Tool and Die Engineer

Role Summary

The Tool and Die Engineer provides technical ownership for the design, development, improvement, and lifecycle support of production tooling used in a heavy manufacturing environment. This engineer translates product and process requirements into safe, robust, maintainable tooling solutions, including dies, fixtures, gauges, jigs, and related mechanical systems. The role combines engineering analysis, detailed drawing development, hands-on troubleshooting, and close partnership with the tool room and plant teams to improve safety, quality, delivery, and cost performance.

Responsibilities

Core Responsibilities

1. Tool and Die Design and Engineering

• Design, develop, and improve stamping dies, forming tools, weld fixtures, assembly fixtures, gauges, jigs, and related production tooling.

• Create and maintain complete mechanical drawings, layouts, specifications, bills of material, tolerances, and revision-controlled engineering records.

• Apply dimensional tolerancing, fit, material selection, heat treatment, wear, strength, manufacturability, and maintainability principles to tooling designs.

• Perform engineering calculations and design reviews to confirm that tooling meets application, equipment, safety, quality, and production requirements.

• Convert product drawings, models, and process needs into practical tooling concepts that can be fabricated, assembled, commissioned, and maintained.

2. Tooling Improvement and Production Support

• Provide hands-on engineering support for tooling failures, dimensional variation, excessive wear, setup concerns, scrap, downtime, and chronic production constraints.

• Lead structured root-cause analysis and implement permanent corrective actions for recurring tooling and process issues.

• Improve tool life, changeover performance, process repeatability, ergonomics, part quality, and equipment uptime through engineered modifications.

• Partner with operators, toolmakers, maintenance technicians, manufacturing engineers, and quality personnel to validate solutions at the point of use.

• Use shop-floor observations and operating data to prioritize tooling risks and improvement opportunities.

3. New Tooling, Launch and Commissioning

• Develop technical requirements and design concepts for new or replacement tooling that supports product launches, capacity changes, and process improvements.

• Support make-versus-buy evaluations, supplier technical reviews, quotations, and tooling procurement decisions.

• Coordinate design reviews, fabrication follow-up, tryouts, runoffs, capability studies, and production acceptance.

• Confirm that new tooling meets approved drawings, safety requirements, quality standards, cycle-time expectations, and maintenance needs before release.

• Document open issues, corrective actions, and final acceptance criteria through launch and handoff.

4. Drawing Control and Engineering Change

• Own tooling drawings and technical documentation from concept through release, revision, and obsolescence.

• Ensure drawing packages accurately define dimensions, tolerances, materials, commercial components, assembly relationships, and critical characteristics.

• Control tooling changes through the established engineering change process and verify updates before production release.

• Maintain alignment among product drawings, tooling designs, inspection methods, setup documentation, and actual shop-floor conditions.

• Protect reusable design knowledge by standardizing drawing practices, preferred components, design rules, and lessons learned.

5. Reliability, Maintenance and Technical Standards

• Develop preventive-maintenance requirements, wear limits, inspection points, spare-parts recommendations, and rebuild criteria for critical tooling.

• Partner with the tool room and maintenance team to plan repairs, rebuilds, and reliability improvements based on production risk and tooling condition.

• Establish and sustain technical standards for tooling safety, design, fabrication, storage, setup, maintenance, and documentation.

• Support tooling audits and risk reviews, and close identified gaps with documented corrective action.

• Train toolmakers, technicians, operators, and engineers on new tooling, design intent, critical features, setup requirements, and care expectations.

6. Continuous Improvement and Project Execution

• Lead or support tooling projects that reduce scrap, downtime, setup time, outside repair cost, and operational risk.

• Apply Lean methods, structured problem-solving, and data analysis to eliminate chronic loss and improve process capability.

• Develop project scope, timing, cost estimates, risk assessments, and implementation plans for assigned tooling initiatives.

• Communicate project status, technical risks, decisions, and resource needs clearly to stakeholders.

• Complete projects with disciplined follow-through, validated results, and accurate closeout documentation.

Qualifications

 Required

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering with a strong mechanical focus, or a closely related engineering discipline.

• Minimum of 3 years of relevant engineering experience in tooling, tool and die, mechanical design, manufacturing engineering, or a closely related heavy manufacturing role.

• Demonstrated experience reading, interpreting, creating, and revising detailed mechanical drawings and three-dimensional models.

• Experience supporting heavy manufacturing processes and production equipment, such as metal forming, stamping, fabrication, welding, machining, or large-scale assembly.

• Working knowledge of geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, tolerance stack-up, mechanics, materials, and design for manufacturability.

• Proficiency with three-dimensional CAD and two-dimensional drafting software; able to develop production-ready drawing packages.

• Experience troubleshooting tooling or mechanical systems in a production environment and implementing sustainable corrective actions.

• Ability to work safely and effectively in office, shop-floor, tool-room, and equipment installation environments.

• Strong written, verbal, organizational, and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Preferred

• Experience designing or supporting progressive, transfer, blanking, piercing, forming, or similar production dies.

• Experience with weld fixtures, assembly fixtures, inspection gauges, hydraulic or pneumatic components, and mechanical automation.

• Knowledge of tool steels, heat treatment, coatings, wear surfaces, purchased die components, machining methods, and tool-room practices.

• Experience with finite element analysis, forming simulation, tolerance-analysis software, or product lifecycle management systems.

• Familiarity with PFMEA, control plans, capability studies, MSA, Lean Manufacturing, and Six Sigma methods.

• Experience managing tooling suppliers, fabrication partners, budgets, schedules, and acceptance runoffs.

Leadership and Behavioral Expectations

• Prioritizes safety and designs risk out of tooling, setup, operation, maintenance, and repair activities.

• Engages directly at the Gemba and builds credibility through practical, technically sound support.

• Uses structured thinking, engineering discipline, and data to solve problems and make decisions.

• Collaborates across functions, communicates early, and aligns stakeholders before implementing changes.

• Owns issues through closure and balances immediate production needs with long-term tooling reliability.

• Protects drawing accuracy, revision control, and technical standards with consistent attention to detail.

• Shares knowledge and helps strengthen the technical capability of the tool room and manufacturing organization.

Position Impact

This role directly influences employee safety, tooling reliability, product quality, equipment uptime, launch readiness, and manufacturing cost. Success is reflected in durable and maintainable tooling, accurate engineering documentation, stable production processes, faster issue resolution, reduced tooling-related loss, and effective execution of new and improved tooling solutions.

Performance Measures

Category

Key Focus

Evidence of Success

Safety

Tooling risk reduction and ergonomic improvements

Assigned safety actions closed with validated controls

People

Training, knowledge transfer and technical partnership

Effective handoff and completion of assigned training

Quality

Tooling-related defects, dimensional stability, capability

Sustained reduction in repeat tooling-related quality issues

Delivery

Tooling downtime, repair response, launch readiness

Improved availability and on-time tooling milestones

Cost

Tool life, repair expense, scrap and project savings

Documented cost avoidance or savings from completed projects

Reliability

Preventive maintenance, wear control and repeat failures

Reduced chronic failures and improved tooling life

Documentation

Drawing accuracy, revision control and technical records

Current, complete, and production-aligned documentation

 

 

 

Working Conditions

The position routinely works in an active heavy manufacturing environment and may require extended standing, walking, bending, climbing stairs, and accessing tooling or equipment for inspection and troubleshooting. The employee must follow all site safety rules and use required personal protective equipment. Occasional work outside normal business hours may be needed to support production, installations, tryouts, or urgent tooling issues.

Job Description Acknowledgment

This job description summarizes the primary responsibilities and qualifications of the position. It does not list every duty. Business needs may require the assignment of other responsibilities consistent with the role.