Lead Advanced Manufacturing Engineer

We are currently looking for a Lead Advanced Manufacturing Engineer to join our team onsite in Holland, MI.

This role is pivotal in driving innovation across Haworth's architectural and office furniture manufacturing operations. The Lead Advanced Manufacturing Engineer will join a team of Advanced Manufacturing Engineers dedicated to developing and implementing innovative manufacturing solutions for throughout the product development lifecycle, from concept and design through full-scale production. In addition to leading individual projects, this position will provide technical leadership, guidance, and mentorship to fellow engineers, helping to advance best practices and engineering excellence across the team.

A primary focus of this role is the integration of technology solutions that enable seamless communication and data exchange between people, equipment, and enterprise systems, including ERP and MES platforms. The successful candidate will serve as a key link between manufacturing operations and digital technologies, driving initiatives that improve connectivity, visibility, efficiency, and decision-making across the organization.

Responsibilities may also include projects that require manufacturing feasibility, optimizing material flow, and developing strategies for labor utilization, equipment implementation, and new material integration. The Lead Advanced Manufacturing Engineer will play a critical role in identifying and executing opportunities to enhance productivity, quality, and operational performance while supporting Haworth's long-term manufacturing strategy.

The ideal candidate brings a strong foundation in manufacturing engineering, exceptional problem-solving and analytical skills, experience with manufacturing data systems and programming, and the ability to effectively bridge manufacturing and IT disciplines. Additional qualifications include demonstrated project management expertise, encompassing business case development, capital equipment procurement, implementation, and execution. Success in this role requires the ability to align technical solutions with customer requirements, manufacturing capabilities, and financial objectives to deliver sustainable business value.

• Lead and/or contribute to the development and implementation of strategic manufacturing initiatives, providing expert insights and recommendations. Possess understanding of manufacturing cost drivers to ensure potential solutions support a successful business case. Possess the ability to influence cross-functional teams, fostering collaboration and ensuring alignment across departments.
• Develop and implement best practices and standards for the Manufacturing Engineering Team, ensuring consistency and continuous improvement.
• Drive innovation in Haworth's existing and future manufacturing processes, exploring and implementing advancements in technologies and/or approach. Ability to develop plans to prove that a consideration can provide the desired outcome (e.g. a poka yoke's real-world detection rate; dimensional capability of a new manufacturing process).
• Lead problem-solving studies to identify root causes, develop and implement effective solutions. Ability to analyze scrap data, downtime data, complete dimensional analysis, interpret lab analysis, etc. Basic statistic skills and understanding. Formal problem-solving training preferred (Kepner Trego (is/is not), Shainin Red-X, hypothesis testing, DOE, correlation study, ANOVA, etc.).
• Mentor/coach less experienced engineers to help their projects' success as well as to foster professional growth and development. This may include gap-filling for specific skill sets that the overall team does not possess. This will require flexibility to own projects, while allowing for some intermittent support of colleagues' projects.
• Must be able to perform all essential job functions with/without accommodation.
• Use office automation, communication, software, and tools used in Haworth office environment.
• Perform other duties within scope as assigned.

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Industrial Technology, Manufacturing, Packaging or equivalent in relevant field of study.
• Education Equivalency:
  
  
  
  • Associate's degree plus 2 years of engineering work experience or,
  • 4 years of engineering work experience if no post-secondary education.
  • Military Equivalency at www.mynextmove.org/vets/find/military
    
    
  
  
  
  

Work Experience:

• 7 years of engineering work experience with Bachelor's degree or,
• 5 years of engineering work experience with Master's degree.
  
  

In addition:

• Applicants must be able to work onsite in Holland, MI without relocation assistance.
• Applicants must possess an unrestricted right to work in the US to be eligible for this position.
• Ability to travel internationally up to 10 percent of the time.

• This specific AME role leans heavily on implementation of technologies to error-proof manufacturing processes, simplify operator/assembler manufacturing experience through digital interface, leverage MES capabilities, and ability to use software/coding tools to facilitate the data transactions to facilitate these activities.
• Experience with software (Inductive Automation's - Ignition or alternate) and hardware to facilitate the interactions between humans, manufacturing machines, technology solutions, and data systems to facilitate topics such as:
  
  
  
  • Digital Displays:
    
    
    
    • Provide visual display of key information for operators regarding product configuration, how to manufacture, and what characteristics to focus on to ensure products are built correctly and efficiently.
    • Create shop-floor visual displays regarding manufacturing performance vs. Goal.
    
    
    
    
  • Data Collection (IIoT): Gather data from industrial controllers (PLCs), sensors, and devices using protocols like OPC UA and MQTT.
  • Manufacturing Execution (MES): Track production metrics, manage product tracking, monitor equipment effectiveness (OEE), and log downtime.
  • Database & Enterprise Integration: Connect industrial processes directly to SQL databases and business software systems.
  • Alarming and Reporting: Set up real-time alerts for system faults and generate automated operational reports.
  
  
  
  
• Experience with computer or PLC programming to allow for general understanding of machine coding structure and approaches.
• Experience with Robotics (Fanuc, ABB, Yasakawa, etc.) and/or automation hardware and programming.