Senior Design Engineer

The Toyoda Gosei Group is a leading global manufacturer of rubber and plastic automotive components, safety systems and LEDs. Globally Headquartered in Japan with a network of 67 group companies in 17 countries and regions, the Group brings its extensive range of products to customers all over the world.

Toyoda Gosei North America (headquartered in Troy, MI) has an opening for a Senior Product Engineer in the Interior/Exterior Plastics Engineering department. The Senior Product Engineer functions with a high degree of autonomy under the direction of the Manager, and is responsible for product development from initial concept through start of production (SOP) for the Interior/Exterior Plastics Engineering group for Toyoda Gosei (TG) North America Corporation (TGNA) and TGNA Manufacturing Companies (AMCs).

• Create APQP and engineering documents. Support design development from initial concept through SOP. Attend customer build events and root cause issues.
• Negotiate with customers on product design, styling and engineering requirements while ensuring manufacturability and profitability
• Provide design proposals for Automotive Interior/Exterior Plastic parts (Grille/Bumper/Spoiler/IPs/Console/Register) or other components utilizing 2D & 3D design tools.
• Complete benchmarking examinations of competitor’s components and emerging technology.
• Provide technical reports, open items list and presentation package to customers & internal departments
• Improve designs & define new design guidelines to be adopted by the group to improve quality and productivity
• Create and maintain records of product development as required by our quality system
• Work with customers and other internal groups to resolve component functional problems.
• Develop drawings as necessary and participate in Design FMEA, as required.
• Continue to improve the product development process to provide a higher level of service to our customers.
• Specifies precise new product functional requirements; designs, tests and integrates components to produce final designs; and evaluates the design's overall effectiveness, cost, reliability and safety
• Designs, develops, executes and evaluates fitness-for-use testing, product specifications and process validation plans; creates and reviews material part specifications and bills of materials
• Collaborate with internal manufacturing partners, contract manufacturers, designers and product specialists to optimize designs for manufacturability
• Utilizes CAD (Computer Aided Design) or CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) systems to model new designs and produce detailed engineering drawings
• Drive optimization by being actively engaged in continuous improvement efforts (kaizen)
• This role requires the completion of other duties as assigned

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related field or equivalent years of relevant experience is required

• Minimum of 4-8 years of experience in an engineering role is required
• Strong understanding of Interior/Exterior Plastic component design with deep expertise in injection molding, tooling, paint/plating processes and wrapping
• Requires material engineering knowledge related to plastic design and molding
• Requires knowledge of Moldflow CAE Analysis, GD&T, and tolerance stack-up studies
• Experience designing moving mechanisms is preferred
• Requires DRBFM/DFMEA, supplier management, and launch readiness skills for high volume manufacturing
• Familiarity with automotive standards, concepts and practices is required
• Previous experience with injection molded plastic commodities is preferred

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to sit. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, and reach with hands and arms. The…