Senior Industrial Engineer - Robotic Welding

Title: Senior Industrial Engineer – Robotic Welding
Company: Global Power Components – www.globalpowercomponents.com
Location: Milwaukee, WI (onsite 5 days/week)
Hire Type: Direct Hire

Overview:
Global Power Components is a privately held, rapidly growing manufacturer of UL heavy-gauge steel fuel tanks, trailers, generator enclosures, and modular metal enclosures housing fully integrated electrical distribution and control systems. Operating from our newly expanded 300,000 sq. ft. facility, we continue to lead our industry through operational excellence, engineering expertise, and a commitment to continuous improvement. As we scale production capacity and modernize operations including expanding our robotic welding capabilities, we are seeking an experienced Industrial Engineer with a strong welding automation background to drive high-impact manufacturing improvements across our operation.

Position Summary:
We are looking for a results-oriented Senior Industrial Engineer with 5–15 years of manufacturing experience and hands-on expertise in robotic welding and MIG welding processes to lead process optimization, labor efficiency, plant layout, capacity planning, and continuous improvement initiatives in a complex engineered-to-order (ETO) manufacturing environment. This role is ideal for a hands-on engineer who thrives on the production floor, understands weld cell programming and integration, can influence teams across departments, and has a proven record of improving throughput, weld quality, and cost reduction through automation.

Responsibilities:

• Lead plant-wide continuous improvement initiatives focused on productivity, quality, safety, and cost reduction, with particular emphasis on welding and fabrication operations.
• Analyze and optimize workflows across fabrication, robotic welding, MIG welding, paint, assembly, and shipping operations.
• Support the specification, programming, deployment, and continuous improvement of robotic welding cells, including fixturing, weld path optimization, and cycle time reduction.
• Partner with welding engineers and technicians to troubleshoot robotic and manual MIG welding processes, improve weld consistency, and reduce rework/scrap.
• Develop labor standards, capacity models, staffing plans, and production metrics to support growth across both manual and automated welding operations.
• Identify bottlenecks and implement sustainable process improvements that increase throughput and on-time delivery.
• Design and improve plant layouts, material flow, weld cell placement, workstation ergonomics, and factory organization.
• Lead root cause analysis and corrective actions related to downtime, weld defects, scrap, rework, and inefficiencies.
• Create and maintain SOPs, standard work, and weld process documentation across departments.
• Evaluate capital equipment investments, robotic welding automation opportunities, and ROI-driven manufacturing improvements.
• Partner closely with Production, Quality, Safety, Supply Chain, and Engineering leaders to execute operational priorities.
• Mentor junior engineers and welding technicians, helping elevate continuous improvement and automation culture across the facility.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Welding Engineering, or related field.
• 5–15 years of Industrial Engineering or Manufacturing Engineering experience in a production environment.
• Hands-on experience with robotic welding systems (e.g., Fanuc, ABB, Yaskawa/Motoman, Lincoln Electric, or similar) including programming, teach pendant operation, and cell troubleshooting.
• Strong working knowledge of MIG welding processes, parameters, and best practices in an industrial/heavy fabrication setting.
• Strong background in metal fabrication, welding, heavy manufacturing, job shop, or engineered-to-order environments preferred.
• Proven success implementing Lean Manufacturing, Kaizen, 5S, value stream mapping, and process improvement initiatives.
• Experience with labor studies, line balancing, plant layout, capacity planning, and KPI management.
• Strong analytical skills with ability to translate data into actionable operational improvements.
• Comfortable leading projects and influencing teams without direct authority.
• ERP/MRP experience required; CAD experience preferred.
• Six Sigma certification, welding certification (AWS or equivalent), or other CI training is a plus.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Minorities/Women/Veterans/Disabled
Global Power Components is an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer. Global Power Components is committed to ensuring equal employment opportunities for all job applicants and employees. Employment decisions are based upon job-related reasons regardless of an applicant's race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, marital status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other status protected by law.