Tooling Lead

Position Type: Full-time

Summary Of Duties

Position Purpose: The Tooling Lead position plays a pivotal role in overseeing the tooling processes within the manufacturing facility. They lead a team of technicians to ensure the efficient operation, maintenance, and continuous improvement of the company’s injection molding tools. Their expertise in tooling design, troubleshooting, and optimization is essential in maintaining production quality and meeting targets. This individual is expected to perform job responsibilities in accordance with the company’s core values.

Essential Job Functions:

• Team Leadership:
  • Lead and mentor a team of technicians involved in tooling operations.
  • Provide guidance, training, and support to team members to ensure their professional development and performance optimization.
  • Foster a culture of safety, quality, and continuous improvement within the tooling department.
• Tooling Maintenance and Repair:
  • Oversee and assist in the maintenance, repair, and modification of injection molding tools to ensure optimal performance and longevity.
  • Ability to operate all machines that aid in making & repairing tools to include but not limited to: manual and CNC mill, manual lathe, surface grinder, pin grinder, sinker EDM, and various manual tools that aid in the tool repair and maintenance. Micro-welding experience is a plus.
  • Develop and implement preventive maintenance schedules to minimize downtime and maximize efficiency.
  • Coordinate with production and maintenance teams to prioritize tooling repair activities based on production schedules and criticality.
• Tooling Optimization:
  • Collaborate with engineering and design teams to optimize tooling for improved cycle times, part quality, and cost efficiency.
  • Ensure adequate inventory of all essential replacement parts.
  • Maintain tooling storage, conduct root cause analysis for tooling issues and implement corrective actions to prevent recurrence.
  • Utilize statistical process control (SPC) and other tools to monitor and improve tooling performance metrics.
• New Tooling Development:
  • Participate in the design review process for new injection molding tools, providing input to ensure manufacturability and efficiency.
• Quality Assurance:
  • Collaborate with quality assurance teams to establish and maintain quality standards for molded parts.
  • Conduct regular audits of tooling and processes to identify areas for improvement and ensure compliance with quality requirements.
  • Investigate and resolve quality issues related to tooling, implementing corrective and preventive actions as necessary.
• Continuous Improvement:
  • Drive continuous improvement initiatives within the tooling department, focusing on cost reduction, waste elimination, and process optimization.
  • Lead or participate in cross-functional teams to address production challenges and implement best practices.
  • Stay abreast of industry trends, technological advancements, and best practices in plastic injection molding tooling.
• Other Duties as Assigned:

Qualifications / Experience

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Required

• Education, Training and/or Experience
  • Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
  • Minimum of 10 years of experience in plastic injection molding tooling, with a proven track record of leadership and technical expertise.
  • Strong knowledge of injection molding processes, tooling materials, and manufacturing principles.
  • Experience with lean manufacturing principles and continuous improvement methodologies.
  • Proficiency in CAD/CAM software for tooling design and modification.
• Language Skills
  • Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals.
  • Effective communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate across departments and influence stakeholders.
• Mathematical Skills
  • Ability to add, subtract, multiply and divide in all units of measure using whole numbers, fractions and decimals.
  • Performs complex precision work to exacting tolerances and dimensions.
• Reasoning Ability
  • Excellent problem-solving skills with the ability to analyze complex issues and implement effective solutions.
  • Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram or schedule form.
• Computer Skills
  • Basic computer skills for communication and scheduling purposes.
  • Basic MS Office program skills.
  • Understanding of how to access & use modules specific to job function in DelmiaWorks (IQMS) ERP System

Competencies: Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities/Physical Demands

Competencies: Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies:

• Problem solving & Troubleshooting ability
• Technical skills
• Basic computer skills
• Effective oral communication
• Quality mindset & awareness
• Team-oriented; Collaborative
• Takes initiative; Able to self-direct
• Organization support / Good company steward
• Strategic thinking
• Good judgement
• Safety minded & best practices for manufacturing
• Adaptability
• Dependability
• Detail-oriented; process oriented
• Eager to learn; eager to teach

Physical Demands:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to:

• Stand and walk
• Reach with hands and use hands to finger, handle, or feel
• The employee may be required to stoop, kneel or crouch
• The employee may be required to lift and / or move up to 50 pounds
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision and depth perception