Category
Details
Position
Project Manager, full-time, onsite
Work Location
HERCO LLC, Auburn Hills, Michigan, onsite in person
Schedule
Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; minimum 42.5 hours per week
Travel
Approximately 25-50%, including extended stays at customer facilities when required
About HERCO
HERCO LLC is a growing engineering and manufacturing solutions company serving the die casting, automation, industrial equipment, tooling, and process water treatment industries. We partner with automotive OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, and manufacturing companies throughout North America. As we continue to expand, we are seeking an experienced, hands-on Project Manager / Technical Project Engineer to lead customer projects from concept through installation, commissioning, and final acceptance.
Position Summary
The Project Manager / Technical Project Engineer is responsible for planning, coordinating, and executing complex industrial equipment, automation, tooling, manufacturing, and engineering projects. This role serves as the primary point of contact between customers, internal departments, and suppliers while ensuring projects are delivered on time, within budget, and in accordance with customer requirements.
This position requires a hands-on approach and a willingness to spend significant time at customer facilities during critical project phases. The Project Manager / Technical Project Engineer will travel to customer locations to supervise installations, coordinate contractors and customer personnel, support commissioning activities, resolve project issues, and ensure successful execution through final acceptance.
Key Responsibilities
Project Leadership & Execution
- Manage multiple projects simultaneously from quotation handoff through final customer acceptance.
- Develop comprehensive project plans, schedules, milestones, budgets, risk registers, and resource requirements.
- Lead project kickoff meetings with customers, internal stakeholders, engineering, operations, and suppliers.
- Monitor project progress and initiate corrective actions when risks, scope changes, or delays arise.
- Maintain accountability for project scope, schedule, budget, quality, safety, and customer satisfaction.
Customer & Stakeholder Management
- Serve as the primary customer contact throughout the project lifecycle.
- Provide clear, timely project status updates, meeting minutes, action-item lists, and executive summaries.
- Facilitate technical discussions, customer design reviews, equipment inspections, and project meetings.
- Maintain professional relationships with customers, suppliers, installation partners, and strategic vendors.
- Address customer concerns promptly while keeping expectations aligned with contractual scope and project objectives.
Engineering Coordination
- Work closely with mechanical, electrical, controls, manufacturing, service, and quality teams.
- Coordinate engineering deliverables and review technical drawings, specifications, layouts, and documentation.
- Track engineering changes and ensure design modifications are properly evaluated, documented, and approved.
- Support technical problem-solving, root cause analysis, and corrective-action activities during project execution.
Manufacturing, Supply Chain & ERP Coordination
- Coordinate procurement activities, supplier schedules, production timelines, and internal manufacturing milestones.
- Monitor manufacturing progress and identify bottlenecks before they impact delivery schedules.
- Use ERP/MRP systems and project tools to track materials, purchase orders, inventory status, labor progress, and delivery commitments.
- Work with operations, quality, and production teams to ensure project objectives are achieved.
- Support sourcing, vendor follow-up, expediting, and supplier issue resolution as required.
Change Order, Risk & Financial Management
- Evaluate customer requests, engineering changes, and field modifications for schedule, cost, quality, and resource impacts.
- Prepare, communicate, and manage change orders while obtaining required internal and customer approvals.
- Develop and maintain project budgets, cost tracking, forecasts, and margin visibility.
- Review supplier quotations, purchase orders, project expenditures, and budget variances.
- Maintain project risk registers and implement mitigation plans to minimize disruptions.
- Prepare project cost reports and performance updates for management review.
Installation, Startup & On-Site Project Supervision
- Coordinate equipment installation, startup, commissioning, testing, validation, and customer acceptance activities.
- Travel to customer facilities throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico to oversee project execution and ensure successful implementation.
- Provide direct on-site supervision of contractors, installation crews, suppliers, and customer personnel during critical project phases.
- Remain on-site for extended periods ranging from several days to several weeks when required for installation, commissioning, troubleshooting, launch support, or customer acceptance.
- Lead site meetings, project reviews, punch-list management, equipment inspections, and startup coordination.
- Ensure work performed at customer locations meets contractual requirements, customer specifications, safety standards, and quality expectations.
- Support training, final documentation, customer sign-off, and formal project closeout.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Project Management, or a related technical field.
- Minimum of 5 years of project management experience in a manufacturing, automation, industrial equipment, tooling, or engineering environment.
- Proven experience managing technical engineering projects, preferably with budgets exceeding $250,000.
- Strong understanding of manufacturing processes, engineering workflows, industrial project execution, and customer-site implementation.
- Experience managing customer-driven change orders, engineering revisions, project risks, budgets, schedules, and cross-functional resources.
- Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings, technical specifications, equipment layouts, and manufacturing documentation.
- Experience with ERP/MRP systems, project scheduling tools, and Microsoft Office applications.
- Excellent communication, leadership, customer-facing, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability and willingness to travel 25-50%, including extended stays at customer sites, based on project needs.
- Valid driver’s license and ability to travel within the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Valid passport or ability to obtain one is preferred.
Preferred Qualifications
- PMP certification or equivalent project management training.
- Experience within die casting, automotive, automation, tooling, industrial equipment, or capital equipment industries.
- Experience managing machine builds, automation systems, equipment installations, commissioning, and field startup activities.
- Familiarity with Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement methodologies.
- Experience using ERP platforms such as SAP or comparable systems.
- Master’s degree in Engineering Management, Business Administration, or related discipline.
- Knowledge of contract management, commercial project administration, and supplier performance management.
Desired Skills & Competencies
Technical Skills
Leadership Skills
Business Skills
Project scheduling and planning
Cross-functional team leadership
Budget and cost management
Manufacturing processes
Customer communication
Resource planning
Mechanical and industrial systems
Decision-making
Proposal and scope review
ERP/MRP systems
Conflict resolution
Supplier coordination
Engineering change management
Problem solving
Performance reporting
Risk assessment and mitigation
On-site supervision
Process improvement
Travel Requirements
- Travel is an essential part of this position and will vary based on active project schedules.
- Expected travel is approximately 25-50%, including visits to customer facilities, supplier locations, installation sites, and commissioning locations.
- Extended customer-site stays may be required for several days to several weeks during installation, startup, troubleshooting, launch support, and final acceptance phases.
- The position may require travel throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
- The candidate must be able to coordinate work at customer locations, interact professionally with customer teams, and respond to project needs during critical milestones, which may occasionally occur outside normal business hours.
Physical Requirements
- Ability to work in both office and manufacturing environments.
- Ability to stand, walk, and conduct inspections in manufacturing facilities and customer production environments.
- Occasional lifting of up to 25 pounds.
- Ability to follow customer facility safety requirements, including use of appropriate PPE.
Why Join HERCO?
- Be part of a growing, entrepreneurial organization with direct impact on customer project success.
- Work with leading automotive and industrial manufacturers throughout North America.
- Manage innovative projects involving automation, tooling, industrial equipment, and process water technologies.
- Competitive compensation and performance-based growth opportunities.
- Collaborative, hands-on work environment with high visibility to company leadership.
HERCO LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer and values a professional, respectful, and inclusive workplace.