Manufacturing Cost Engineer

About KI Industries Inc.  KI Industries, founded in 1964, specializes in the design and manufacture of decorative plastic and die cast components for the automotive and appliance industry. Our attention to aesthetics and technical expertise creates components that our customers know will provide their end consumers with a high-quality interface experience. Those elements, in combination with our outstanding customer service and passion for delivering high quality product, make KI a trusted leader in the decorative parts industry. KI Industries is headquartered in Berkeley, Illinois, USA; we also have a regional office and production facilities in Asia and two manufacturing facilities in Querétaro, Mexico. Our wide global footprint provides extensive opportunity for growth and expansion. Across all our locations KI strives to find talented individuals who are highly motivated to work in a fast-paced yet rewarding work environment. We seek creative, hard-working, and innovative personnel who will believe in the KI brand and the service & products we provide. For further information, please visit our website at 

About the Job:

Join our dynamic team as a Manufacturing Cost Engineer where you'll play a critical role in driving profitability and operational excellence. You'll be responsible for conducting comprehensive cost and feasibility analyses for new tooling programs while ensuring we meet customer expectations and maintain competitive positioning. This role offers the opportunity to work cross-functionally with Sales, Engineering, Operations, and Purchasing teams to optimize our quoting processes and support continuous improvement initiatives. You'll be at the forefront of evaluating manufacturing feasibility, developing cost models, and identifying opportunities to enhance productivity across our operations.

Responsibilities:

• Cost Analysis & Feasibility Assessment: Determine adequacy and manufacturing feasibility of customer-supplied part data, ensuring optimal costing of new tooling programs
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with sales teams to review customer information, part geometry, and technical requirements
• Tooling & Process Development: Develop mold specifications for tooling quotation procurement, assess impact on molding machine selection and processing parameters
• Supplier Management: Prepare customer data for quotation with supply base, assist in supplier selection based on core competencies, and review supplier quotations for design reasonableness and cost effectiveness
• Technical Documentation: Prepare comprehensive technical documentation for customer quotations, including detailed cost element analysis, data sources, assumptions, and methodologies
• Cost Optimization: Apply innovative thinking to manufacturing processes to provide customers with optimal cost estimates and identify productivity improvement opportunities
• Project Support: Support project teams with pre-production activities at toolmakers and ensure quotes reflect continuous improvement initiatives
• Process Improvement: Collaborate with Engineering and Operations to enhance quoting models using lessons learned from current manufacturing programs

Qualifications:

• Experience: Minimum 7-10 years of related experience in cost engineering, manufacturing, or similar technical role
• Technical Skills: Proficiency in CAD software, preferably Creo or SolidWorks
• Materials Knowledge: Familiarity with resins commonly used in injection molding (PBT, PC, ABS, PP, PA)
• Manufacturing Experience: Hands-on experience in injection molding arena with preferred experience in tooling and processing
• Secondary Processes: Knowledge of decorative finishes including Paint, PVD, Pad Print, Laser Etching, and sonic welding
• Analytical Skills: Excellent analytical, mathematical, and problem-solving abilities
• Software Proficiency: Solid understanding of spreadsheet applications, particularly MS Excel
• Communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills for technical documentation and cross-functional collaboration

Education:

• Bachelor of Science (BS) or Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Business, or related field.