Manufacturing Engineer

Job Location: Apple Creek, OH
Reports to: Plant Manager
FLSA Status: Exempt
Employment Type: Full-time

Precision Products Group (PPG) is a growing global leader in converting niche engineered materials for electrical, aerospace & defense, medical, and electrical industrial markets across the globe. PPG operates across multiple company divisions and brands, which include Cindus Corporation, Paramount Tube, Breyden Products, Saylor Technical Products, Euclid Medical, and PPG China. PPG has developed significant operational capabilities to serve a wide range of customers with unique solutions and products by leveraging decades of experience in their respective markets.

In supporting the customers and markets, PPG designs and builds highly customized engineered solutions and products using a collaborative team approach and partnership with our customers. PPG is a process driven organization that relies on robust engineering practices, highly skilled team members, and a customer-centric approach that delivers high-quality products to the market.

The Manufacturing Engineer is responsible for designing, implementing, and improving manufacturing processes to ensure safe, efficient, and cost-effective production. This role partners closely with production, quality, engineering, and maintenance teams to troubleshoot process issues, drive continuous improvement initiatives, and support new product/process launches. The Manufacturing Engineer will drive continuous improvement across all manufacturing processes through equipment modernization, optimized layouts and material flow, and the application of lean manufacturing principles such as SMED and level loading, and other lean tools.

This role will lead the efforts to eliminate operational waste, while ensuring that every improvement strengthens safety, quality, and productivity. This role is a hands-on, floor-facing role that is predicated on solving problems at the source and building process that are sustainable and repeatable. Reporting to the Plant Manager, the Manufacturing Engineer will provide technical expertise in improving quality and productivity and innovative problem-solving.

This role is critical to ensuring operational excellence and supporting the organization in improving manufacturing processes that deliver sustained and measurable improvements. The Manufacturing Engineer role will be an integral part of the operations and engineering team as a critical resource for the next phase of significant growth for the organization.

Process Improvement

• Identify, design, and implement improvements to manufacturing processes to increase efficiency and reduce waste.
• Apply lean manufacturing tools, including SMED (Single-Minute Exchange of Die), level loading, and value stream mapping, to optimize operations.
• Develop and refine standard work, cycle times, and process parameters to improve consistency and yield.
• Troubleshoot recurring process issues and implement engineering solutions to eliminate root causes.

Equipment & Layout Optimization

• Lead equipment modernization projects to improve reliability, throughput, and ease of operation.
• Evaluate and redesign plant layouts and material flow to minimize handling, travel distance, and cycle time.
• Specify, justify, and coordinate capital equipment purchases; manage equipment installation, qualification, and startup.
• Design, procure, and implement tooling and fixtures to support production requirements.

Safety

• Ensure that all process changes are designed and validated with safety as a foundational requirement, not an afterthought.
• Support root cause analysis for safety incidents and help implement engineering controls to eliminate or reduce risk.
• Partner with EHS and plant leadership to ensure compliance with OSHA and internal safety standards during process and equipment changes.
• Participate in job safety analyses (JSAs) and pre-startup safety reviews for new or modified equipment.

Quality

• Partner with Quality to build error-proofing and process controls into new and revised processes.
• Provide technical leadership and support for resolving quality-related customer issues at the…