- Dog-friendly office environment!
Position Overview
The Manufacturing Engineer is responsible for designing, developing, and continuously improving manufacturing processes that deliver safe, efficient, and repeatable production of high-quality furniture products. This role owns process definition, process controls, and process outputs, ensuring all operations consistently meet established quality standards, cost targets, and delivery requirements.
This position is hands-on and data-driven, with a heavy emphasis on problem solving, root cause analysis, and standardization to eliminate defects, reduce waste, and improve flow across the value stream.
Key Responsibilities
Process Development & Standardization
- Design, document, and implement robust manufacturing processes for furniture components and assemblies (wood, metal, upholstery, finishing, packaging).
- Develop standard work, work instructions, routings, and labor standards to ensure consistent, repeatable output.
- Define optimal process sequences, layouts, tooling, fixtures, and material flow to support safety, quality, delivery, and cost objectives.
- Lead new product launch (NPL) from a manufacturing perspective, ensuring processes are production-ready before launch.
Process Controls & Quality Systems
- Establish and maintain process controls (control plans, poka-yoke, inspection points, in-process checks, capability targets) to ensure output meets quality requirements.
- Ensure all processes comply with internal quality systems, documented standards, and customer requirements.
- Monitor key process indicators (defect rates, first-pass yield, scrap, rework, cycle time) and take corrective action when performance deviates from standards.
- Partner with Quality to ensure that quality is built into the process—not inspected in at the end.
Process Output & Performance Ownership
- Own the performance of assigned processes, ensuring they consistently produce good quality products at the required rate and cost.
- Analyze production data to identify variation, instability, or waste and lead structured improvement efforts.
- Support capacity planning, line balancing, and takt-based production planning to meet demand.
Problem Solving & Continuous Improvement
- Lead and facilitate structured problem-solving activities using A3, 5-Why, Fishbone, PFMEA, and root cause analysis.
- Investigate defects, downtime, safety incidents, and quality escapes; implement permanent corrective actions.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives to reduce scrap, rework, labor inefficiencies, and process variation.
- Act as a technical problem solver on the shop floor, supporting supervisors and operators in resolving daily production issues.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Partner with Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, Engineering, Maintenance, and Product Development to optimize end-to-end process performance.
- Provide manufacturing input on product design for manufacturability, assembly, packaging, and serviceability.
- Support training supervisors and operators on new or revised processes and standards.
- Support maintenance with equipment troubleshooting, providing guidance with PM creation and spare part identification of new and existing equipment.
- Strong ownership of processes and equipment within your valuestream
