The profession of the production engineer is part of the production sector. In the chain that takes from the design of a product to its exit from the factory as a commodity, the production engineer intervenes at the production level.
He is responsible for supervising the production, ensuring that quantities, deadlines and quality are respected. His mission is to organize the production process, according to the guidelines of the company strategy.
To accomplish this, he is responsible for establishing the manufacturing processes, taking care of the management of raw materials and organizing the work of the teams in charge of production.
In this way, he ensures the regular monitoring of the stages of manufacturing by the supervisory role he assumes, with the various employees throughout the production chain (workers, technicians, line managers).
Therefore, this professional is particularly attentive to all questions concerning the safety of machinery and personnel.
His responsibility extends from the operation of the machines to the optimization of manufacturing. It is a proposal force to improve production procedures and methods with the aim of maximum profitability and quality.
Qualities and skills needed
It is a profession with a lot of opportunity. But to be part of this market, it will be necessary to develop some qualities and skills necessary to be hired as a production engineer, for example:
- The production engineer is versatile because he dominates the technical and managerial skills.
- Rigorous and methodical, he has organizational and relational qualities that allow him to manage the work of the teams and the relationships with the internal and external contacts of the company.
- He is dynamic and receptive to unforeseen situations.
- He knows how to work in teams and be a pedagogue for the training of the team for which he is responsible.
In this way, the production engineer has an eye on the whole manufacturing process: logistics, supply, technical assistance, etc. His three permanent battles are: costs, deadlines and quality. He wears at the same time a cap of technician and manager.
Opportunities for Production Engineers in Small and Medium Enterprises.
The Production Engineer can work for small and medium companies, a large industrial group, factory or laboratory. This explains the diversity of his missions. In a small company, he is often responsible for all products.
However, in a large group, he deals with the manufacturing of a single product, a range or a specific stage of the production cycle.
In addition, he is at the heart of the process and communicates with all his partners. It is often up to him to organize the work, manage schedules and training, and respond to the requests of the team he frames.
The production engineer can work with your manufacturing unit.
He must be able to communicate effectively with all production-related services: with the engineers in the design offices, who design the products, the maintenance engineers, who intervene in the event of problems, and the management with whom he participates in the definition of production policy and process improvement.
This engineer is also a manager: he supervises a team of employees and technicians, manages a budget, schedules, training.
Opportunities as responsible in industries
The production engineer is responsible within a chemical or pharmaceutical company to organize, manage and control the production of one or more workshops.
He supervises manufacturing, scheduling, logistics, maintenance, purchasing and planning programs. He is responsible for production on an industrial scale in terms of quantity, quality and time.
Manufacturing of products
The production engineer is responsible for the manufacture of products from the purchase of raw materials to the control of the work performed.
His main mission is, after having participated in the development of the production program of one or more workshops, to guarantee the realization of this program.
To fulfill these long term and short term objectives, he depends on computerized means of production management.
Jobs to work with product supervision
The production engineer intervenes throughout the manufacturing process. He ensures respect for costs, deadlines and safety and quality standards. He supervises the production teams (workers, technicians), organizes the schedules and distributes the work.
He is also responsible for optimizing production flows and resources, implementing management tools and performance indicators. He manages the budget of his department and sometimes of the entire production unit.
He can participate in the improvement and development of production processes.
He can also contribute to the implementation of new products or the improvement of an existing product.
The production engineer supervises the manufacturing, scheduling, logistics, maintenance, procurement and planning programs.
His main mission is, after having participated in the development of the production program of one or more workshops, to guarantee the realization of this program.