The Industrial Engineer partners with plant management and frontline supervisors to drive measurable gains in safety, quality, delivery, and cost (SQDC). With a balance of technical expertise and leadership influence, the role advances the company’s continuous improvement culture by aligning Lean and Six Sigma practices with company values: Execute with Determination, Connect with People, and Do the Right Thing. Key Responsibilities: Process & Technical Expertise: • Lead continuous improvement projects across assigned areas. • Conduct value stream mapping, time studies, and process flow analysis to optimize throughput, takt time, and resource allocation. • Design and implement ergonomic workstations and assembly lines to improve operator safety, efficiency, and quality. • Develop and maintain labor standards, capacity models, and production forecasts to support planning and scheduling accuracy. • Optimize material flow, internal logistics, and line-side delivery systems to reduce handling, downtime, and waste. • Implement visual management systems (kanban, Andon, production boards) to improve shop floor communication and accountability. • Lead root cause analysis and structured problem-solving (8D, A3, FMEA) to drive permanent solutions to production challenges. • Partner with welding departments to advance robotic welding automation, weld sequence optimization, and fixture/tooling design. • Support automation and technology integration (PLC-controlled systems, robotics, smart manufacturing, IoT-enabled equipment). • Apply statistical process control (SPC) and advanced data analytics to monitor quality and process performance. • Collaborate with Maintenance/Engineering teams on Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) to improve the equipment’s uptime and reliability. • Work with New Product Engineering to integrate Design for Manufacturability (DFM) and Design for Assembly (DFA) into new axle and suspension designs. • Identify and implement cost reduction initiatives in direct labor, indirect labor, scrap, rework, and utilities. • Standardize best practices across regions, ensuring sustainability and replication of improvements. Leadership & Influence: • Act as a local CI coach and trainer, mentoring plant managers and supervisors. • Facilitate Kaizen workshops and problem-solving events. • Track and report KPIs (OEE, scrap, safety, cost savings). • Promote best practice sharing across departments to reduce variation. • Drive the Lean culture through engagement with both leadership and frontline employees. Qualifications: Competencies: • Customer Focus – aligns CI work with the company’s product reliability and customer commitments. • Collaboration – effective across plants, union environments, and functional teams. • Operational Excellence – uses Lean/Six Sigma to drive sustainable results. • Communication – able to translate CI strategy from plant floor to executive level. • Change Leadership – drives adoption of CI culture in established operations. Education: • Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or related field Experience: • 1-3+ years in manufacturing (axle, chassis, suspension, automotive/trailer components preferred). Technical Skills: • Lean Six Sigma (Green/Black Belt preferred). • Welding knowledge (manual/robotic, MIG, TIG, resistance). • Time studies, labor standards, and plant layout design. • ERP/MES (Oracle, Plex, SAP) and data analytics.