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Career Exploration

Manufacturing Engineers

Also called: 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.
On the job, you'll need:

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

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

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

Realistic

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

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

Computer aided design CAD software

  • Autodesk AutoCAD
  • Dassault Systemes SolidWorks

Desktop communications software

  • Eko

Electronic mail software

  • IBM Notes
  • Microsoft Outlook

Video courtesy of CareerOneStop.

Job Outlook

The job outlook for this position is Bright.

New job opportunities are very likely in the future. This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Median Annual Salary: $96,350

Education

Bachelor's degree or associate's degree is usually needed.