Advanced Manufacturing Process Engineer

Position Title: Advanced Manufacturing Process Engineer

Reporting to: Vice President Digital Transformation

Department:

Central Power Systems & Services is a privately held discrete manufacturer with a 70-year operating history and an aggressive growth trajectory. The company is actively expanding-adding facilities and revenue at a pace that will surpass many larger competitors in the near term. The technology infrastructure to support that growth is being built now, and this role is central to that build.

Our Mission Statement is forging long-lasting partnerships by providing first-class customer support. We live that statement every single day. We are looking for a Advanced Manufacturing Process Engineer to help support that mission.

JOB SUMMARY

This is a senior-level role for someone who has operated at the intersection of manufacturing operations and digital transformation-and has the scars to show for it. The Advanced Manufacturing Process Engineer owns three things simultaneously in year one: documenting and standardizing how CPSS operates today, identifying where technology closes the gap between current and future state, and tracking the KPIs that tell leadership whether any of it is working. This role is the connective tissue between the shop floor and the Digital Transformation team-translating operational reality into system requirements, and translating system outputs back into operational decisions. CPSS is actively scaling. The person in this role will help define what the company looks like operationally as it grows, and will have a seat at the table when those decisions get made.

ROLE IMPACT

CPSS is scaling-new facilities, growing revenue, and an expanding customer base. Within 12 months, this role will have materially changed how the company operates and set the foundation for what comes next. Specifically:

• Manufacturing processes are documented, standardized, and owned. No more tribal knowledge gaps or inconsistent execution across shifts and machines.
• Leadership has visibility it can act on. KPIs are defined, tracked, and presented in a form that drives decisions-not just reports.
• The gap between ops and technology is closed. Business needs are translated into clear system requirements; technology outputs are translated back into operational language.
• Digital transformation has a process backbone. New tools get adopted because the workflows they're built on are understood, documented, and change-managed correctly.
• The architecture is built for what's next. Process models, SOPs, and data frameworks are designed to extend across multiple facilities as the company grows.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Process Documentation & Standardization

• Document current-state manufacturing processes, workflows, and SOPs across all production operations-laser, brake, panel bender, punch, paint, and support functions.
• Develop future-state process models aligned with digital transformation goals and production scaling requirements.
• Drive process standardization across facilities, cells, and-as the company grows-across facilities.
• Maintain a living process library that serves as the operational foundation for system configuration, training, and continuous improvement.

KPI Definition & Performance Tracking

• Own the definition, data sourcing, and tracking of key manufacturing KPIs-OEE, scrap, on-time delivery, labor efficiency, and inventory performance.
• Partner with the Digital Transformation team to ensure KPIs surface in dashboards and reporting tools in a form that is actionable, not decorative.
• Identify gaps between what the business needs to measure and what the current data infrastructure can produce-and drive closure of those gaps.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives by translating performance data into structured problem statements and improvement hypotheses.

Ops-to-Technology Bridge

• Serve as the primary translator between operations and the technical team-capturing business needs, facilitating process mapping sessions, and producing functional requirements that engineers can build from.
• Support implementation of digital tools including MES, ERP integrations, data platforms, and automation solutions by ensuring the process side of the equation is solved before the system side is built.
• Facilitate stakeholder workshops and floor-level interviews to surface operational requirements that don't appear in system data.
• Drive change management and user adoption for new digital solutions-ensuring tools get used, not shelved.

Continuous Improvement & Digital Enablement

• Identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and waste across manufacturing workflows using both qualitative floor observation and quantitative data analysis.
• Apply lean and structured problem-solving frameworks to develop and validate improvement recommendations before technology solutions are scoped.
• Partner with operations, engineering, quality, and the Ops & Technology team as a cross-functional contributor-not a siloed analyst.

Benefits

• Competitive Pay
• Medical, Dental, Vision & Life Insurance
• 401k with company match
• Paid Time Off
• Training & Professional Development
• Positive and productive work environment

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering, Information Systems, or related field
• 6+ years of experience in manufacturing operations, process engineering, or business analysis in a discrete manufacturing environment
• Process documentation & mapping: Demonstrated ability to document complex manufacturing processes, build future-state models, and drive standardization across operations
• KPI ownership: Experience defining, tracking, and presenting manufacturing performance metrics to operations leadership
• Cross-functional translation: Proven ability to capture business requirements from operations and translate them into clear functional specifications for technical teams
• Must live in or be willing to relocate to the Kansas City, Missouri area

Preferred

• Experience with MES, ERP systems (Epicor experience a plus), or industrial data platforms in a discrete manufacturing context
• Lean manufacturing or Six Sigma certification; hands-on application in a production environment
• Exposure to IIoT, automation, or smart factory initiatives
• Working knowledge of SQL, data analysis, or BI/reporting tools
• Familiarity with cloud data integration and OT/cybersecurity principles in manufacturing environments
• Experience with process mapping tools (Visio, BPMN)

WORK CONDITIONS

Physical Demands/Work Environment:

This position regularly requires walking, standing, sitting, stooping, bending, kneeling and climbing stairs. This list is not meant to cover every possible scenario but simply provide an outline. Employees may be assigned other tasks as needed.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.