Manufacturing Process Engineer
Listed on 2026-08-28
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Engineering
Manufacturing Engineer, Process Engineer, Quality Engineering, Lean Manufacturing / Six Sigma -
Manufacturing / Production
Manufacturing Engineer, Quality Engineering, Lean Manufacturing / Six Sigma
About the Position
Role:
Manufacturing Process Engineer
Reports to:
Engineering Manager
Location:
In Office, Ventura, California
Status:
Full Time, Hourly
Industry: Defense, Space, Aircraft, Medical
The Manufacturing Process Engineer is responsible for owning, improving, validating, and sustaining the manufacturing processes used to produce high-precision wire and cable assemblies at Strand Products, a 100% employee-owned manufacturer serving the medical device, aerospace, and defense industries.
This is a hands-on, production-focused role with a strong presence on the manufacturing floor. The Manufacturing Process Engineer works cross-functionally with Engineering, Quality, Production, Maintenance, and Supply Chain to improve process capability, quality, throughput, equipment performance, labor efficiency, and manufacturing cost. A central responsibility of the role is converting improvement opportunities into stable, documented, repeatable production processes through automation, tooling, equipment, data, and disciplined process control.
The role also owns the manufacturing-engineering handoff from New Product Introduction (NPI) into sustaining production. The Manufacturing Process Engineer ensures new processes are production-ready before transfer, establishes clear acceptance criteria and documentation, closes transfer gaps, and remains accountable for process performance after release to production.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities Production Process Ownership & Continuous Improvement- Own assigned manufacturing processes from release through sustaining production, including process performance, capability, documentation, and improvement.
- Develop, validate, standardize, document, and continuously improve manufacturing methods and process controls.
- Analyze production data and manufacturing KPIs to identify constraints, recurring defects, sources of variation, excessive labor content, downtime, and cost opportunities.
- Lead improvements that increase throughput, yield, first-pass quality, OEE, capacity, and labor efficiency while reducing scrap, rework, downtime, and process variation.
- Perform time studies, capacity analysis, line balancing, workflow analysis, and workstation/process optimization as appropriate.
- Use structured problem-solving and statistical methods, including capability studies, GR&R, DOE, trend analysis, and Minitab, to make data-based process decisions.
- Design and optimize tooling, fixtures, work holding, and production methods to improve repeatability, ergonomics, safety, quality, and cycle time.
- Lead Lean, Kaizen, waste-reduction, standard-work, and other continuous-improvement initiatives.
- Establish and monitor meaningful process metrics and verify that implemented improvements deliver sustained results.
- Identify and implement cost-reduction opportunities through process optimization, automation, waste elimination, material utilization, and equipment improvements.
- Identify manufacturing operations that are strong candidates for automation or semi-automation based on safety, quality, repeatability, labor content, capacity, and return on investment.
- Develop business cases and technical requirements for automation and equipment projects, including expected benefits, risks, implementation needs, and measurable success criteria.
- Specify, source, install, qualify, and integrate manufacturing equipment and automated systems.
- Lead or support automation initiatives involving PLC-controlled equipment, machine vision, sensors, data acquisition, motion control, error‑proofing, and manufacturing equipment integration.
- Work with internal teams, integrators, and equipment suppliers from concept through factory/site acceptance, installation, qualification, training, and production release.
- Ensure new equipment and automation are safe, maintainable, documented, validated as required, and practical for production operators and maintenance personnel.
- Collaborate with Maintenance to improve equipment reliability, preventive maintenance effectiveness, uptime, and long-term supportability.
- Develop tooling, fixtures, and 3D‑printed solutions when…
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