Manufacturing Engineers

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Manufacturing Engineer, Plant Engineer, Process Engineer, Process Improvement Engineer

What they do:
Design, integrate, or improve manufacturing systems or related processes. May work with commercial or industrial designers to refine product designs to increase producibility and decrease costs.
On the job, you would:
  • Troubleshoot new or existing product problems involving designs, materials, or processes.
  • Investigate or resolve operational problems, such as material use variances or bottlenecks.
  • Identify opportunities or implement changes to improve manufacturing processes or products or to reduce costs, using knowledge of fabrication processes, tooling and production equipment, assembly methods, quality control standards, or product design, materials and parts.

Knowledge

Engineering and Technology

  • product and service development
  • mechanical

Manufactured or Agricultural Goods

  • manufacture and distribution of products

Math and Science

  • arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, or statistics
  • physics

Arts and Humanities

  • English language

Skills

Basic Skills

  • reading work related information
  • using math to solve problems

Problem Solving

  • noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

People and Technology Systems

  • thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one
  • figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it

Abilities

Ideas and Logic

  • group things in different ways
  • make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information

Verbal

  • listen and understand what people say
  • communicate by speaking

Math

  • add, subtract, multiply, or divide
  • choose the right type of math to solve a problem

Visual Understanding

  • see hidden patterns

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions.

They do well at jobs that need:

  • Attention to Detail
  • Integrity
  • Analytical Thinking
  • Dependability
  • Cooperation
  • Initiative

Technology

You might use software like this on the job:

Computer aided design CAD software

  • Autodesk AutoCAD Hot Technology In Demand
  • Dassault Systemes SolidWorks Hot Technology In Demand

Desktop communications software

  • Eko

Electronic mail software

  • IBM Notes
  • Microsoft Outlook Hot Technology

Education

Education: (rated 4 of 5)
bachelor's degree or
associate's degree
usually needed

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Job Outlook

Bright
New job opportunities are very likely in the future.
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See more details at O*NET OnLine about manufacturing engineers.