Job Title: Material Flow Engineer
Job Description
The Material Flow Engineer optimizes warehousing, material flow, and supply chain operations to achieve best-in-class quality, reliability, speed, and asset utilization across a global manufacturing platform. This role works in a fast-paced, highly technical production environment and requires close collaboration with Supply Chain, Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, and Business Operations to support both new product development and full-rate production. The position is ideal for someone who takes holistic ownership of operational challenges, uses data to drive decisions, and consistently delivers practical, scalable solutions on the production floor.
Responsibilities
- Work across multiple programs from development through full-rate production to scale material flow and warehousing solutions in line with manufacturing process maturity.
- Proactively identify production imbalances and bottlenecks caused by inventory processes, line layouts, parts shortages, staffing constraints, and other production limitations, and drive cross-functional resolution with Supply Chain, Manufacturing Engineering, and Quality.
- Own and maintain metrics, KPIs, and reporting for monitoring production line health and efficiency, including cycle time, throughput rate, capacity, utilization, process non-conformities, and inventory accuracy.
- Conduct detailed time studies of current and emerging processes to ensure efficiency across warehouse and operations.
- Develop and refine processes to optimize work plans for highly variable demand profiles across multiple sites.
- Translate data, tools, and reports into clear, actionable tasks that improve warehouse and material flow operations across diverse processes and facilities.
- Produce and maintain tools and models that increase the accuracy of work demand forecasts for new facilities and maturing processes using data-driven methods such as value stream mapping, process mapping, and line balancing techniques.
- Identify capacity constraints in production and warehousing and propose practical solutions, including process automation and workflow optimization.
- Apply Lean Manufacturing and continuous improvement principles to enhance productivity, reduce waste, and improve material flow without relying on large capital expenditures.
- Perform hands-on operational analysis and implement error-proofing (poka-yoke) and other process improvements that enable teams to execute reliably.
- Interact with SQL databases to store information and build custom queries that track production and inventory-related metrics.
- Present project results and recommendations to cross-functional teams, clearly connecting data insights to proposed next steps and business impact.
- Support the design and setup of departments or factories, including layout definition, flow lines, continuous flow, one-piece flow, and workstation design.
- Collaborate closely with stakeholders to ensure products are built and shipped on time under stringent quality standards.
- Continuously iterate on incremental improvements, rapidly deploying changes to the production floor and refining them toward world-class performance.
Essential Skills
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering.
- 5+ years of experience in a high-rate supply chain or manufacturing environment where complex mechanical and/or electrical assemblies are built with heavy data utilization.
- Ability to read and interpret technical documentation such as engineering drawings and CAD data.
- Understanding of a variety of hardware manufacturing processes for electronics, including PCBAs and sensor hardware.
- Understanding of manufacturing processes for structures, mechanical components, and electromechanical systems.
- Strong background in manufacturing environments such as aerospace, automotive, medical device, or other high-volume production with various part sizes.
- Experience applying Lean Manufacturing principles and structured problem-solving in an operational setting.
- Demonstrated ability to diagnose operational problems, implement effective solutions, and follow through to sustained results while working independently.
- Experience with process automation, including identifying manual processes and determining where they can be automated and optimized.
- Ability to identify and analyze capacity constraints in production and warehousing.
- Proficiency with value stream mapping, process mapping, and line balancing techniques.
- Familiarity with materials engineering, supply chain operations, inventory management, and inventory control.
- Ability to relocate, if not already local, to work onsite in Atlanta, GA.
- Status as a U.S. Person due to required access to export-controlled information or facilities.
Additional Skills & Qualifications
- Experience planning and optimizing material flow solutions with a strong understanding of safety protocols and regulatory compliance.
- Experience with department or factor