Lean Manufacturing Engineer

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Lean Manufacturing Engineer develops LEAN work methodology within a manufacturing environment, optimizes machining processes to reach optimum product quality, efficiency and process repeatability at the lowest cost. Leads and deploys best practices in the manufacturing process by supporting continuous improvement in various manufacturing processes by reducing the tooling costs and improving the flow of material and setting up cycle times.

Job Outlook

There were 23 Lean Manufacturing Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 299 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Manufacturing Engineer industry, which includes the Lean Manufacturing Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:

Salary

Many new Lean Manufacturing Engineer jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $94,210.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $94,210.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Lean Manufacturing Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $84,214.

Education and Experience

Posted Lean Manufacturing Engineer jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education Level	Percentage
Associate's Degree	0%
Bachelor's Degree	78.26%
Master's Degree	12.71%
Doctoral Degree	0.33%
Other	3.68%

Posted Lean Manufacturing Engineer jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of Experience	Percentage
0 to 2 years	26.29%
3 to 5 years	62.37%
6 to 8 years	6.19%
9+ years	5.15%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Lean Manufacturing Engineer positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

Problem Solving (53.85%)
Operations (48.83%)
Management (45.48%)
Leadership (43.81%)
Communication (42.47%)
Planning (22.74%)
Microsoft Office (21.07%)
Microsoft Excel (18.73%)
Interpersonal Communications (15.38%)
Coaching (14.72%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

Lean Methodologies (21.69%)
Continuous Improvement Process (73.56%)
Manufacturing Processes (27.46%)
Project Management (31.86%)
Lean Manufacturing (96.27%)
Process Improvement (53.22%)
Value Stream Mapping (34.58%)
Kaizen Methodology (51.86%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

Workflow Management (14.58%)
Supply Chain (15.93%)
Data Analysis (9.83%)
Six Sigma Methodology (35.59%)
Change Management (12.2%)
Gemba (11.19%)
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (17.29%)
Process Engineering (12.54%)
Manufacturing Engineering (15.25%)
Overall Equipment Effectiveness (3.39%)
Industrial Engineering (19.32%)
Automation (9.15%)
Lean Six Sigma (14.24%)
Manufacturing Operations (8.81%)
PDCA Cycle (9.15%)
Power BI (3.73%)
Business Process (5.08%)
Single-Minute Exchange Of Die (SMED) (13.56%)
Define Measure Analyze Improve And Control (DMAIC) (10.51%)
Cost Reduction (11.19%)
Product Quality (QA/QC) (8.81%)
Lean Principles (18.31%)
Material Flow Management (9.49%)
SAP Applications (4.41%)
Mechanical Engineering (10.17%)
Kanban Principles (13.22%)
Process Optimization (8.81%)
Production Process (8.47%)
New Product Development (11.19%)
Root Cause Analysis (14.58%)
Waste Minimization (10.51%)
Tooling (10.85%)
Balancing (Ledger/Billing) (9.83%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Lean Manufacturing Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

Lean Engineer
Continuous Improvement Engineer
Process Engineer
Lean Process Engineer
Lean Manufacturing Intern
Transformation Lead
Lean Continuous Improvement Manager
OpEx Manager
Continuous Improvement Specialist

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Lean Manufacturing Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

Carpenter Technology (7)
Actalent (6)
ASML (6)
Pentair (5)
Johnson Controls (4)
Parker Hannifin (4)
Stanadyne (4)
Alcoa (4)
RTC Aerospace (4)
CyberCoders (4)

North Carolina

Actalent (3)
Stanadyne (3)
Novo Nordisk (2)
Johnson Controls (1)
CAC Staffing (1)
Columbus Mckinnon (1)
Hti (1)
Davron (1)
Insight Global (1)
Circor International (1)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!

Textiles Master's Degrees

All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.

Engineering