Plastic Tooling Engineer
Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Operations and Supply Chain
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Acting as a key interface among Worldwide Operations Team, Plastic tooling engineer is responsible for plastic tool development from support part design, tool concept & process review and define, DFM review and tool T0-Tf . This role will focus on a specific commodity and will play a critical role in the overall success of the Apple Operation.
• Co work with Cupertino PD team for part design development including geometry and challenging features. Give the suggestion and modification plan from tooling perspective to make the tooling concept succeed.
• Manage molding trials for new programs, providing feedback for corrective actions to Cupertino tooling DRI, PD and cross functional team.
• Work with molding process engineer establish POR process parameters for a given part to meet all Apple functional and cosmetic requirements
• Participate cross functional team process meeting, give the idea and support related to tooling and molding stuffs. Join and widen the trouble shooting plan to speed up the issue solved.
• Act as first level engineering response to production quality issues for molded plastic parts. Determine root cause, and where appropriate, institute corrective actions.
• Collaborate with supply management, product design and quality engineering groups on material selection, design feasibility, aesthetics and production process control of new part designs.
• Participate in supplier factory audits and assessments to define their capabilities and suitability for molding Apple products.
• Take the leading role in suggesting or adopting ideas for improving productivity and quality of part manufacturing, molding and tooling techniques.
• Train supplier engineers at plastic manufacturing plants in Asia to utilize new materials and processing techniques.
• Develop collaborative relationships with Apple suppliers through training and quality control visits. Will be an advisor to plants and cross functional team members on maintaining correct controls on the processes and inspection certificates on the materials.
Key Qualifications
- BS Engineering (Plastics Engineering; ME, Chem E).
- Minimum 10 years plastic tooling (injection molding preferred) experience in the molding and / or plastic materials industry. High gloss cosmetic part tooling engineer experiences are a plus
- Excellent knowledge of plastic materials and design for manufacturing in terms of geometry and cosmetic quality.
- Experience debugging complex tools and processes.
- Experience processing a wide variety of materials.
- Experience in managing multiple tool development programs with regional and overseas vendors is preferred.
- Mold Flow analysis capabilities are a plus.
- Must be able to work independently or within a team. Host the meeting and do the presentation.
- Able to travel up to 25% of the time.
- Able to communicate (verbal and written) technical information in English. Fluency in Mandarin is a plus.
Description
You will be a part of collaborative environment contributing to the creation, evaluation, and implementation of end-to-end manufacturing solutions for Apple’s Audio enclosures. You will collaborate closely with cross-functional stakeholders in Quality Engineering, Global Supply Management, Product Design, and Industrial Design in order to ensure our manufacturing solutions meet our product quality, cost, yield, capacity, schedule, and environmental goals.
You will be expected to:
- Evaluate product and industrial design goals to understand the dimensional, cosmetic, and functional priorities for the product
- Collaborate with Global Supply Managers and Apple’s manufacturing suppliers to align on a manufacturing development strategy with clear goals, deliverables, and schedules
- Identify and validate suitable fabrication equipment and processes to meet all Apple design and operational requirements
- Develop and document processes including all parameters, consumables and secondary operation requirements to meet defined specifications
- Conduct process optimization DOE’s, using data-driven and hands-on approaches together to find solutions to complex challenges
- Communicate ongoing process development status to cross-functional teams and lead discussions to align design requirements with manufacturing capability
- Willingness to travel internationally to support manufacturing partner sites and collaborate with in-region team members
- Familiarity with a phase gate product development approach
You may be asked to lead development in one or more of the following areas:
• Tooling manufacturing machine: machining process and accuracy by process, machine brand and application
• Plastic material related: typical resin type, supplier, shrinkage selection, amorphous, Crystalline/semi crystalline materials characteristic and key points
• Injection molding process basic knowledges: injection machine selection key tips, injection machine type and trouble shooting basic knowledge
• Plastic tooling design related: single shot, double shot, LSR, insert-molding, tool design experience, DFM working experience and Mold-flow basic knowledge
• Control (SPC) data analysis. Identify automation opportunities and justify automation projects based on automation line efficiency metrics
• Tooling issue FACA experience: dimension and cosmetic typical issues FACA analysis capability
Education & Experience
BS or MS Plastics Engineer preferred