Production Engineer (Estimating & Route Planning)
UK DIES GROUP LTD
Birmingham
Full-time
This listing is from Indeed
Job Title: Production Engineer (Estimating \& Route Planning)
Responsible to: Production Manager
Department: Engineering
Contract: Full\-time, permanent, site based
Starting Salary: £17\.00 per hour, plus DOE (dependent on experience)
Position Overview
We are seeking a Production Engineer to take ownership of the front end of our manufacturing process. Working from customer\-supplied drawings for precision tooling and die components, you will decide how each part should be made, build the route card in our Route Builder system, and produce the cost estimate that underpins our quotation.
This is a pivotal role that sits between the customer enquiry and the shop floor. The accuracy of your routes and times directly affects both our competitiveness on price and our margin on the job, and the route you create becomes the manufacturing instruction that the workshop follows. The ideal candidate is a mechanical engineering graduate with a genuine interest in how parts are made, sound commercial judgement, and the discipline to work accurately with detail.
Key Responsibilities
*Drawing Review and Process Planning*
- Interpret 2D customer drawings, specifications and GD\&T to establish the full manufacturing requirement, including dimensional tolerances, geometric callouts, surface finish (Ra) requirements, material specification, hardness and heat treatment.
- Work confidently with drawings produced to a range of standards and conventions (e.g. ISO 2768 general tolerances) and from overseas customers, including drawings with limited or ambiguous information.
- Determine the most economical manufacturing method and the correct sequence of operations across our in\-house workcentres which include turning, milling, grinding, wire erosion, spark erosion, finishing and inspection. Also, identify where sub\-contract processes are required.
- Decide what is machined before and after heat treatment, allowing appropriate grinding stock and making sensible provision for distortion, stress relief and finishing.
- Calculate material requirements: specify bar, blank or billet size, cut\-off allowance, parts per die and material utilisation.
- Identify tight\-tolerance, high\-risk or non\-standard features early, and plan the additional operations, tooling or inspection they demand.
- Create, issue and maintain route cards in the company’s Route Builder / ERP system, assigning workcentre, process description, setup time and run time to every operation.
- Build accurate cost estimates covering labour, material, tooling, consumables and sub\-contract operations, and calculate part cost across a range of batch quantities.
- Prepare quotations and supporting cost breakdowns for review, explaining clearly what is driving the price.
- Control route versions and issue numbers rigorously: certify completed routes, keep modification history accurate, and ensure routes are re\-issued when a customer changes drawing issue.
- Maintain the drawing register and ensure that only the current drawing issue is in circulation on the shop floor.
- Obtain material pricing, sub\-contract pricing and lead times from suppliers to support estimates.
- Compare estimated times and costs against actual booked times, investigate variances with the shop floor, and progressively refine standard times and costing data.
- Build and maintain a library of standard times, process data and historical costs so that estimating becomes faster and more consistent over time.
- Review existing methods and routes to reduce setup time, cycle time and cost without compromising quality.
- Support price review, and liaise directly with customers to resolve technical queries, missing dimensions or unclear requirements before work is released.
- Work closely with shop floor engineers to ensure routes are realistic and achievable.
- Provide method sheets, setup information and inspection requirements to support first\-off approval and production.
Routes are built across the following in\-house workcentres. You will not be required to operate this equipment, but you must understand what each process is for, the tolerance and surface finish it can realistically hold, and roughly how long it takes to set and run:
- Turning: CNC turning and flatbed lathe.
- Milling: CNC milling, including drilling, tapping and flat/form work.
- Grinding: Surface grinding, universal grinding, centreless grinding and internal grinding.
- Erosion: Wire erosion and spark erosion for forms, profiles and features that cannot be conventionally machined.
- Honing and finishing: Honing of bores, plus lapping, polishing to achieve final size and surface finish.
- Heat treatment: Hardening and tempering, and the effect this has on stock allowance, sequencing and distortion.
- Inspection, marking and packing: Final inspection, etching and special customer marking requirements.
Essential Qualifications and Experience
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, or in Production, Manufacturing or Industrial Engineering.
- Confident ability to read and interpret engineering drawings, GD\&T and technical specifications.
- Sound working knowledge of the machining and finishing processes listed above in particular what tolerance and surface finish each can achieve, and when one process is a cheaper route to the same result than another.
- Proficiency with 3D CAD software, ideally Fusion 360, including the ability to build models from 2D customer drawings to verify geometry, calculate material volumes and support accurate quoting.
- Understanding of engineering and tool steels, hardness (HRC), and the effect of heat treatment on machinability and dimensional stability.
- Strong numeracy and analytical ability: comfortable building up costs, calculating cycle times, material usage and batch economics.
- Competent with Microsoft Excel and able to learn ERP/MRP and estimating systems quickly.
- Meticulous attention to detail and disciplined record keeping; small errors in a route or a time carry straight through to the price.
- Clear written and spoken English, with the confidence to question a drawing, a customer or a colleague when something does not look right.
- Experience in estimating, planning, method engineering or production engineering within subcontract precision engineering, toolmaking, press tool, die or mould manufacture.
- Hands\-on machine shop, toolroom or CNC setting experience, or a background in CNC programming.
- CNC programming knowledge: CAM software (Fusion 360, Mastercam, SolidCAM or similar), G\-code and M\-code, and an understanding of how a programmer and setter will approach the part.
- Familiarity with metrology and inspection equipment (callipers, micrometers, plug gauges, shadowgraph, CMM, surface finish testing).
- Experience of working within an ISO 9001 quality management system.
- Exposure to continuous improvement techniques such as lean manufacturing, time study, work measurement or 5S.
- Commercial awareness gained from quoting, tendering or customer\-facing technical work.
- Methodical and systematic, with the patience to work through detail accurately.
- Commercially minded: Understands that every decision on the route card has a price attached to it.
- Genuinely curious about how things are made, and willing to spend time on the shop floor learning from experienced machinists.
- Well organised, able to manage several enquiries at once and deliver quotations to deadline.
- Collaborative, approachable and comfortable communicating across production, quality, purchasing, sales and with customers.
Benefits:
- Casual dress
- Free parking
- On\-site parking
This listing is from Indeed. View original listing ↗