Manufacturing Engineering Manager

Manufacturing Engineering Manager

Markdom | Pulaski TN | Full-Time

Position Summary

Markdom is seeking a Manufacturing Engineering Manager to lead manufacturing engineering activities within an automotive injection molding environment. This hands-on leader will improve manufacturing processes, manage equipment and tooling projects, support new product launches, and develop an engineering team focused on safety, quality, delivery, and cost.

The ideal candidate combines strong technical knowledge with practical leadership experience and can take projects from equipment specifications and capital justification through purchasing, installation, validation, and production handoff.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the manufacturing engineering team, establishing priorities, accountability, and clear project objectives.
• Improve injection molding and secondary manufacturing operations, including assembly, automation, material handling, and auxiliary equipment.
• Develop equipment specifications and manufacturing standards that support safe, reliable, and efficient production.
• Prepare capital requests, evaluate supplier proposals, and manage equipment purchasing, installation, commissioning, and acceptance.
• Manage engineering projects to meet approved budgets, schedules, and performance requirements.
• Support new product launches through equipment readiness, capacity planning, process development, validation, and production ramp-up.
• Develop plant layouts and work cells that improve material flow, ergonomics, labor utilization, and floor-space efficiency.
• Lead improvements in cycle time, scrap, downtime, changeover time, labor productivity, and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
• Partner with production, maintenance, quality, tooling, and process engineering to resolve manufacturing problems and prevent recurrence.
• Support APQP, PFMEA, control plans, work instructions, process capability studies, and PPAP activities.
• Coordinate customer reviews and approvals related to manufacturing processes, equipment, and engineering changes.
• Establish project and operating metrics, communicate progress, and verify that improvements deliver measurable results.
• Ensure equipment and process changes address machine guarding, ergonomics, and applicable safety requirements.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, manufacturing, industrial, or a related engineering discipline; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
• At least five years of manufacturing engineering experience, including experience in automotive injection molding.
• At least three years of engineering leadership, team supervision, or comparable technical project leadership experience.
• Demonstrated success managing capital equipment projects from concept through production launch.
• Working knowledge of injection molding equipment, assembly systems, automation, fixtures, and auxiliary equipment.
• Experience applying Lean manufacturing, root-cause analysis, and structured problem-solving methods.
• Familiarity with automotive quality requirements, including IATF 16949, APQP, PPAP, PFMEA, and process capability.
• Ability to interpret engineering drawings, equipment specifications, and plant layouts.
• Strong communication, budgeting, project management, and cross-functional leadership skills.
• Willingness to work on the production floor and support installations, launches, and urgent manufacturing needs.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Tier 1 automotive manufacturing.
• Experience integrating robotics, automated assembly, error-proofing, and inspection systems.
• Familiarity with Fanuc robotics and Allen-Bradley or Siemens PLC platforms.
• Experience using CAD software for equipment or facility layouts.
• Demonstrated cost savings through equipment upgrades, automation, or process improvements.