Product Engineer

Product Engineer - VTCA

Vuteq Technical Center Americas is a Sales and Engineering service provider representing Vuteq and Diversity Vuteq manufacturing groups throughout North America. The Vuteq group of companies is actively engaged in automotive parts manufacturing and design and currently supplies Interior and Exterior components to General Motors, Toyota Motor Manufacturing and Honda Motor Manufacturing. Located in Woodstock, Ontario, we are proud to supply quality products and services to our customers for the past 35 years. We are a diverse team of skilled professionals, and pride ourselves in maintaining a culture that is inclusive, supportive and provides opportunities for growth.

The Product Engineer will support the Advanced Development Team by planning and leading the design and development of customer projects/products and the R&D of new materials and technologies. The Product Engineer will also assist the Tooling engineers and Process Engineering with optimizing design and builds.

Position Description

• Support product research and development activity and manage projects through to completion
• Develop new materials, processes based on our customers’ needs and trends
• Attend development project meetings and report target and status
• Complete technical presentations both internally and to external customers
• Lead customer and supplier communication, join and support customer meetings by providing VAVE items
• Development projects: create design of experiments, contacting vendors to acquire equipment and materials, perform tests and trials of designs, prepare and present final findings to appropriate manager and OEM Engineering
• Program support: studying DWI/SWC standards, working with team members to learn Vuteq Process Development program history, helping define the root cause of issues, brainstorming solutions and implementation plans
• Prototyping: analyze data received from customers, developing, and building of the prototype
• Benchmarking: researching relevant competitors’ products, communicate with the sales department about competitor models, dismantle parts and document findings, present findings to appropriate manager
• Testing: studying customer standards, setting up jigs and fixtures for tests, perform testing to customers specifications/standards, report findings to appropriate manager
• Machine development: research new technologies in the Interior industry, collaborate with multiple vendors and suppliers for information, analyze findings and decide further methods of procedures
• Analyze existing automotive interior parts for safety, performance, and feasibility.
• Work following PDCA flow

Qualifications

Education

• Degree in Mechanical Engineering or similar field or successful completion of a minimum three-year advanced engineering diploma from a college.

Experience

• Experience with CATIA V5, Unigraphics, or Solidworks

• Experience with PPAP, APQP, DFMEA, PFMEA

• MS Office (particularly Excel, PowerPoint)

• Some injection molding knowledge and experience is an advantage

• Excellent knowledge of plastics & other automotive interior/exterior materials

• 3-5 years’ experience with engineering product development

• 3-5 years’ experience coordinating engineering projects to ensure compliance with customer standards

• 1-2 years of experience in testing equipment exposure (Instron, weather chambers, spray equipment, and 3D printing operation)

• 1-2 years of sewing experience and material knowledge as an asset

Skills and Abilities

• Ability to manage time efficiently to meet deadlines set by customers

• Prioritization skills; ability to adapt to changing demands (internal and/or external)

• Interpersonal skills; ability to present technical information to customers in a professional environment

• Conduct statistical analysis of data (performance/dimensional) to understand trends and implement corrective action

• Develop and maintain positive and productive professional relationships with internal (Vuteq) and external customers

• High attention to detail

• Ability to show versatility and resourcefulness when problem solving

• Organizational skills; ability to organize tasks and deadlines while working on several different projects

• Actively listening to customers, suppliers, and internal team members on project requirement changes

• Ability to manage a small group of professionals towards a shared a goal

• Communicating in a second language would be considered an asset

Other

• Must have a valid driver’s license

• Must be able and willing to travel; able to obtain Valid Canadian Passport