Machining/CNC Manufacturing Engineer

Join an award-winning workplace of energetic, talented people, and be on one of the best work teams in the Chicagoland area! Voted as Best and Brightest Companies to work for in Chicago and the Nation in 2022, 2023 and 2024, we are devoted to having a workplace that supports each of our team members in making high quality products and working together to be the best at what we do. We are a sheet metal fabrication and machining company specializing in stainless steel, servicing the Midwest. Our customers are Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM's) that are primarily in the food processing, food packaging, environmental, and pharmaceutical industries. We pride ourselves on our customer responsiveness which has made us successful for a number of years. Check us out at www.acemetal.com!

We are seeking an experienced Machining Manufacturing Engineer with experience in CNC programming and machining.

Benefits Offered Include:

Medical

Dental

Vision

Short and Long Term Disability

Paid Time Off

9 Annual Paid Holidays

401k Retirement Plan

Weekly Pay Period

Manufacturing Engineer - Machining

1. Cost Management and Estimating

• Manage and maintain standard cost methods for production parts using the ERP system. This includes ensuring the process times and materials are optimized for each part.
• Complete the estimating process for new and repeat parts.
• Develop process routings for quotes using the ERP system based on customer provided drawings.
• Communicate with customer and/or ACE's sales team on any technical questions.
• Complete and send quotes to customers directly and/or ACE's sales team.
• Support sales on new opportunities and pre-order customer questions. This can include visiting customer sites and participating on sales meetings with new or existing customers.

2. Job and Project Management

• Manage assigned customer orders including completing the Job Planning operation for assigned projects.
• Support the order entry team with contract review process questions.
• Complete price review for order lines assigned for engineering review.
• The requirements for job planning include
  • Reviewing the standard method or quoted method to the provided drawings. Responsible for optimizing each machining process to produce the most efficient and productive process possible while maintaining quality requirements. Update the operations, process plan, planned times, and materials as needed.
  • Review revision changes and make appropriate changes.
  • Reach out to the customer and/or sales team with any technical issues or information that needs to be clarified.
  • Add red layer notes to customer provided drawings to help clarify any technical requirements for the production team. Utilize CAD modeling software as needed create drawings/models required to produce the customer parts.
  • Identify need for special work holding, tooling, and/or special fixturing is required. Design fixturing using CAD software.
  • Coordinate with the production team for input and questions on the manufacturing process plan along with tooling and fixture plans.
  • Identify any parts that require special inspection or quality documentation, include FAI or material certificates.
• Call and manage any projects requiring project review using our PMP process to bring together cross functional teams to review complex or unique projects. Identify any challenges before releasing the projects to production.
• Identify and plan for process optimization across multiple individual parts.
• Collaborate with the production team on best practices and processes to manufacture parts.
• Identify Value Added Engineering opportunities for customer parts and projects. Coordinate with Sales and Leadership on presenting the ideas.
• Collaborate with tooling suppliers on tooling requirements.

3. CAM Programming

• Participate in the daily programming huddle.
• Complete any assigned CAM programming projects for our CNC lathes and CNC mills. Identify and plan the tooling used for each project and provide CAM reports as needed.
• Provide support with our Tool Crib system. This includes identify tool bin locations for new parts, supporting purchasing or production with questions.
• Support Production on their programming questions/requirements for both CAM and conversational programing.
• Further develop ACE's standards for CAM programming, tooling library and program file storage systems.
• Utilize and support production with newly introduced technology.

4. Technical Support

• Provide technical support to the production team for in-process parts. This includes CAD information, tolerance or finish requirements, material questions, FAI, etc.
• Actively work with quality personnel to maintain part quality and provide assistance with part quality issues as they arise as well as with FAIR requirements.
• Support the purchasing team with any technical questions related to materials or parts required for projects.
• Provide technical support to our customers and sales team. This includes support on new parts, on order parts, or parts we have supplied in the past.
• Train and share CAM and machining knowledge with engineering and production team.
• Assist the production team in troubleshooting problems within our machining equipment.
• Maintain a favorable working relationship with team members to promote a cooperative working climate conducive to maximum productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness

5. Problem Solving and Maintenance

• Participate and lead, as needed, in ACE's Continuous Improvement projects, including 5S, Kaizen's, and Problem Solving's.
• Complete Problem Solving as assigned, including kickbacks and rework. Identify and improve poorly performing parts to reduce cost to manufacture.
• Complete final review of shipped parts and update standard methods as needed. Identify and implement parts or standard processes that may need to be reviewed, updated, and/or added, as well as downtime and cycle time reduction initiatives.
• Identify new technology to explore for ACE. Develop and implement new machining processes and technologies where appropriate. Collaborate with tooling, equipment, or work holding suppliers to evaluate new technologies.
• Research tooling technology optimizing new and existing programs to reduce cycle time while improve quality.
• Assist leadership with any equipment or tooling maintenance issues. Notify leaders of any emergency maintenance issues or needed consumables.
• Develop and create Standard Operating Procedures for Core Processes.
• Ensure safe and efficient operation of manufacturing equipment.

Special skills required :

• Minimum 5 to 7+ years of manufacturing experience with responsibilities as an engineer, CNC programming and machining, specifically with complex lathe operations in a precision manufacturing environment.
• BS Degree in an engineering or comparable work experience.
• Strong knowledge of G-code and Mazatrol and Proficient with CNC lathe specific programming, including live tooling, sub spindles, Y-axis milling , and multi axis machining.
• Advanced experience in MasterCam with the ability to create and optimize tool paths for complex geometries.
• Experience selecting and designing proper tooling, inserts, and fixtures to high precision lathe parts.
• Strong project management skills capable of planning production workflows, timelines, and part quoting.
• Experience with Lean Manufacturing, 5S, Kaizen preferred.
• Deep understanding of materials (eg. Stainless steel, titanium, aluminum and mild steels) and how they behave under machining.
• Familiar with Mazak and DMG Mori machines.
• Ability to analyze KPI metrics and drive continuous improvement initiatives.
• Strong leadership, communication, and team-building skills and ability to lead and mentor machinists and junior engineers.
• Strong grasp of geometric dimensioning and tolerancing with the ability to interpret complex blueprints and create designs using Solidworks.
• Experience with ERP/MRP systems
• Ability to prioritize and multi-task.
• Emotionally intelligent people skills.

This is a safety sensitive position.