Office applications required.

Physical Demands/Work Requirements:

• The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• Employee is regularly required to stand and use hands to finger, handle or feel.  The employee frequently is required to reach with hands and arms and talk or hear.  The employee is occasionally required to walk.  The employee may occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.  Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.