Senior Manufacturing Engineer

It’s great to know you’re making a difference to the future of aviation! Whatever part you play you’ll be helping us deliver operational excellence to our customers. Based at our Luton manufacturing plant you’ll do just that. Established in 1993, GKN Aerospace in Luton is a world leader in commercial and military ice protection systems and transparencies. Offering a full range of capabilities; design, analysis, testing, certification and manufacture of electro-thermal ice protection, military fast jet canopies and flight deck windows to over 20 programmes including: Boeing 787, Dreamliner, AgustaWestland, AW101, Eurofighter Typhoon and Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. Our customers include Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin, Bell Helicopters, Textron, BAE Systems, Pratt & Whitney, Leonardo. Our Luton site is home to 370+ employees and onsite facilities including onsite parking, food hub and vending machines.

As part of the Manufacturing Engineering team, the Senior Manufacturing Engineer will report directly to the Manufacturing Engineering Manager, with day-to-day guidance and support provided by the ME Team Leader. Based at our Luton site and supporting Defence business lines, there may occasionally be a need to travel to equipment supplier locations. The Senior Manufacturing Engineer will join a team focused on either Jet Canopies or Helicopters, contributing to the development of manufacturing processes as well as supporting daily operational activities.

Core operational hours at our Luton site are: 07:30 – 16:30 Monday to Thursday & 07:30 – 12:30 Friday, earlier finish on Friday to start the weekend.

Job Responsibilities

• Local project technical lead for the implementation of production planning, from original concept through to production.
• Design high capability manufacturing processes using GKN’s Zero Defect Manufacturing (ZDM) tool suite, (APQP Core Tools).
• Develop, document and optimise manufacturing processes such as creation/amendment SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) and Process Specifications
• Create and update engineering documentation, manage point of introduction activities.
• Lead structured improvement activities to reduce process driven scrap and rework
• Provide MRB (Material Review Board) support to existing programmes to ensure any process deviation or product faults are reviewed and answered
• Make presentations at senior level internally and externally demonstrating ability to clearly communicate to the audience
• Identify, anticipate and offer solutions to technical problems
• Establish & improve production process controls
• Comply with company Environmental, Health, Safety and Energy procedures.

What You’ll Bring

To help us make a difference, you’ll bring your passion and talent for what you do along with the following skills, experience, qualifications and attributes:

Essential:
• Minimum HND qualification (or equivalent) in Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial or Manufacturing Engineering/Aerospace
• Demonstrable Manufacturing Engineering experience gained from ideally the Aerospace, Automotive, Yellow Goods industry
• 6Sigma Greenbelt qualification
• Experience in APQP standards including Process Flow Diagram, Process Failure Mode Effect Analysis, Process Control Plans, Measurement System Analysis and Process Capability
• Experience of root cause analysis using Fishbone (Cause and Effect) Diagrams and 5 Whys (Five Whys) techniques
• Demonstrable experience of practical problem-solving techniques using A3 or 8D

Desirable:
• Experience Leading Lean Manufacturing including process standardisation kaizen activities such as 5S
• Experience in lay-up processes for composite materials
• Specification interpretation experience