Manufacturing Engineer
Job Location: Apple Creek, OH
Reports to: Plant Manager
FLSA Status: Exempt
Employment Type: Full-time
About PPG
Precision Products Group (PPG) is a growing global leader in converting niche engineered materials for electrical, aerospace & defense, medical, and electrical industrial markets across the globe. PPG operates across multiple company divisions and brands, which include Cindus Corporation, Paramount Tube, Breyden Products, Saylor Technical Products, Euclid Medical, and PPG China. PPG has developed significant operational capabilities to serve a wide range of customers with unique solutions and products by leveraging decades of experience in their respective markets. In supporting the customers and markets, PPG designs and builds highly customized engineered solutions and products using a collaborative team approach and partnership with our customers. PPG is a process driven organization that relies on robust engineering practices, highly skilled team members, and a customer-centric approach that delivers high-quality products to the market.
Role Overview
The Manufacturing Engineer is responsible for designing, implementing, and improving manufacturing processes to ensure safe, efficient, and cost-effective production. This role partners closely with production, quality, engineering, and maintenance teams to troubleshoot process issues, drive continuous improvement initiatives, and support new product/process launches. The Manufacturing Engineer will drive continuous improvement across all manufacturing processes through equipment modernization, optimized layouts and material flow, and the application of lean manufacturing principles such as SMED and level loading, and other lean tools. This role will lead the efforts to eliminate operational waste, while ensuring that every improvement strengthens safety, quality, and productivity. This role is a hands-on, floor-facing role that is predicated on solving problems at the source and building process that are sustainable and repeatable. Reporting to the Plant Manager, the Manufacturing Engineer will provide technical expertise in improving quality and productivity and innovative problem-solving. This role is critical to ensuring operational excellence and supporting the organization in improving manufacturing processes that deliver sustained and measurable improvements. The Manufacturing Engineer role will be an integral part of the operations and engineering team as a critical resource for the next phase of significant growth for the organization.
Key Responsibilities
Process Improvement
- Identify, design, and implement improvements to manufacturing processes to increase efficiency and reduce waste.
- Apply lean manufacturing tools, including SMED (Single-Minute Exchange of Die), level loading, and value stream mapping, to optimize operations.
- Develop and refine standard work, cycle times, and process parameters to improve consistency and yield.
- Troubleshoot recurring process issues and implement engineering solutions to eliminate root causes.
Equipment & Layout Optimization
- Lead equipment modernization projects to improve reliability, throughput, and ease of operation.
- Evaluate and redesign plant layouts and material flow to minimize handling, travel distance, and cycle time.
- Specify, justify, and coordinate capital equipment purchases; manage equipment installation, qualification, and startup.
- Design, procure, and implement tooling and fixtures to support production requirements.
Safety
- Ensure that all process changes are designed and validated with safety as a foundational requirement, not an afterthought.
- Support root cause analysis for safety incidents and help implement engineering controls to eliminate or reduce risk.
- Partner with EHS and plant leadership to ensure compliance with OSHA and internal safety standards during process and equipment changes.
- Participate in job safety analyses (JSAs) and pre-startup safety reviews for new or modified equipment.
Quality
- Partner with Quality to build error-proofing and process controls into new and revised processes.
- Provide technical leadership and support for resolving quality-related customer issues at the root cause level.
- Conduct process capability studies (Cpk/Ppk) and use statistical process control (SPC) to monitor and improve process stability.
- Partner with Quality to support ISO/IATF compliance, control plans, and PPAP submissions for new and existing processes.
- Support internal and customer quality audits with accurate, audit-ready process and engineering records.
Productivity Integration
- Track and report productivity gains resulting from improvement initiatives.
- Monitor and improve overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), labor efficiency, and throughput across production lines.
- Balance workflow, staffing, and equipment capacity with production schedules to optimize line performance.
- Collaborate with Production and Supply Chain to align capacity planning with customer demand.
Project Management
- Develop project plans, timelines, and justifications — including cost-benefit and ROI analysis — for capital expenditures and improvement initiatives.
- Own the execution of productivity improvement initiatives from scope definition through implementation.
- Coordinate cross-functionally with Maintenance, Quality, Supply Chain, and Production to ensure projects are delivered on time and within scope.
- Manage engineering change orders (ECOs/ECNs) and ensure timely communication of changes to affected stakeholders.
- Track and report project status, risks, and milestones to engineering and plant leadership.
Innovation Support
- Support new products being developed as well as operationalizing new products into production.
- Support all Factory Acceptance Tests (FATs) and commissioning/decommissioning of new production lines and equipment.
- Research and evaluate new manufacturing technologies, automation, and tooling to improve competitiveness and capability.
- Pilot and validate new processes or equipment prior to full-scale production implementation.
Continuous Improvement
- Lead or support kaizen events and other continuous improvement activities.
- Identify and eliminate the eight wastes across manufacturing processes.
- Establish standard work and best practices to sustain improvements.
- Benchmark performance against other PPG facilities and industry standards to identify improvement opportunities.
Data & Documentation
- Analyze process and production data to identify improvement opportunities and measure results.
- Maintain accurate process documentation, work instructions, and layout drawings.
- Prepare and maintain engineering drawings, specifications, and bills of materials (BOMs).
- Ensure engineering records support audit readiness for ISO/IATF and customer quality requirements.
- Document lessons learned and best practices from projects and improvement initiatives for future reference.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing Engineering or a related field required.
- 3–5 years of prior manufacturing improvement experience preferred.
- Demonstrated experience applying lean manufacturing principles, including SMED and level loading.
- Strong understanding of equipment, layouts, and material flow in a manufacturing environment.
- Proven ability to build safety and quality into process design, not treat them as an afterthought.
- Strong project management, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
- Effective communicator able to collaborate across production, quality, maintenance, and engineering teams.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite; CAD or layout software experience is a plus.
- Familiarity with GD&T, process FMEA, and statistical process control (SPC).
- Preferred experience with ERP/MRP/CMMS systems.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with high attention to detail and accuracy.
- Effective communicator with the ability to present complex technical information clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Preferred Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt certification and/or strong understanding of basic tools and Six Sigma or LEAN principles.
- Familiarity with ISO 9001 and/or AS9100 quality systems.
- High degree of professional integrity and commitment to ethical business practices.
- Preferred experience working within small-to-mid-sized companies that are PE-owned.
Travel
This position is based at the Apple Creek, OH facility and will have limited travel. Ability to travel up to 10% of the time to attend off-site company meetings, other plant locations, and customer/vendor locations.
What We Offer
- Competitive compensation
- Robust benefits options (PPO and HSA options)
- 401K with company match
- Highly engaged culture that recognizes and rewards high performance
- Opportunities for career progression and the ability to make an immediate impact on the business
Equal Opportunity Statement
We are an equal opportunity employer and are committed to providing a workplace free from discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
