P100855 Plant Vehicle Engineering, Fastening & Joining Engineer

Plant Vehicle Engineering, Fastening & Joining Engineer

Looking for a hands-on Plant Vehicle Engineering, Fastening & Joining Engineer to support launch readiness, production quality, and continuous improvement for fastening and joining applications in the vehicle assembly plant.

This role serves as a Plant Vehicle Engineering subject matter expert and cross-functional technical partner for fastening and joining-related production concerns. The position focuses on protecting product intent, supporting issue resolution, driving root cause analysis, validating corrective actions, and improving build quality during launch and ongoing production.

This role does not own design release or manufacturing process ownership. It is responsible for identifying fastening and joining concerns in production, partnering with the appropriate engineering and manufacturing teams, and escalating product, process, tooling, material, or workmanship issues when requirements are not being met.

Education and Experience:

• 6+ years of related automotive engineering, manufacturing engineering, quality, launch, plant vehicle engineering, fastening, joining, body, general assembly, or similar experience
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Materials, Welding, Industrial Engineering, or related technical field preferred; equivalent hands-on automotive launch, manufacturing, or product engineering experience will be considered.
• Hands-on experience with fastening, joining, assembly, body, general assembly, or related production processes.
• Experience with one or more areas such as fastening systems, torque/clamp load, spot welding, laser welding, adhesive bonding, urethane applications, or vehicle teardown/inspection activity preferred.
• Experience supporting production issue resolution, launch builds, containment, engineering change implementation, and corrective action validation preferred.

Fastening & Torque Support:

• Serve as the Plant Vehicle Engineering subject matter expert for fastening-related production concerns, including torque strategy, clamp load, joint integrity, tooling interaction, and fastening data where applicable.
• Support issue resolution involving torque-to-spec, torque-angle behavior, fastener seating, joint stack variation, thread engagement, tool access, and product/process interaction.
• Interpret torque traces and fastening data, or partner with subject matter experts as needed, to identify abnormal joint behavior, tooling concerns, process variation, or product design opportunities.
• Partner with Design & Release Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Production, and Suppliers to resolve fastening issues and validate permanent corrective actions.

Welding & Joining Support:

• Support issue resolution for spot weld, laser weld, and joining-related quality concerns through visual reviews, teardown inspections, weld audits, destructive checks, and vehicle-level investigations.
• Help identify joining concerns related to location, size, appearance, penetration, expulsion, fit-up, material stack, coating, access, or process variation.
• Provide plant feedback into joining strategy, inspection standards, repair guidance, Design for Manufacturing and Assembly reviews, PFMEA input, control plan reviews, and lessons learned.

Bonding & Adhesive Application Support:

• Support issue resolution for bonded and urethane applications in the Bonding Shop and General Assembly as well as closure-related applications.
• Evaluate adhesive application quality, surface preparation, bead location, application consistency, squeeze-out, cure behavior, contamination concerns, and process robustness in partnership with process and materials teams.
• Investigate bond-related defects, water leaks, squeaks/rattles, fit concerns, and durability issues where bonding may be a contributor.

Launch, Problem Solving & Continuous Improvement:

• Lead or support root cause analysis, containment, corrective action development, break point coordination, and validation of permanent fixes.
• Analyze production data, audit findings, teardown results, torque data, repair trends, supplier concerns, and plant feedback to identify risks and improvement opportunities.
• Support prototype, pilot, and production ramp builds, including issue tracking, triage, readiness reporting, containment, break point management, and lessons learned.
• Drive continuous improvement actions that reduce defects, improve first-time quality, minimize rework, and strengthen production consistency for fastening and joining applications.

Success Measures:

• Improve first-time quality for fastening and joining-related build issues.
• Reduce rework related to fasteners, torque concerns, weld quality, bonding, sealing, and joined interfaces.
• Reduce recurring build issues through effective root cause analysis and permanent corrective actions.
• Improve launch readiness by supporting build events, teardown reviews, joining audits, and break point readiness.
• Improve containment effectiveness through clear inspection criteria, repair…