Sr. Industrial Engineer
Description
Position Summary:
The Senior Industrial Engineer is responsible for improving manufacturing capacity, productivity, flow, and capital effectiveness through industrial engineering analysis, factory modeling, and project execution. The role establishes and maintains manufacturing time standards, develops factory layouts and capacity models, evaluates manufacturing routings and constraints, and provides data-driven recommendations for capital investment and process improvement.
This position also translates the business forecast and strategic growth plan into long-range factory capacity, equipment, labor, and facility requirements and leads selected capital projects from business-case development through equipment installation, qualification, and production release.
Key Responsibilities:
Industrial Engineering & Manufacturing Standards
- Develop, validate, document, and maintain manufacturing time standards using time studies, work sampling, historical data, and engineered standards.
- Develop and maintain standard work for critical manufacturing processes.
- Analyze labor utilization, machine utilization, cycle times, setup times, queue times, and overall process performance.
- Partner with Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Planning and Operations to identify and eliminate non-value-added activities.
- Establish repeatable methods for maintaining standards as products, processes, equipment, and routings change.
- Support development of labor and machine productivity metrics.
Factory Layout & Process Flow
- Develop current-state and future-state factory layouts designed to improve material flow, reduce travel and handling, minimize WIP, and increase manufacturing capacity.
- Apply Lean manufacturing principles, value-stream analysis, cellular manufacturing concepts, and constraint management to factory design.
- Evaluate equipment placement, work centers, material storage, inspection points, staging areas, and material movement.
- Develop alternative layout scenarios and quantify the operational and financial benefits of proposed changes.
- Support longer-term facility and factory expansion planning.
Manufacturing Simulation & Routing Optimization
- Develop manufacturing models and simulations to evaluate alternative production routings, equipment configurations, staffing levels, batch sizes, and factory layouts.
- Model product flow through complex manufacturing processes to identify bottlenecks, queues, capacity constraints, and opportunities to improve throughput.
- Evaluate alternative routings to determine the most effective use of manufacturing assets.
- Conduct sensitivity and scenario analysis for changes in demand, product mix, equipment availability, yield, cycle time, and staffing.
- Translate simulation results into practical recommendations for Operations and Engineering.
Capacity Planning & Factory Forecasting
- Develop and maintain capacity models by work center, equipment type, process, and value stream.
- Conduct periodic capacity assessments using demand forecasts, product mix, routings, cycle times, yields, staffing, and equipment availability.
- Identify current and future capacity constraints and recommend actions to address them.
- Support SIOP/S&OP and strategic planning by translating demand forecasts into required labor, equipment, tooling, floor space, and capital.
- Develop multi-year factory capacity models to support business growth plans.
- Establish capacity assumptions and methodologies that can be routinely updated as demand and manufacturing performance change.
- Leverage Theory of Constraints for managing bottlenecks and optimize material flow
- Develop scenario models including base, upside, downside, and new-product demand cases.
Continuous Improvement
- Support and lead continuous improvement initiatives focused on safety, quality, delivery, cost, inventory, productivity, and throughput.
- Apply Lean, Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints, and other structured problem-solving methodologies as appropriate.
- Conduct value-stream mapping and process-flow analysis.
- Identify manufacturing bottlenecks and develop improvement recommendations based on data and observation.
- Support kaizen events and cross-functional improvement teams.
- Quantify and validate operational and financial benefits from improvement initiatives.
- Help establish sustainable metrics and controls to ensure improvements are maintained.
Qualifications Required:
- Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Operations Engineering, or related technical discipline.
- Typically 7+ years of relevant manufacturing/industrial engineering experience, with demonstrated ability to independently lead complex industrial engineering projects.
- Demonstrated experience developing manufacturing time standards and standard work.
- Experience conducting manufacturing capacity analysis and developing capacity models.
- Experience developing or optimizing factory layouts and material flow.
- Experience developing capital equipment justifications and financial business cases.
- Experience leading manufacturing capital projects and equipment installations.
- Strong analytical and quantitative problem-solving skills.
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively across Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Finance, Maintenance, and Facilities.
- Strong project-management and communication skills.
- Advanced proficiency with Excel and data-analysis tools.
Qualifications Preferred:
- Master's degree in Industrial Engineering, Operations Research, Manufacturing Engineering, or MBA.
- Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt.
- PMP or demonstrated formal project-management experience.
- Experience with discrete-event simulation or factory modeling software such as Simio, FlexSim, Arena, Plant Simulation, or equivalent.
- Experience with AutoCAD, Visio, or similar factory-layout tools.
- Experience working with ERP/MRP systems and manufacturing routings.
- Experience developing capacity models from ERP routings, standards, forecasts, and SIOP/S&OP demand.
- Experience with high-mix, batch, process, machining, or technically complex manufacturing environments.
- Experience applying Theory of Constraints and Lean manufacturing principles.
Critical Competencies:
Systems Thinking: Understands the interaction between demand, product mix, routings, equipment, labor, inventory, constraints, and factory flow.
Analytical Problem Solving: Converts complex manufacturing data into actionable operational recommendations.
Business & Financial Acumen: Connects industrial engineering recommendations to capacity, cost, cash, margin, and return on invested capital.
Project Leadership: Drives complex cross-functional projects from concept through implementation and measurable results.
Manufacturing Presence: Works effectively on the factory floor and validates analytical conclusions through direct observation.
Continuous Improvement Mindset: Challenges existing processes and uses structured analysis to identify better ways to operate.
Communication & Influence: Communicates complex technical analysis clearly to operators, engineers, functional leaders, and senior management.