Manufacturing Automation Engineer-Research - Caterpillar : Job Details

**Career Area:**

Engineering

**Job Description:**

**Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc.**

When you join Caterpillar, you're joining a global team who cares not just about the work we do but also about each other. We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. We don't just talk about progress and innovation here we make it happen, with our customers, where we work and live. Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it.

**Your Work Shapes the World**

Whether it be groundbreaking products, best in class solutions or creating a lifelong career, you can do the work that matters at Caterpillar. With a 95-year legacy of quality and innovation and 150 locations in countries around the world, your impact spans the globe.

When you join Caterpillar, you are joining a team of makers, innovators, and doers. We are the people who roll up our sleeves and do the work to build a better world. We dont just talk about progress and innovation. We make it happen. And we are proud of that, because it helps our customers build and power the world we live in the roads, hospitals, homes, and infrastructure. Without a dedicated workforce Caterpillar could not effectively meet our customers needs. Join us.

**Job Summary:**

Integrated Components & Solutions has an opening for an Engineer-Research position within the Manufacturing Technology & Solutions team located in Mossville, Illinois. The Engineer-Research role will have a focus on research and development of automation technologies that are focused on manufacturing process optimization. The candidate will be responsible for supporting projects across a wide range of automation, asset connectivity, and machine learning/vision systems. Incumbent will interface directly with multiple teams including Engineering, Operations, Logistics, Supply Chain, Product Change Control and Safety. In this role you will work both independently and as part of a team to maintain and improve processes and systems used in manufacturing.

This is a technical contributor role on research and development projects representing a shift from learning and assisting to fully contributing to assignments that are broader, more complex, and challenging in nature.

**What You Will Do:**

The key role of this research engineering position is to move from learning and assisting others to fully contributing. At this level, Engineers begin partnering with and providing technical guidance within and between units and other teams. Projects typically range from six months to three years. Ability to gather relevant information, compare data, identify relationships, and predict and manage failures is critical. Opportunities include challenging the status quo and championing new initiatives, collaborating with team members and other teams, and keeping abreast of advancing technology. Decisions may affect the work group or project team, suppliers, multiple units, and both internal and external customers, and these decisions have significant impact on warranty, total cost of non-quality, customer perception, costs, sales, and the leveraging of technology.

Individuals may have multiple assignments during their tenure as Engineer - Research. Assignments may require the Engineer to review the work of technicians or other support personnel, provide technical advice to individuals at various levels in the organization and work with another unit or team. Assignments will become more complex and require the Engineer to assume a significant role, either as an individual contributor or as part of a project team, with increasing emphasis on analyzing, identifying, and applying engineering techniques to solve problems and make recommendations.

Key areas of responsibility encountered in this role may include any or all of the following: perform needs analysis and initiate ideas; evaluate new products, processes, or systems; communicate results to customers, suppliers, team members, and other business units; contribute to the design of new products and processes; perform product and process maintenance; collaborate with and support other engineers, managers, marketing personnel, customers and suppliers, keep up to date on new technologies, and represent the company externally.

Engineers must manage their own development, continuously learning through experience and staying abreast of technology. Key learning should be rounded out during this tenure, including knowledge of Caterpillar and competitive product performance and application, understanding of customers needs, working knowledge of key processes, data analysis, and data extraction skills. Project management skills are being honed at this level.

**Job Duties/Responsibilities may include but are not limited to:**

Implement creative solutions and validate effectiveness of changes including documentation and training of those improvements.

Identify root causes and implement corrective actions to address Safety, Quality, Velocity, and Cost opportunities identified through projects. Analyze and recommend current and future systems, procedures, training, and equipment needs based upon understanding and communication with shop floor operators, Operations staff, Safety and CPPD with design engineering.

Propose, lead and support research projects supporting MSODLF and STLF objectives.

**Education Requirement:**

Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, Robotics Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or Electrical Engineering.

**What Skills You Will Have:**

**Accuracy and Attention to Detail:**

Accurately gauges the impact and cost of errors, omissions, and oversights.

Utilizes specific approaches and tools for checking and cross-checking outputs.

Processes limited amounts of detailed information with good accuracy.

Learns from mistakes and applies lessons learned.

Develops and uses checklists to ensure that information goes out error-free.

**Analytical Thinking:**

Approaches a situation or problem by defining the problem or issue and determining its significance.

Makes a systematic comparison of two or more alternative solutions.

Uses flow charts, Pareto charts, fish diagrams, etc. to disclose meaningful data patterns.

Identifies the major forces, events and people impacting and impacted by the situation at hand.

Uses logic and intuition to make inferences about the meaning of the data and arrive at conclusions.

**Decision Making and Critical Thinking:**

Applies an assigned technique for critical thinking in a decision-making process.

Identifies, obtains, and organizes relevant data and ideas.

Participates in documenting data, ideas, players, stakeholders, and processes.

Recognizes, clarifies, and prioritizes concerns.

Assists in assessing risks, benefits and consideration of alternatives.

**Effective Communications:**

Delivers helpful feedback that focuses on behaviors without offending the recipient.

Listens to feedback without defensiveness and uses it for own communication effectiveness.

Makes oral presentations and writes reports needed for own work.

Avoids technical jargon when inappropriate.

Looks for and considers non-verbal cues from individuals and groups.

**Technical Excellence:**

Provides effective technical solutions to routine functional challenges via sound technical competence, effectively examining implications of events and issues.

Effectively performs the technical job aspects, continuously building knowledge and keeping up-to-date on technical and procedural job components.

Applies technical operating and project standards based on achieving excellence in delivered products, technologies and services.

Applies current procedures and technologies to help resolve technical issues in one's general area of technical competence.

Helps others solve technical or procedural problems or issues.

**Manufacturing Standards, Procedures and Policies:**

Discusses the relevance of standards for a manufacturing environment.

Researches process and product blueprints for own area.

Describes and follows all policies, standards and procedures.

Obtains documentation and information on standards and their usage.

**Product Testing:**

Documents test process and results; prepares and analyzes defect-tracking reports.

Summarizes features of a specific product-testing process and associated procedures.

Tests components for compliance with functional requirements and established conventions.

Discusses and compares usability, safety and integration testing.

Develops product-testing procedures; participates in selecting testing environment and tools.

**Troubleshooting Technical Problems:**

Documents common hardware, software and communications problems and likely resolutions.

Troubleshoots typical technical problems in a specific area.

Works with vendor-specific diagnostic guides, tools and utilities to discover application problems.

Adheres to standard troubleshooting procedures to ensure effectiveness of resolutions.

Participates in setting evaluation standards and criterion for troubleshooting.

**Top Candidates will also have**

Experience with robot and/or PLC programming

Experience with machine tool connectivity

Experience with 3D modeling software

Experience with machine learning / vision systems

General knowledge of automation concepts or robotics

General knowledge of networked machines

General knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.)

General knowledge of data analytics

**Additional Information**

The location for this position is Building TC-K Mossville, Illinois.

Domestic relocation assistance is available for this position.

This position will require up to 40% travel.

**What You Will Get:**

Our goal at Caterpillar is for you to have a rewarding career. Our teams are critical to the success of our customers who build a better world. Here you earn more than just wage, because we value your performance, we offer a total rewards package that provides:

+ Competitive Base Salary

+ Annual incentive bonus plan*

+ Medical, dental, and vision coverage

+ Paid time off plan (Vacation, Holiday, Volunteer, Etc.)

+ 401k savings plan

+ Health savings account (HSA)

+ Flexible spending accounts (FSAs)

+ Short and long-term disability coverage

+ Life Insurance

+ Paid parental leave

+ Healthy Lifestyle Programs

+ Employee Assistance Programs

+ Voluntary Benefits (Ex. Accident, Identity Theft Protection)

*Subject to annual eligibility and incentive plan guidelines.

**Final details**

Please frequently check the email associated with your application, including the junk/spam folder, as this is the primary correspondence method. If you wish to know the status of your application please use the candidate log-in on our career website as it will reflect any updates to your status.

_This employer is not currently hiring foreign national applicants that require or will require sponsorship tied to a specific employer, such as H, L, TN, F, J, E, O. As a global company, Caterpillar offers many job opportunities outside of the U.S. which can be found through our employment website at_ _www.Caterpillar.com/Careers_ _._

For more information, visit caterpillar.com. To connect with us on social media, visit caterpillar.com/social-media

#LI

Relocation is available for this position.

Visa Sponsorship is not available for this position. This employer is not currently hiring foreign national applicants that require or will require sponsorship tied to a specific employer, such as, H, L, TN, F, J, E, O. As a global company, Caterpillar offers many job opportunities outside of the U.S which can be found through our employment website at www.caterpillar.com/careers.

**Posting Dates:**

October 28, 2024 - November 11, 2024

Any offer of employment is conditioned upon the successful completion of a drug screen.

EEO/AA Employer. All qualified individuals - Including minorities, females, veterans and individuals with disabilities - are encouraged to apply.

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