Job: Custom Rubber Molding Engineering Manager

[jstone9141]

Engineering Manager Job Description

The Rubber Group is a fast-growing custom rubber molder searching for a skilled and talented person to be our Engineering Manager. TRG has a reputation of excellent customer focus and high-quality products for demanding applications. TRG has recently partnered with River Associates, a longstanding industrial-focused private equity sponsor, and has an aggressive organic and acquisition-based growth plan.

Reporting to the Vice President of Operations and interfacing frequently with the Quality Manager, Sales Team, Customers and the President, the Engineering Manager (EM) will be a strategic partner with the management team to lead the company through its next phase of growth and change. The candidate will be a passionate leader who embodies the Company’s core values.

The right candidate can develop a performance driven culture by actively listening, building trust but challenging teams using information and data to surpass objectives and demonstrate the ability to influence others, drive cultural change leading to successful tactical execution.

Primary Roles and Responsibilities Include:
• New Product Development
o Review incoming opportunities and develop manufacturing plans to support the quote process.
o Support customer with product design, material selection and design for manufacturability.
o Communicate progress and status of active programs to internal stakeholders and the customer.
o Ensure programs are delivered on time.
o Develop tooling and manufacturing processes.
o Assist Quality in development of validation protocols and submission of first article samples.
o Own the process of production release of new products including, documentation of process, control plans and training of production personnel.
o Ensure new products meet quoted planned rates and costs.
o Work with suppliers to develop new materials.
• Operational Support
o Solve process problems to drive production productivity goals.
o Manage continuous improvement program for process and product targeting cost reduction and improved work ergonomics and safety.
o Develop improvements to enhance safety and ergonomics, improve cycle times and lower scrap rates.
o Coaching/training of production and engineering personnel in best practices.
o Work with suppliers on material improvements and assist with product quality issues.
o Coordination of tooling repair/refurbishment
o Define equipment layout and requirements for equipment addition and replacement
• Manage Team
o Support and develop team to insure they have the resources and proper training to perform their define roles.
o Define goals and communicate expectations for your team. Measure team performance and provide constructive feedback.
o Assign and prioritize tasks and projects to engineering staff.
o Gauge status and report on the progress of open projects and tasks.

Core Competencies:

• Manufacturing Experience: The ideal candidate has spent a significant portion of his/her career in a rubber molding manufacturing environment in a make to order business model. Experience with high mix required.
o Quality (QMS) and yield maximization
o Cycle time optimization
o Lean manufacturing implementation and continuous improvement
o Production scale up
o Compression, Transfer and Injection Molding
o Metal and rubber preparation
o Deflashing and secondary operations.
• Engineering Experience: The ideal candidate will have work in a process development role and have product and materials engineering experience.
o Tooling design and development
o Deep understanding of all rubber process equipment including injection and compression molding machines.
o Solid modeling software
o Fixture and cutting tool design
o Rubber materials and bonding agents
• Leadership Experience: The right person has experience running small teams and managing direct reports.
• Footprint Optimization Experience: The right candidate brings experience adding automation and/or optimizing the production footprint and capabilities for efficiencies.
• Analytical Aptitude: A Candidate that demonstrates metric driven decision-making setting / tracking KPI’s for production, quality, and safety.
• Change Management: The right candidate has experience shifting the culture. They have led as a change agent and created followership with their team.
• Culture Add: Aligns with company ideals and adds to the culture. A self-starter with a history of operating as a player coach.
• Educational Credentials: Bachelor’s degree engineering or chemistry.


REQUIRED PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS:

• Creative, out-of-the-box thinker who is intellectually curious with a demonstrated interest in learning.
• Self-motivated, high-energy individual who can easily function in a high demand, performance-driven environment.
• Be accustomed to working on multiple tasks in parallel.
• Demonstrate strong leadership skills, best demonstrated by the individual’s ability to gain credibility with team members and senior management.
• Be highly collaborative recognizing diversity of thought, balanced with a bias for action.
• Be modest in nature, recognizing the accomplishments of the team before the individual.
• Be highly motivated and possess vision and enthusiasm.
• Be comfortable acting as an individual contributor and as a team manager (Player/Coach).
• Understand how to deliver on short time frames and be committed to meeting deadlines through effective planning and execution.
• Communicate in an open and honest way that quickly builds trust and respect.
• Possess an entrepreneurial spirit.
• Be comfortable on his/her feet making presentations.

Email resumes to: jstone@rubber-group.com