Manufacturing Engineer

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Georgia-Pacific's Dixie Operations is seeking a Manufacturing Engineer for its Fort Smith, Arkansas facility.

Our Manufacturing Engineers are responsible for improving the performance, reliability, and efficiency of manufacturing assets and production processes across the plant. As an essential member of the plant engineering staff, this role involves monitoring asset and production performance metrics, supporting the resolution of short-term equipment and operational challenges, and developing long-term strategies that create sustainable business value.

The successful candidate will leverage data, reliability strategies, and cross-functional collaboration to improve asset performance, optimize manufacturing processes, and create long-term value for the business. This position is part of the Engineering Team, reporting to the Reliability Leader, and will work closely with technical engineering, maintenance execution, operations, and various corporate teams.

The Fort Smith Plant is part of the Dixie brand plates and bowls paper products manufacturing operation. We are proud to safely manufacture quality products that have a competitive advantage and solid growth within the marketplace. We create a work environment that attracts, engages, and retains the best people. Our employees help others and the business reach their full potential, promoting our Principle-Based Management culture in the work they do every day.

Our technology is state of the art, and we bring the best team together to deliver for our customers, Georgia-Pacific, and the Fort Smith community.

• Develop and implement data-driven short- and long-term asset strategies that improve safety, reliability, production efficiency, and overall business performance, including operating envelope, operator basic care, parts strategy, optimization, condition-based monitoring, and predictive and preventative maintenance activities.
• Lead efforts to improve asset performance and reliability with regard to safety, environmental compliance, quality, utilization, efficiency, and cost effectiveness.
• Work with operators and maintenance teams to identify critical equipment hazards and mitigate the impact of human error where the highest levels of risk exist.
• Communicate with and help employees connect to our vision, priorities, and business objectives.
• Support operations teams by coaching operators on safe equipment operation, operator basic care, operating parameters, equipment upgrades, and best practices.
• Work closely with operators and business partners to troubleshoot process, quality, and equipment issues while evaluating and implementing improvement opportunities.
• Work closely with shift supervision to identify operator capability gaps and support the development and revision of operating procedures.
• Lead Root Cause Analysis efforts and implement effective corrective actions.
• Evaluate, approve, prioritize, and plan work orders, equipment repairs, and scheduled shutdown activities.
• Lead capital and reliability improvement projects from concept through execution, including business case development, stakeholder alignment, contractor coordination, implementation, and results evaluation.
• Make sound economic decisions regarding maintenance activities, capital spending, and project investments.
• Perform GEMBA walks to improve employee engagement, asset performance, and maintenance effectiveness.

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related technical discipline, OR at least four (4) years of experience in a manufacturing or industrial operations environment.
• Experience troubleshooting and improving manufacturing equipment and processes.
• Experience with manufacturing equipment setup, operation, or repair.
• Must be able and willing to work in a food-grade manufacturing plant environment, including extended periods in areas that may be noisy, non-air conditioned, or unheated.
• Experience using Microsoft Office applications such as Outlook, Word, Excel, and/or Project.
• Legal authorization to work permanently in the United States for any employer without requiring a visa transfer or visa sponsorship

• Experience working with paper converting, packaging, or other industrial manufacturing equipment.
• Experience in the pulp and paper industry.
• Experience with automation, conveyor systems, vision systems, and/or robotics.
• Experience initiating and/or executing engineering projects.
• Experience with PI Process Book or other data historian programs.
• Experience analyzing data to drive business decisions and asset strategies.
• Experience developing or implementing asset reliability strategies, including predictive, preventative, or condition-based maintenance programs.

At Koch companies, we are entrepreneurs. This means we openly challenge the status quo, find new ways to create value and get rewarded for our individual contributions. Any compensation range provided for a role is an estimate determined by available market…