Day in the life of
Junior Production Engineer – Asjad Aamir
I work in a shoe manufacturing company as a Junior Production Engineer.
My Typical Day
My daily job routine includes managing the shoe assembly line to ensure a smooth process flow and eliminate wastes so that the lead time can be minimized.
I also ensure that machines at different steps work coherently with each other. If there is any defect in them, I send requests to the maintenance department to repair or replace the parts.
Furthermore, I also ensure the safety of line supervisors and ask them to adopt proper SOPs.
Pros
- Being an industrial engineer, I love to apply waste eliminating techniques to ensure a smooth material flow during the process.
- You also get a chance to go abroad and find machineries packed with the latest technologies that could make the process faster and more efficient.
- Furthermore, there is a great opportunity for growth in a production center. After getting some certifications like Kaizen, 5s, and Lean Six Sigma, you can be promoted to a “Manager Production” within a few years.
Cons
- Being a Production Engineer, there is an ongoing risk round the clock. Your senior management can call you anytime if you live near a plant site.
- The other con that my colleagues somehow consider (but I love it) is that I’m responsible for the safety of the line supervisors. During my duty, I have to arrange a round on all assembly lines several times to ensure that supervisors are operating SOPs and the production floor is clean and risk-free.
Advice to aspiring Production Engineers
If you want to become a production engineer in the future, I’d suggest you take some management courses. These include:
- Total quality management
- Lean Six Sigma (Yellow Belt, Green Belt, and Black Belt)
Furthermore, try to select your final year project that could help in landing your production engineering job. It could be any product like a chair or anything you like that you could manufacture at a small scale and justify your production and planning skills.
