Manufacturing Engineer II

At Toyo, we envision our Mechanical Engineers as innovative problem-solvers who drive reliability and performance. In this role, you'll play a critical part in designing, implementing, and sustaining mechanical, electromechanical, and industrial systems that power our processes. Your contributions will directly impact our commitment to excellence, ensuring our equipment not only meets but exceeds production demands with efficiency and resilience.

Independently leads manufacturing and capital improvement projects starting at problem definition and ending at the hand-off to production, with some oversight and guidance from more senior employees.  with accountability for technical quality, safety, execution, and resource management. Troubleshoots complex equipment issues and formally mentors less experienced engineers while seeking required approval for major spending, scope, and schedule changes. 

Job Scope 

• Own multiple projects of varying size and complexity across the plant, from initial scope and justification through equipment commissioning and project closeout. 

• Project scope will vary from small machine enhancements to large scale machine purchase and installations. 

• Independently develop and recommend technical solutions, coordinate resources, and manage approved budgets and plans. 

• Recognize when project complexity warrants technical support, specialist input, or escalation to the Engineering Manager or ME-III. 

• Provide structured mentoring to ME-I engineers and co-ops/interns without direct-report responsibilities. 

Supervision & Leadership 

• Reports to the Engineering Manager within the Maintenance & Engineering organization. 

• No direct reports; formally mentors developing engineers and may lead assigned project teams and interns. 

• Manages approved project scope and expenditure; major commitments, spending changes, material scope changes, and significant schedule changes require Engineering Manager approval. 

Essential Duties & Responsibilities 

Capital Projects & Project Management 

• Translate defined production problems into written scopes, functional requirements, practical measurements for success, and which correspond to a basic project plan. 

• Develop capital cost estimates, ROI/payback analyses, project budgets, schedules, milestones, and risk registers appropriate to project size. 

• Prepare vendor RFQs, conduct site walkthroughs, evaluate bids and technical alternatives, clarify exclusions, and recommend suppliers. 

• Coordinate plant stakeholders, contractors, vendors, procurement, installation windows, and required technical resources. 

• Track assigned budgets, schedules, purchase requirements, outstanding actions, and project records; promptly flag and record problems with the budget or scope changes. 

• Manage authorized project execution, cost and schedule forecasts, change logs, contractor progress, and action items; escalate plan deviations before formal commitment. 

• Lead design reviews, installation acceptance, commissioning, functional verification, operator/maintenance handover, and technical closeout. 

• Coordinate and host meetings with cross disciplinary personnel. 

Mechanical Engineering & Technical Problem Solving 

• Independently design or modify industrial mechanical systems and equipment using sound engineering practices, drawings, GD&T, and appropriate calculations. 

• Demonstrate practical proficiency in machine components, gearboxes and power transmission, conveyors, pneumatics, hydraulics, and relevant utility systems. 

• Enhance production by designing and implementing process improvement projects that focus on improving efficiency, material yield, safety, cost, or automating new processes. 

• Completing design projects that include things such as instrument & controls mounting, robots, pneumatics, hydraulics, electro-mechanical systems, and heat transfer systems. 

• Read, interpret, and generate drawings, specifications, equipment manuals, and vendor submittals (RFQ’s); research unfamiliar machines and technologies. 

• Host walkthroughs with vendors and relevant stake holders 

• Interpret mechanical, electrical, and controls information sufficiently to work with automation and electrical specialists on VFDs, sensors, TCUs, servos, and PLC-controlled equipment. 

• Lead investigations of difficult or recurring equipment problems; use evidence-based root-cause methods and verify corrective action effectiveness. 

• Compare equipment and vendor proposals for maintainability, reliability, lifecycle cost, safety, and production performance. 

• Evaluate installed equipment, identify practical reliability and quality improvements, document recommendations for review, and recommend design modifications to eliminate machine or system malfunctions. 

• Conduct basic root-cause investigations and appropriate data collection for persistent mechanical or process failures. 

• Work with Maintenance when technical support is needed on difficult or recurring failures; emphasize permanent corrective actions rather than routine maintenance ownership. 

• Collaborate with Production, Technical, Maintenance, and other engineers to understand constraints, equipment behavior, and operational goals. 

• Support improvements to safety, uptime, quality, material flow, cycle time, energy use, and cost. 

• Develop production planning, labor standards, material flow, and process documentation. 

Manufacturing Operations & Reliability Support 

• Serve as an engineering escalation partner for Maintenance on difficult or recurring mechanical problems; do not replace routine maintenance response. 

• Coordinate with Production, Maintenance, Technical, Quality, and others to optimize uptime, throughput, quality, material use, and safety. 

• Share lessons learned and reusable standards across departments and unfamiliar equipment families. 

Safety & Compliance 

• Integrate machine guarding, safe access, ergonomics, isolation/LOTO provisions, and maintainability into specifications and project designs. 

• Coordinate task-specific risk assessments, design reviews, contractor work planning, and safe commissioning with site EHS and responsible functions. 

• Verify identified safety actions are closed prior to handover, in accordance with applicable standards and company procedures. 

Minimum Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Technology, Mechatronics Engineering, or a closely related engineering discipline. 

• Typically 3+ years of relevant engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated capability managing manufacturing equipment and capital projects. 

• Demonstrated independent delivery of projects, including technical scope, supplier coordination, budget and schedule control, and commissioning. 

• Practical manufacturing equipment troubleshooting and sound use of engineering drawings, calculations, and documentation. 

• Effective written and verbal communication, negotiation, prioritization, and cross-functional leadership. 

• Competency with CAD, Excel, project tracking software, and relevant plant systems; ability to learn unfamiliar tools and processes. 

Relevant / Preferred Experience 

• Delivery of multiple capital projects, including equipment installation, troubleshooting, and commissioning in a continuous-process manufacturing environment. 

• Experience with hydraulics, pneumatics, conveying, gearboxes, industrial utilities, instrumentation, VFDs, and machine controls. 

• equipment reliability 

•  contractor coordination 

•  ROI analysis, technical bid evaluation 

• coaching others. 

•  CAD, GD&T, and Producing/interpreting manufacturing drawings 

• Conveyors, mixers, robots, and extrusion lines. 

• root-cause analysis 

• Industrial Utilities 

• Troubleshooting or designing Pneumatic, hydraulic, electrical, or mechanical systems 

• Machine Design 

• Capital project management 

• Equipment installs, commissioning, and decommissioning 

• Industrial Maintenance 

• Production Equipment operation 

• Generating Manufacturing Drawings 

• Tire manufacturing, automation, and PLC programming knowledge are valued but not required specialties.