Principal Manufacturing Engineer

We are seeking a Principal Manufacturing Engineer to lead critical manufacturing initiatives within our top‑freezer refrigeration operations in Decatur, Alabama. This role serves as a technical authority responsible for driving process excellence, equipment reliability, and manufacturing strategy across high‑volume production lines. The Principal Manufacturing Engineer will play a key role in supporting new product introductions, optimizing existing processes, and ensuring alignment between engineering, quality, and operations to deliver best‑in‑class performance.

Principal Manufacturing Engineer

USA, Decatur, AL

• Coordinate and manage capital equipment procurement projects, including specification development in alignment with GE Appliances and industry standards, supplier selection and early engagement, technical reviews, factory layout development, supplier run‑off/qualification, installation, and final equipment acceptance. Ensure all tooling and equipment are reliable, robust, and designed to maximize Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).
• Own the program metrics as applicable to your assigned projects: capital equipment & tooling budgets, program schedule, reliability, quality and labor targets. Work with the program team to perform trade‑off analysis on competing metrics if necessary and drive decisions based on overall business impact.
• Facilitate/lead the use of the Production Preparation Process (3P) and Lean manufacturing principles while developing manufacturing equipment and processes. Utilize cross‑functional participation to ensure that the equipment and processes are compatible with the entire value stream. Efforts should include right‑sized equipment, workstation design, material presentation, standard work and single‑piece flow.

• Ensure all equipment executed in GEA factories comply with industry and governmental Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) standards.
• Utilize Human Organizational Performance (HOP) principles to ensure that all equipment, tooling, and processes are implemented with the health and safety of the operators in mind.
• Work with functional leaders to ensure equipment & processes support business initiatives of Bill of Process (BoP), Lean Manufacturing, Ergonomic Design and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM).

• Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering or related discipline OR equivalent hands‑on experience in technical/manufacturing disciplines.
• 7+ years of hands‑on experience in manufacturing equipment and processes; experience within GE Appliances Refrigeration plant(s) strongly preferred.
• Proven success in managing capital equipment projects, including supplier selection, installation, and qualification.
• Expertise in Lean manufacturing principles.
• Strong communication and leadership skills to engage with diverse teams, from shop floor operators to senior management.
• A track record of meeting deadlines and budgets for construction and equipment projects.

• Appliance manufacturing background, especially across laundry or other high‑volume assembly operations.
• Solid operational plant finance background and understanding.
• Experience managing large manufacturing and engineering projects.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor, develop, grow and maintain a skilled engineering team.
• Fluent with Lean manufacturing principles.
• Proven communication skills – will be expected to communicate to all levels of the organization.
• Demonstrated ability to take ownership of cross‑functional program deliverables and ability to drive decisions based on the overall benefit to the company.
• Experience implementing and/or operating under Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) system.
• Direct management experience for highly skilled engineering teams.
• Experience with implementing Lean process improvement in a manufacturing operation.

GE Appliances is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by law.

GE Appliances participates in E‑Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I‑9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S.

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