Job Summary:
The Plant Engineer will support our plastics manufacturing operations with a strong focus on equipment reliability, process improvement, troubleshooting, and continuous improvement. This position is intended for an engineer who enjoys being hands-on in a manufacturing environment, working directly with production equipment, maintenance teams, operators, and plant leadership to improve safety, quality, efficiency, and overall plant performance.
Essential Responsibilities:
- Provide hands-on engineering support to daily plant and production operations.
- Troubleshoot manufacturing equipment, processes, and recurring production issues to identify root causes and implement corrective actions.
- Work closely with production and maintenance personnel to improve equipment reliability, uptime, throughput, quality, and labor efficiency.
- Identify opportunities to improve manufacturing processes, workflow, equipment performance, and overall plant efficiency.
- Lead or support continuous improvement initiatives focused on safety, quality, productivity, waste reduction, and cost improvement.
- Support the installation, commissioning, modification, and startup of new or upgraded manufacturing equipment.
- Assist with the development and improvement of preventive and predictive maintenance programs.
- Analyze equipment downtime, production data, scrap, quality issues, and other operational metrics to identify improvement opportunities.
- Perform root cause analysis and develop sustainable solutions to recurring equipment or process problems.
- Develop and maintain process documentation, equipment specifications, standard operating procedures, and engineering records.
- Collaborate with Operations, Maintenance, Quality, Engineering, and other departments to support plant objectives.
- Perform other engineering and operational duties as assigned.
Required Skills & Abilities:
- Familiarity with preventive maintenance programs and manufacturing equipment reliability practices.
- Ability to analyze manufacturing data and translate findings into practical process improvements.
- Strong problem-solving, organizational, and project management skills.
- Ability to communicate effectively with plant leadership, engineers, maintenance personnel, production supervisors, and hourly employees.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications; experience with ERP, CMMS, CAD, or manufacturing data systems is beneficial.
Education and Experience:
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related engineering field required.
- Approximately 4+ years of engineering experience within a plastics manufacturing environment preferred.
- Hands-on experience working directly with manufacturing equipment, production processes, maintenance teams, and plant operations.
- Experience within plastics manufacturing, plastics extrusion, pipe manufacturing, polymer processing, or a similar continuous manufacturing environment strongly preferred.
Physical Requirements:
- Must possess mobility to work in a standard office setting and use standard office equipment, including a computer.
- Subject to standing, walking, bending, reaching, stooping, and lifting of objects up to 50 pounds; may occasionally be exposed to dangerous machinery, extreme weather conditions, and extreme noise when working at plant locations.
- Ability to travel as needed to support plant requirements.
- Strong attention to detail, organizational skills and strong mathematical aptitude.
The base salary range for this position is $75,000 - $85,000/year.
