Industrial Engineer – Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS)
Position Summary
The Industrial Engineer is responsible for optimizing manufacturing processes, labor productivity, facility layout, material flow, capacity, and production systems within an Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) environment. This role leads and supports continuous improvement initiatives designed to reduce waste, improve productivity and quality, increase on-time delivery, optimize capacity, and enable scalable growth across SMT, through-hole, box build, conformal coating, testing, and final assembly operations.
The Industrial Engineer applies Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, data analytics, and industrial engineering principles to improve operational performance and drive measurable improvements in cost, quality, delivery, and efficiency.
Key Responsibilities
Manufacturing Process Improvement
- Analyze, develop, and improve manufacturing processes to increase efficiency, throughput, capacity, and quality.
- Conduct time studies, labor analysis, process evaluations, and capacity assessments.
- Establish, maintain, and continuously improve standard work and labor standards.
- Identify and eliminate production bottlenecks, constraints, waste, and non-value-added activities.
- Support New Product Introduction (NPI), manufacturing readiness, and production launch activities.
- Lead and implement Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma improvement initiatives.
- Develop process models and recommend improvements based on data-driven analysis.
Labor & Capacity Planning
- Establish and maintain labor standards and production rates across manufacturing processes.
- Develop staffing models aligned with forecasted demand, production requirements, and capacity constraints.
- Monitor labor utilization and productivity and recommend corrective actions.
- Perform capacity analysis and constraint management to support production scheduling.
- Identify opportunities to balance workloads, optimize staffing, and improve resource utilization.
- Support long-range capacity planning and manufacturing growth strategies.
Factory Layout & Material Flow
- Design, evaluate, and optimize manufacturing cells, workstations, and production layouts.
- Improve material flow from receiving through production, test, final assembly, and shipping.
- Minimize material handling, production travel distances, WIP, and other non-value-added activities.
- Develop and implement flow improvements using Lean principles and value stream analysis.
- Support warehouse, inventory, point-of-use material, and storage optimization initiatives.
Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement
- Lead Kaizen events and cross-functional continuous improvement projects.
- Implement Lean tools, including 5S, visual management, standard work, line balancing, and value stream mapping.
- Develop and maintain visual management systems, production metrics, and performance dashboards.
- Identify opportunities to improve process stability, flow, utilization, and overall operational performance.
- Support the implementation of Industry 4.0, automation, digital manufacturing, and data-driven production initiatives.
- Establish sustainable processes and controls to ensure improvements are maintained over time.
Metrics & Data Analysis
- Collect, analyze, and interpret manufacturing data to identify trends, performance gaps, and improvement opportunities.
- Develop and maintain manufacturing performance reports and dashboards.
- Monitor and improve key operational metrics, including:
- Labor efficiency
- Direct labor utilization
- OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness)
- Productivity
- Throughput
- On-Time Delivery (OTD)
- Inventory turns
- First Pass Yield (FPY)
- Manufacturing cycle time
- WIP levels
- Capacity utilization
Cost Reduction & Business Support
- Identify opportunities to reduce labor, material handling, overhead, and manufacturing costs.
- Support quoting and new business activities by developing labor estimates, process assumptions, and manufacturing cost models.
- Evaluate manufacturing alternatives and make recommendations based on cost, capacity, quality, and delivery requirements.
- Develop ROI and payback analyses for capital equipment, automation, process improvements, and other manufacturing investments.
- Quantify and track cost savings generated through continuous improvement initiatives.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Partner closely with Manufacturing Engineering, Production, Quality, Supply Chain, Program Management, and other functional teams.
- Support customer audits, operational assessments, and manufacturing capability reviews.
- Participate in root-cause analysis, corrective action, and problem-solving activities.
- Support ERP/MRP/MES optimization, manufacturing data integrity, and reporting improvements.
- Communicate project status, performance results, risks, and recommendations to cross-functional teams and leadership.
- Provide technical and analytical support for strategic manufacturing initiatives.
Required Qualifications
Education
- Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Operations Management, or a related engineering or technical discipline.
Experience
- 3–7 years of industrial engineering or manufacturing engineering experience.
- Experience in an EMS, electronics, aerospace, defense, or other high-mix/low-volume manufacturing environment preferred.
- Experience supporting SMT and electronic assembly operations strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated experience with process improvement, labor analysis, capacity planning, and manufacturing optimization.
Technical Skills
- Time studies and labor standards development.
- Capacity planning, line balancing, and production modeling.
- Lean Manufacturing and continuous improvement methodologies.
- Value Stream Mapping and process flow analysis.
- Statistical Process Control (SPC) and manufacturing data analysis.
- ERP/MRP and/or MES systems.
- Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including data analysis and modeling.
- Experience with Power BI, Tableau, or similar business intelligence and reporting platforms preferred.
- Ability to analyze complex manufacturing data and translate findings into practical operational improvements.
Preferred Certifications
- Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt.
- APICS CPIM certification preferred.
- Certified Industrial Engineer or equivalent professional certification desirable.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Success in this role will be measured through improvements in areas including:
- Labor Efficiency %
- Direct Labor Utilization
- Manufacturing Cycle Time
- On-Time Delivery (OTD)
- Throughput
- First Pass Yield (FPY)
- Inventory Turns
- Capacity Utilization
- Cost Reduction / Cost Savings
- OEE Improvement
- WIP Reduction
- Productivity Improvement
EMS-Specific Focus Areas
The Industrial Engineer will provide engineering and continuous improvement support across a broad range of EMS manufacturing operations, including:
- SMT line optimization and capacity improvement
- Pick-and-place equipment utilization
- Solder paste printing and reflow process flow
- Selective soldering and through-hole assembly
- Box build and system integration
- Conformal coating processes
- ICT, Flying Probe, and Functional Test operations
- High-mix / low-volume manufacturing
- Production line balancing and flow optimization
- Aerospace and defense manufacturing requirements
- IPC-compliant manufacturing processes
- Manufacturing automation and Industry 4.0 initiatives
Core Competencies
- Analytical and structured problem solving
- Data-driven decision making
- Continuous improvement mindset
- Lean Manufacturing expertise
- Project management
- Strong written and verbal communication
- Cross-functional leadership
- Change management
- Process and systems thinking
- Attention to detail
- Ability to influence and collaborate across organizational levels
- Ability to translate data and analysis into measurable business results
Primary Objective
Drive operational excellence across the EMS operation by improving labor productivity, capacity utilization, manufacturing flow, process efficiency, and overall business performance while maintaining high standards of quality, delivery, cost, and customer satisfaction.
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
- Holiday Pay