Principal Manufacturing Engineer

About Us

MB Aerospace Newton Abbot Ltd, a Barnes Aerospace Company, is an international group providing complex engineering solutions to some of the key names in the Aerospace and Defence market. Operating from sites close to our key customers in North America, Asia and Europe, the MB Aerospace group provides advanced technological solutions to the Aerospace Newton Abbot Ltd and Defence industry, leveraging an in-depth knowledge of fabrications, machining and the global supply chain to support complex aero‑engine component manufacture and repair.

This is a key role within the Newton Abbot business reporting directly to the site Engineering Manager. The successful candidate will direct and coordinate activities of a team of around 8 manufacturing engineering personnel designing and developing manufacturing processes, programming and tooling for a range of projects. The Manufacturing Engineering Leader will have overall responsibility for planning, organisation, control, integration and completion of all engineering projects for the team.

This role will also be accountable for ensuring technical support in estimating and launching new programs (NPI) and measuring and improving existing programs within the business continuous improvement program.

Manage the Core ME team activities

• Set clear SMART objectives and drive the team forward to achieve these goals.
• Develop the team by generating a skills matrix, identifying training requirements.
• Manage team holidays and sickness.
• Succession planning – develop the team for the future.
• Plan for engineering resource requirements and allocation against project timelines.

Lead New Product Introduction (NPI) to deliver program timescales and financial budgets.

• This is inclusive of new products introduced to the plant and new machine tools.
• Develop process for costing new quotes, ensuring all costs and NRC’s are completely understood and captured before submitting.
• Make sure all equipment and capital cost are justified by using ROCE and be able to present findings in a robust and coherent manner.

Lead New Continuous Improvement (CI) projects to deliver them in time and to financial forecasts.

• Use data analysis to optimise and prioritise cost reduction opportunities.
• Champion the role out of SPC monitoring and control across the plant.
• Champion the role out of six‑sigma tools such as PFD, PFMEA etc.

Lead a new Advanced Development Program to define and deliver a roadmap for the future state of technology in MBANA:

• Machine Tool technology / strategy (high speed machining/laser technology/additive manufacturing?)
• Automation (lights‑out factory)
• Part traceability for internal tracking and Poka Yoke on all processes. (Target zero escapes)
• Industry 4.0
• Develop new standards for the business and engineering team

Standard Machine purchasing

• Technical specification and RFQ
• Machine qualification procedure (MQ1 & MQ2)
• Machine sign‑off procedure
• Health and safety sign‑off procedure

Standard engineering reporting

• Standard weekly review meetings
• Standard presentation and Excel templates
• Standard folder structure

Work with project manager to develop and define clear process and RASIC between ME, QE and Operations.

• HNC minimum in Engineering and 5+ years of experience
• Experience required in an aerospace corporate or manufacturing environment
• Ability to understand and manage conflicting priorities in order to maximise profitability of the business; develop and implement coherent plans which address these issues.
• Current knowledge of aero‑engine industry standards and requirements
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to work effectively in a team environment as well as independently
• Ability to prioritise responsibilities under pressure and be self‑motivating and able to recognise and introduce improvements
• Exhibit confidence in self and others; inspire and motivate others to perform well
• Effectively influence actions of others; accept feedback from others; give appropriate recognition to others
• Ability to use technology effectively and efficiently to manage workload
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Outlook and ability to create documents, reports and…