NPI Manufacturing Engineer III

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Full Time Rubbercraft, Long Beach, CA, US

Salary Range: $ To $ Annually

Rubbercraft is seeking an NPI Manufacturing Engineer III to join our organization and support the introduction, development, validation, and transition of new products into the manufacturing environment. The NPI Manufacturing Engineer III is a capable manufacturing engineering contributor responsible for developing manufacturing processes, supporting producibility, improving process capability, and supporting successful production launch of rubber and elastomer-based products.

This role supports new product introduction activities with limited supervision and works closely with cross-functional teams to ensure new products meet safety, quality, delivery, cost, customer, regulatory, and manufacturability requirements.

About Rubbercraft: Rubbercraft is a trusted leader in engineered elastomer solutions serving the aerospace, defense, and industrial markets. We design and manufacture precision-molded seals, gaskets, and custom rubber components that perform in the world's most demanding environments. Our culture is built on innovation, collaboration, quality, and customer commitment.

• Develop and transfer new products into production by analyzing product requirements, defining manufacturing methods, and supporting production implementation.
• Develop, document, validate, and improve manufacturing process sequences, tooling approaches, equipment requirements, and production controls.
• Translate product, drawing, customer, and contractual requirements into manufacturable process plans, including BOMs, routers, work instructions, inspection support documentation, and labor assumptions.
• Support manufacturing readiness activities for assigned programs, including prototype builds, pilot builds, first article support, production readiness reviews, and handoff to operations.
• Review product designs and technical requirements to identify manufacturability risks, process constraints, tooling needs, inspection challenges, and cost drivers.
• Work with cross-functional teams to define process flow, production sequence, equipment needs, operator requirements, and launch readiness actions.
• Support phase gate activities by completing assigned manufacturing engineering deliverables and communicating risks, open actions, and required resources.

• Apply knowledge of rubber manufacturing processes, including compression molding, transfer molding, injection molding, extrusion, bonding, coating, and secondary operations as applicable.
• Support development and optimization of manufacturing processes for elastomeric and polymer-based products.
• Define process parameters, tooling needs, equipment requirements, and manufacturing controls to support repeatable product and process capability.
• Support tooling, fixtures, jigs, templates, and manufacturing aids required for manufacturability, repeatability, safety, ergonomics, and efficiency.
• Partner with Design Engineering to support design for manufacturability, producibility, inspection feasibility, and cost effectiveness.
• Evaluate manufacturing methods and equipment options by considering product requirements, process capability, labor needs, safety, quality, and capacity.
• Support process trials, production builds, and manufacturing studies used to establish or improve process capability.

• Support compliance with applicable QMS requirements, engineering procedures, customer requirements, and aerospace/defense expectations.
• Support contract and technical requirement reviews to identify manufacturing feasibility, capability, cost, documentation, and compliance risks.
• Participate in phase gate, QMS, and controlled documentation processes.
• Create, review, and maintain manufacturing documentation, including BOMs, routers, work instructions, process flows, production readiness records, and supporting technical documentation.
• Support GD&T interpretation, drawing review, mechanical testing, inspection planning, and process validation requirements as needed.
• Ensure manufacturing documentation clearly communicates process steps, tooling requirements, equipment requirements, inspection points, safety considerations, and quality controls.
• Support development and maintenance of labor standards and process assumptions used to evaluate direct labor, indirect labor, machine performance, capacity, and cost.

• Participate in root cause analysis and corrective action activities related to NPI builds, production launch issues, scrap, rework, quality escapes, or process instability.
• Apply structured problem-solving methods to analyze product and process performance.
• Use data, observation,…