WHAT DOES A LEAD MANUFACTURING ENGINEER DO?

Published: Jan 15, 2026 - The Lead Manufacturing Engineer drives optimization of manufacturing processes, equipment, and tooling while ensuring effective preventive maintenance and adequate critical spares. This position leads troubleshooting, root cause analysis, and corrective actions to maintain quality, efficiency, and reliable production. The engineer also trains technicians and partners with engineering and suppliers to support R&D, product development, and prototype builds.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Lead Manufacturing Engineer

1. Lead Manufacturing Engineer Responsibilities

  • Team Leadership: Leads the activities of a team of manufacturing engineers.
  • Manufacturing Planning: Be responsible for ensuring the successful execution of manufacturing plans specific to welding.
  • Problem Solving: Develops innovative but practical solutions to advanced technical problems in manufacturing engineering.
  • Technical Communication: Provides a focal point for technical communication within the Company management and may represent the Company as the primary technical contact to customers and/or government regulatory agencies.
  • Engineering Reporting: Presents reports at engineering meetings, participates in program reviews, and consults on problems.
  • Expert Consulting: Provides expert guidance and consulting to other staff members working on difficult engineering problems.
  • Proposal Support: Serve as a primary technical contact for manufacturing engineering to support proposal efforts, which include cost estimating and establishing a manufacturing plan/schedule.
  • Strategic Planning: Anticipates future engineering needs and the modifications to accomplish a technical goal.
  • Advanced Engineering: Addresses complex and difficult technical issues requiring novel and highly creative approaches drawing on advanced engineering concepts and current knowledge of advanced manufacturing technology.
  • Project Ownership: Assume technical and engineering responsibility for the success of an identifiable project.
  • Staff Direction: Directs activities of manufacturing engineering or technical staff and leads a team of moderately experienced professional staff.
  • Information Security: Maintains the strict confidentiality of sensitive information.

2. Lead Manufacturing Engineer Accountabilities

  • Method Development: Develop and implement new or modified manufacturing methods in the assigned area to reduce production costs and improve efficiency.
  • Process Analysis: Investigate and analyze production methods, processes, and operations to determine manufacturing modifications that will increase production efficiency and reduce costs.
  • Tooling Design: Design and develop tooling to support manufacturing or machining processes.
  • Design Review: Review the design of product components and parts and recommend design changes that will facilitate product manufacturing, reduce costs, exploit the advantages of new materials, etc.
  • Root Cause Analysis: Utilize problem-solving tools (8D, 5 Whys, DMAIC) to identify root causes and implement corrective and preventive actions.
  • Data Compilation: Compile pertinent cost, manpower efficiency, machine capability, space utilization, material handling, etc., to support new manufacturing methods or modification recommendations.
  • Cost Reduction: Identify and execute cost-out initiatives through productivity improvements.
  • Capital Planning: Prepare data packages including layouts, equipment quotations, and written justifications for capital appropriation requests for process or efficiency improvements.
  • Procedure Development: Conduct studies to prepare and recommend new and revised operating procedures to maintain control, improve operations, and facilitate processing.
  • Continuous Improvement: Leads continuous improvement initiatives such as Rapid Improvement Events, Standard Work Events, Value Stream Mapping, and 5S+.
  • Tooling Analysis: Analyze, develop, recommend, and justify tooling requirements for assigned lines.
  • Procurement Approval: Approve the procurement implementation and utilization of tools.
  • Feasibility Analysis: Compile and analyze significant data relative to the solution of manufacturing problems or cost reduction studies, i.e., vendor capabilities and fabrication costs to determine the economics and feasibility of make or buy decisions, the correlation of product design requirements with manufacturing operations and capabilities, the economics of maintaining inventory levels based on machining cost per volume, etc.
  • Manufacturing Planning: Prepare and submit manufacturing procedures and plans, interfacing with customers on specialized jobs.
  • Improvement Roadmap: Leads continuous improvement road map.

3. Lead Manufacturing Engineer Overview

  • Cross Discipline: Work with all engineering disciplines to bring the next generation of warehouse automation designs from concept to reality.
  • Design Feedback: Provide DFM and DFA feedback to design engineers early in the design phase.
  • Fixture Design: Design fixtures and tooling to streamline assembly.
  • Assembly Ownership: Own the assembly line design, from floor layout to infrastructure for testing and validating assemblies.
  • Process Workflow: Develop process workflows for each component of the system.
  • Supply Coordination: Work with the Supply Chain and Hardware teams to oversee hardware procurement, manage contract manufacturers, and final in-house assembly and test.
  • Requirements Assurance: Work closely with engineering teams to ensure system requirements are achieved in the assembly process.
  • Process Control: Implement processes for configuration management, preventative maintenance schedules, and change controls.

4. Lead Manufacturing Engineer Roles

  • Resource Direction: Directs manufacturing engineering resources to evaluate, implement, maintain, and upgrade manufacturing processes, tooling, and equipment to improve yields and efficiency and to reduce processing and cycle time.
  • Equipment Assessment: Assesses manufacturing equipment for functionality and suitability and recommends improvements, upgrades, and modifications.
  • Maintenance Planning: Be responsible for creating and maintaining a comprehensive preventive maintenance program and identifying sufficient critical spares to ensure limited process downtime.
  • Root Cause: Be responsible for recognizing that processes and equipment may require troubleshooting and root cause analysis to return them to peak functionality.
  • Corrective Action: Implements a robust corrective action plan to ensure manufacturing issues are resolved promptly and will not be repeated.
  • Process Prioritization: Prioritizes and plans process improvements to address the most pressing needs while ensuring quality and timely delivery of products.
  • Technical Training: Ensures that manufacturing technicians are trained on the proper execution of new processes and the safe and efficient operation of new equipment.
  • Engineering Coordination: Coordinates with the engineering department to support R&D, product development, and prototype manufacturing.
  • Supplier Coordination: Oversee source recommendation and coordination of supplier input during the development process.

5. Lead Manufacturing Engineer Essential Functions

  • Quality Assurance: Be responsible for ensuring the reduction of internal defects and delivering Quality products with no escapes to the customers
  • Cross-functional: Effectively collaborating and communicating across functional departments to ensure an efficient execution of capital projects annually
  • AFE Documentation: Creation of the necessary documentation to satisfy the requirements for the AFE (Authorization of Expenditures) package
  • Capital Tracking: Coordination with finance for tracking of all capital costs and forecasting
  • Lean Leadership: Lead lean manufacturing efforts to improve efficiency, reduce waste, and ultimately reduce escapes and cost
  • Capacity Analysis: Manufacturing capacity analysis for the various factories
  • Work Measurement: Work measurement or time standards development
  • Performance Metrics: Production performance metrics creation and analysis
  • Layout Planning: Facilities and layout optimization or planning
  • Lean Training: Lead and teach lean tools and implementation

6. Lead Manufacturing Engineer General Responsibilities

  • Method Development: Develops and implements production and tooling methodologies.
  • IPT Participation: Participates in Integrated Product Teams (IPTs) to integrate technical solutions across multiple disciplines.
  • Concept Design: Develops, identifies, and implements conceptual designs and maintains the program architecture for build.
  • Manufacturing Planning: Leads and implements manufacturing plans.
  • Producibility Analysis: Conducts producibility and variation analyses to ensure that the manufacturing process capability matches requirements.
  • Best Practices: Assists in providing producibility information for inclusion in project plans and helps document producibility best practices.
  • Design Evaluation: Analyzes design or build concepts to evaluate producible design or build definitions.
  • Technical Resolution: Resolves technical problems of significant impact to performance, cost, or schedule.
  • Technology Integration: Coordinates and implements new engineering principles, theories, advanced technologies, and concepts.

7. Lead Manufacturing Engineer Responsibilities and Key Tasks

  • Production Readiness: Validates and ensures production readiness of solutions to complex problems.
  • Lean Implementation: Implements lean principles and technologies.
  • Work Order: Prioritize and release work orders and provide limited drawing packages to the shop
  • Fabrication Offload: Offload part fabrications to other labs (mainly to AM&P Seattle and Huntington Beach)
  • Shop Communication: Communicate with SCMAs, the expeditor, and the shop personnel for work order releases and part changes
  • NCR Processing: Process NCRs and generate rework orders
  • Procurement Planning: Create and maintain procurement plans
  • Document Control: Maintain the electronic and hardcopy redline master and limited files and folders, and the planning log file
  • Process Documentation: Process Coordination Memos, TWDs, and ME stamp test procedures

8. Lead Manufacturing Engineer Duties and Roles

  • Process Leadership: Work with cross-functional teams to lead new assembly and or functional test processes for remanufacturing or re-processing fuel system products or components of commercial vehicles
  • Test Development: Be responsible for developing test methodologies for competitor components or products
  • Documentation Control: Develop and maintain the engineering documentation for all the responsible areas
  • Supplier Collaboration: Work with 3rd party suppliers to develop new assembly and test equipment for the reprocessing of fuel system products or components
  • Engineering Guidance: Guide manufacturing engineers on respective projects and troubleshoot existing production equipment.
  • Data Analysis: Statistical data analysis and reporting skills.
  • Capex Management: RFQ and Capex management for new assembly and test projects
  • Production Transition: Facilitate successful handover and transition from product development to manufacturing
  • Process Validation: Manage all V&V activities associated with the release of processes
Relevant Information
What Does A Manufacturing Engineer Do?