Tooling Engineer

Howmet Aerospace is searching for a Tooling Engineer to join our Howmet Wheel Systems (HWS) business unit in Cleveland, OH.

Howmet Aerospace (NYSE: HWM) creates breakthrough products that shape industries. Working in close partnership with our customers, we solve complex engineering challenges to transform the way we fly, drive, and power. Through the ingenuity of our people and cutting-edge advanced manufacturing techniques, we deliver these products at a quality and efficiency that ensure customer success and shareholder value.

Howmet Wheel Systems (HWS) is a business unit with a rich tradition and a bright future. We invented the forged wheel in 1948 and have remained the global leader in providing safe, strong, lightweight, and innovative aluminum transportation products ever since. ALCOA® Wheels are highly engineered products operating in challenging environments with significant product liability risk and wide diversity of end use applications ranging from passenger cars to heavy-duty trucks to commercial and military vehicles. HWS employs 1,700 people at 14 locations worldwide and produces over 4 million aluminum wheels globally with annual sales more than $800 million.

Our customers trust us to deliver a wide range of great looking and dependable products that improve fuel economy and increase payload to address their customer’s business needs. Our Commercial Vehicle Wheel products lead the world in market innovation and truck, trailer, and bus customers recognize our LvL ONE®, Dura-Bright® and Ultra ONE® wheels as the current innovative products in this market.

Job Dimensions:

Under the direction of the Process Engineering Manager, this position is accountable for:

• Monitor hit count to ensure that dies are being restored at proper intervals

• Review forging quality and tooling health daily on the shop floor and leverage that feedback towards decision making about die and tooling maintenance

• Support die and tooling readiness on-site in CLE to ensure active and upcoming forging jobs have necessary dies on-heat and contingent tooling ready for install

• Respond to and investigate tooling failures in Production to troubleshoot immediate solutions and implement preventative actions to mitigate reoccurrence

• Implement and track cost savings initiatives

• Work to optimize die setups and changeovers

• Create Die Repair Orders (DRO) for die maintenance

• Supply data & drawings for vendors

• Obtain quotes and strategically award work based on cost and timing to benefit HWS bottom line

• Manage on-time delivery of dies between die cleaning vendor and CLE

• Manage die repair priorities and ensure we are adhering to fabrication and restoration standards

• Provide weekly updates to Forging Design and Process Engineering teams on die repair and fabrication status

• Support forging and die design activities, revisions, creating & checking drawings, and maintaining up-to-date related documentation

• Manage new fabrication, development, and modification of tooling via external die shops

• Develop and maintain the Asset Binder

• Manage/maintain active tooling on Smart Manufacturing dashboard

• Work with Forging Design Lead to adhere to expense & capital budgets

• Create and manage capital projects related to design improvements, tooling upgrades, scrap reduction, and standard equipment maintenance

• Collaborate and share best practices across global HWS locations

• Ship tooling internationally and ensure that associated paperwork is properly prepared in accordance with the requirements of the trade compliance group

Major activities/Key challenges:

• The major activities include monitoring and controlling systems, coordinating inventory and transportation with outside resources, and awarding work to maintain the $9M inventory of HWS dies.

• This requires working with constantly changing forge plans to meet internal customer requirements and managing outside entities in the repair and maintenance of dies.

• The scope is regional with responsibility for new tooling manufacture for all 3 forging facilities (CLE, HWSM, HWSE), tooling maintenance for CLE and HWSM and daily tooling management for CLE. This involves regular communication with CLE manufacturing as well as our full-time external die shop located at JRE. This also involves ensuring that die repair costs are well-managed at our external die facilities in the Great Lakes region.

Major Customers:

• The major customer for the Manufacturing Planner/Coordinator is the manufacturing and process engineering groups to ensure that forge tooling is available, well-maintained, and at the appropriate revision per our engineering control processes.

• Internal customers include HWS production and planning in Cleveland, forge die design, purchasing, traffic and quality organization. External interfaces include the outside vendor performing the die maintenance, other external suppliers, transportation companies and other CVW locations, including our facilities in Mexico and Hungary.

• Travel to local die shops in Cleveland and surrounding area is expected occasionally. Travel to our off-site die maintenance facility is expected monthly. Travel to HWSM facility in Monterrey, Mexico may be required occasionally. Travel required for the role is generally less than 25% of total work time.

Environment, Health & Safety Requirements:

• This position reports directly to the Process Engineering Manager.

• This position provides technical support to the global HWS organization for the development of new technology, processes and products, and continuous improvement to reduce manufacturing costs and improve the marketability of the product.

• This position requires hands on assistance in a forging environment. Including problem solving, troubleshooting and occasional off shift and weekend support.
• Internal contacts include Engineering, Production, Maintenance, Process Engineering, Design, Quality, Supply Chain, and EHS personnel. External contacts are with other Howmet Aerospace locations, outside university contacts and technical consultants, Cleveland Works’ vendors, die & tooling shops, machining sources, polishing sources, and destructive testing sources and customers.

• The incumbent will be in regular communication with the technical department staff and the Production, Maintenance, Process Engineering, and Quality team members in the Cleveland flow path and occasionally with all global manufacturing sites.

Basic Qualifications:

• A degree in Material Science Engineering or Electrical Engineering or other suitable technical education is required.

• Minimum of 3 years of experience in a manufacturing environment is required.

• Strong organizational skills and computer skills, particularly in the use of Excel spreadsheets

• 2 years of administrative experience including planning, scheduling and coordination of work flow.

• Employees must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire. Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Strong technical background in mechanical or other engineering disciplines.

• Mechanical background, or experience with steel, metals, tooling, CNC, or design.

• Familiarity/experience with CAD and technical drawings.

• Incumbent must possess excellent written and verbal communication skills and the ability to work independently.

• The incumbent must also possess a high degree of people skills as he/she must motivate and influence others.

• In addition to knowledge of conventional aluminum processing, incumbent must have a thorough understanding of the Howmet Aerospace Business System and methods for assessing process capability and driving continuous improvements.

• The incumbent should also have a thorough knowledge of the forging process and standard practices that would normally be acquired through extensive experience in various technical assignments.

• The incumbent must also have demonstrated the ability to deal effectively with people under varying circumstances.