Industrial Engineer I

Job Description Job Description Description: Industrial Engineer
Spike Bay Area Pasadena TX Operations
Position Summary
The Industrial Engineer I improves manufacturing performance across Spike Electric Controls by analyzing production and supporting business processes, reducing waste and variation, and helping implement sustainable operating methods. Reporting to the Director of Manufacturing Systems and Operations, this role works extensively on the production floor and across Production, Engineering, Supply Chain, Quality, Maintenance, Information Technology, Finance, and Operations to improve safety, quality, cost, delivery, productivity, capacity, and throughput.
This is an entry- to early-career Industrial Engineering position. The employee will manage well-defined improvement projects and perform broader process-analysis work with technical guidance appropriate to the assignment's complexity and risk. The initial assignment will be management of the Manufacturing Cart Project, including current-state assessment, requirements development, project coordination, prototype or solution evaluation, implementation support, documentation, performance verification, and sustainment.
Key Responsibilities
Process Analysis and Continuous Improvement
- Analyze manufacturing and supporting business processes to identify opportunities affecting safety, quality, cost, delivery, productivity, capacity, and throughput.
- Conduct time studies, work sampling, cycle-time analysis, workflow observations, and labor-content reviews to establish reliable performance baselines.
- Develop current-state and future-state process maps, value-stream maps, spaghetti diagrams, and other practical representations of product and information flow.
- Identify bottlenecks, constraints, non-value-added activity, process variation, excessive handling, queue time, rework, and other forms of waste using Lean principles.
- Apply structured problem-solving and root-cause methods to define issues, test countermeasures, and help prevent recurrence.
- Develop practical recommendations that balance productivity, quality, safety, cost, staffing, equipment, and customer requirements.
- Seek technical review when the evidence, risk, method, or authority boundary is unclear.
Project Leadership and Implementation
- Manage assigned improvement projects of defined scope from charter, baseline, and target definition through implementation, closeout, and sustainment.
- Develop and maintain project plans, milestones, resource needs, risk controls, action logs, decision records, and measurable success criteria.
- Communicate project status, risks, evidence, and decisions clearly to the project sponsor and affected stakeholders.
- Coordinate with Production, Engineering, Supply Chain, Quality, Maintenance, Information Technology, Finance, and Operations to implement approved improvements.
- Pilot proposed changes, collect operator feedback, resolve or escalate implementation issues, and support training and change adoption before full rollout.
- Measure post-implementation results, document lessons learned and establish controls that help sustain the improved process.
- Escalate decisions involving safety, technical approval, Quality disposition, production priority, capital expenditure, supplier commitment, or another function's authority.
Initial Assignment - Manufacturing Cart Project
- Establish the current state of carts used to move, stage, protect, identify, and retrieve materials, tools, components, work in process, and completed assemblies.
- Document cart types, quantities, conditions, locations, uses, movement paths, storage practices, ownership gaps, and recurring operational constraints.
- Gather requirements from operators, material handlers, supervisors, Engineering, Quality, Safety, Maintenance, Planning, and other affected users.
- Translate use cases into documented requirements such as load, dimensions, maneuverability, product protection, ergonomics, labeling, storage, cleanability, maintainability, and facility compatibility.
- Coordinate evaluation of reuse, modification, internal fabrication, or purchase alternatives and document the cost, risk, operational, and implementation tradeoffs.
- Maintain the project plan, milestone status, risk and issue log, requirements register, action log, and decision record.
- Coordinate prototypes or trials, collect user feedback and comparable before-and-after evidence, and route required approvals to the appropriate functional owner.
- Develop rollout recommendations covering identification, point-of-use location, storage, training, inspection, maintenance, repair, replacement, and standard work.
- Verify and report the project's effect on relevant handling time, travel, waiting, searching, congestion, ergonomic exposure, product protection, cart availability, utilization, and location visibility.
Data Analysis and Performance Management
- Collect, organize, validate, and analyze manufacturing data using Microsoft Excel and available ERP, production, and business systems.
- Develop clear reports, dashboards, and performance measures that communicate operating conditions, trends, losses, and improvement opportunities.
- Support labor studies, staffing models, capacity planning, line balancing, productivity analysis, cost analysis, and internal or external process benchmarking.
- Analyze cycle time, setup time, queue time, work in process, downtime, scrap, rework, yield, schedule attainment, and other relevant measures.
- Make assumptions, limitations, missing data, and confidence levels visible rather than overstating conclusions.
Manufacturing Systems, Layout, and Standardization
- Improve manufacturing layouts, workstation design, ergonomics, point-of-use storage, material presentation, and movement paths to support safe and efficient flow.
- Develop and maintain standard work, work instructions, visual controls, process documentation, and training materials for implemented improvements.
- Support accurate routings, labor standards, capacity assumptions, and other manufacturing-system data used for planning and performance evaluation.
- Evaluate tooling, equipment, fixtures, carts, and appropriate automation opportunities; document requirements, operational impacts, risks, and expected returns.
- Support new product introduction, process transfers, product-mix changes, and Engineer-to-Order workflow improvements by assessing capacity, sequence, labor, and material-flow needs.
Cross-Functional Collaboration and Change Leadership
- Conduct regular Gemba walks and engage directly with operators, supervisors, technicians, engineers, and department leaders to understand operating conditions and constraints.
- Support or facilitate focused Kaizen events, value-stream mapping sessions, process-improvement workshops, and structured problem-solving meetings.
- Translate technical analysis into practical actions, visual information, and recommendations understandable to production teams and leadership.
- Build stakeholder participation by incorporating frontline expertise, clarifying responsibilities, and supporting adoption of new standards and systems.
- Maintain strong working relationships across departments and escalate barriers requiring leadership decisions or additional resources.
Safety, Quality, and Operational Discipline
- Integrate safety, ergonomic, quality, traceability, and compliance requirements into process designs and improvement recommendations.
- Partner with Quality and operational leaders to reduce defects, rework, process escapes, and variation without weakening required controls.
- Follow applicable change-control, document-control, equipment-approval, and training requirements before revised processes are released.
- Model safe behavior, follow required PPE and facility rules, and promptly report hazards, incidents, or conditions that could affect people or operations.
Professional Development
- Continue developing Industrial Engineering expertise through hands-on project work, technical guidance, mentorship, benchmarking, and formal learning.
- Expand capability in Lean Manufacturing, value-stream mapping, statistical analysis, process optimization, project management, and operational-excellence methods.
- Progress toward leading larger and more ambiguous cross-functional initiatives as technical depth, business understanding, and influence grow.
Initial 12-Month Performance Outcomes
- Develop a practical understanding of Spike Electric Controls' manufacturing processes, product families, information flow, and key operational constraints.
- Establish a controlled current state, requirements set, project plan, and measurable baseline for the Manufacturing Cart Project.
- Coordinate the cart project through evaluated alternatives, trials or prototypes, approved rollout, standard work, performance verification, and sustainment controls.
- Complete current-state process maps and validate performance baselines for assigned manufacturing areas.
- Complete assigned improvement projects that produce verified gains or reliable learning in productivity, quality, safety, cost, delivery, capacity, or throughput.
- Implement approved standard work and supporting documentation and establish measures that confirm whether the improvement is being sustained.
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