Job description

Manufacturing Engineers design, integrate, or improve manufacturing systems or related processes. May work with commercial or industrial designers to refine product designs to increase producibility and decrease costs.

• Troubleshoot new or existing product problems involving designs, materials, or processes.
• Investigate or resolve operational problems, such as material use variances or bottlenecks.
• Identify opportunities or implement changes to improve manufacturing processes or products or to reduce costs, using knowledge of fabrication processes, tooling and production equipment, assembly methods, quality control standards, or product design, materials and parts.
• Apply continuous improvement methods such as lean manufacturing to enhance manufacturing quality, reliability, or cost-effectiveness.

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Salary

Manufacturing Engineers with little to no experience tend to make between $50750 and $69890 while the more experienced ones can earn over $126200 per year.

One of the easiest ways to increase your salary as a Manufacturing Engineer is to move to a higher paying state like DC. Right now, the highest paying states for Manufacturing Engineers are DC, MD, VA, AL and NJ.

However, a higher pay at DC doesn’t guarantee that you will make more because the living expenses at DC might be twice as high than where you are currently at now.

Three other factors that can increase your salary as a Manufacturing Engineer is the degree you hold, the industry you work in, and lastly the company you work for.

Requirements

We asked other Manufacturing Engineers what degree they had when they got the job and most of them said they had a Bachelor’s Degree followed by an Associate’s Degree.

Other than that, we also asked them what did they major in and here are the most popular majors that came up.

Pros and Cons

Here are some of the pros and cons of being a Manufacturing Engineer.

What is the job like

70% of Manufacturing Engineers said they were satisfied with their job and 60% said they feel like their job is making other people’s lives better.

Is this right for me

You can read more about these career personality types here.

People who are suitable for this job tends to like work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They like working with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery..

They also like working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. They like searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

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