Product Development Engineer

The Product Development Engineer / Manufacturing

The Product Development Engineer (PDE) is a manufacturing subject matter expert who interprets engineering prints and develops the process flow to ensure the product gets made correctly and all requirements are met. PDEs are the focal of the pre-production IPT. They commonly work with design engineers, manufacturing engineers, quality engineers, production planners, and tool designers. They report to their assigned manager in the Engineering Department.

In early product development, the PDE is mostly generating process flows and CAD for intermediate stages of fabrication and production. Once reviewed, the PDE works with planning to generate detailed routing. When hardware is available, the PDE works with manufacturing engineers and operators to prototype and troubleshoot until a production-ready process and configuration passes inspection.

The primary product is welded sheet metal parts and assemblies
, with a focus on complex pneumatic high-pressure aerospace ducting. Other products include bellows and flexible joint assemblies, machined parts, additively manufactured metal and polymers parts, insulation covers, and small composite parts.

• Review new product drawings and models.
• Generate planning flow for new products (determine method of manufacturing, sequence of operations, MCD and tool needs, in-process inspection requirements, etc.)
• Create Manufacturing Control models and Drawings (MCD's). The PDE will reverse engineer product models and drawings to generate increasingly regressive manufacturing forms, all the way back to stock material.
• Review manufacturing routers for correctness and completeness.
• Create tool orders
• Review and approve tool designs for accuracy and correctness
• Create visual work instructions for new products
• Perform or be accountable for manufacturing simulations (e.g., forming simulation, layup simulations, etc.), as required
• Organize and run Manufacturing Readiness Reviews and drive outstanding actions to completion
• Review & disposition rejection reports, including root cause and corrective action
• Estimate time, tooling, and operations/methods for spares quotations & new program proposals
• Be consulted on inspection plans, tool designs, routing updates, Production Readiness Reviews, and process improvements
• Help develop or update standards/documentation based on lessons learned
• There are no supervisory responsibilities associated with this position. However, the PDE is expected to help guide/train members of the IPT or more junior PDEs as required.
• Adhere to the principles of APQP and AS9100

• Must be highly skilled in Catia v5, and specifically the FTA workbench
• Must be an expert in the interpretation and application of GD&T per ASME Y14.5-2018 (or 2009). Certification is a plus.
• Must be proficient in MS Office, particularly Excel
• Experience with manufacturing simulation software is a plus
• Bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related discipline, plus a minimum of 4 years of experience in a similar aerospace manufacturing environment and/or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience leading IPTs in a manufacturing environment
• Experience with the calculation of manufacturing tolerance budgets
• Experience with a wide variety of metal fabrication and processing equipment and methods including, but not limited to:
• Water jet, laser cutter, shear press, punch press, break press, drill press, manual and CNC lathes and mills, spin former, hydraulic press, and drop hammer
• Fusion, resistance, laser, and EB welding. Brazing and plating are a plus.
• Chemical processing, such as pickling, etching, passivating, etc.
• Thermal processing (heat treating, annealing, stress relieving, etc.)
• Experience with processing stainless steels, nickel alloys, titanium alloys, aluminum alloys using these methods

Must be a US Citizen or US Permanent Resident