Manufacturing engineers fuse business systems with scientific advances. They work in various industries, including aerospace, agriculture, biomedical, and environmental. Educational background and industry preference are important factors when seeking a job in this field.
One of the primary jobs of a manufacturing engineer is to fuse business systems and procedures with scientific advances. Many different types of companies need skilled manufacturing engineers, from toy manufacturers to aerospace missile designers. Most manufacturing engineers are specialists, and companies often list manufacturing engineering jobs under other names, such as Process Engineer, Director of Manufacturing, or Plant Engineer. When applying for manufacturing engineering jobs, a person should look at the job requirements and not the job title.
In 2011, the United States federal government’s Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system listed 17 different engineering specialties. This is a partial list because other agencies and engineering societies recognize more, generally in subdivisions of the 17 divisions. For example, civil engineering often includes transportation, which the SOC does not list as a separate specialty. Another example is materials engineering, which often includes metallurgy, polymer, and ceramic engineering.
Some professions have unique manufacturing engineering jobs, such as a wood products producer who employs a wood drying research engineer. Not all engineers develop new products or processes. Often they review and improve existing products or procedures. Other engineers’ field of expertise focuses more on people than on products. Two examples are continuous improvement engineers and ergonomic process engineers.
Aerospace engineering includes aeronautical or aeronautical and astronautical or space engineering. Some manufacturing engineering jobs in agriculture are designing machinery, equipment and crop storage structures. Another agricultural area in need of production engineers is the food processing industry. Sometimes fields of work overlap, such as food processing, which may require an engineer with chemical training.
In the biomedical division of manufacturing engineering jobs, a person can work for a manufacturer of prosthetics, artificial organs, medical instruments, and more. In addition to working in the food industry, chemical manufacturing engineers work in a variety of industries. This can include electronics, energy, clothing, paper and other industries. One of the newest industries open to manufacturing engineers is nanomaterials processing.
Other new areas for candidates to find manufacturing engineering jobs include environmental industries, workplace ergonomics and energy-based industries. An engineer working in ergonomics might be a work environment engineer or a process engineer. This person resolves operation and process issues, especially as they pertain to workers.
People interested in manufacturing engineering jobs should consider several things. An important factor is the type of industry or environment in which a person wants to work. Some jobs have a high percentage of time devoted to fieldwork, while others are fully desk-bound jobs.
Another factor is a person’s educational background. Many companies prefer a bachelor’s or similar degree, but some companies require a master’s or doctoral degree. Most companies prefer the candidate to have professional experience in the same field or a closely related line of work.
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