Role summary
NPI Manager responsible for leading New Product Introduction activities, working closely with Project Lifecycle Management, Vehicle Integration, Design Engineering, Logistics, Quality, Manufacturing, and other cross-functional teams to ensure seamless integration of new products and engineering changes into production. This role ensures introductions are executed without disrupting production schedules or compromising vehicle quality, while verifying that all required approvals, validations, and readiness criteria are completed prior to implementation.
Responsibilities
- Manage a team of NPI engineers to drive Engineering Change Requests from evaluation to execution and deployment at plant shops level, including engineering changes affecting parts used in manufacturing processes
- Drive NPI activities in new programs including part readiness and approval, manufacturing processes and systems readiness ensuring changes affected by new parts are smoothly executed
- Ensure proper Quality approvals and validations are completed prior to implementation
- Timely escalation for proper correction of critical items representing a risk to an existing program or new program or current production
- Participate in Engineering Change Request meetings to understand scope of changes and determine assessment criteria based on nature of approved changes
- Coordinate and ensure effectiveness of ECR for new parts trials, ensuring proper documentation and disciplined execution
- Gain holistic knowledge of the product, production processes, and manufacturing technologies to understand and mitigate risks, and identify optimization and improvement opportunities
- Work with cross-functional teams to understand critical actions necessary for successful introduction of new features, capabilities, and products, ensuring those needs will be met ahead of deployment with each stakeholder
- Maintain and communicate project timelines and coordinate NPI and project-related plant activities
- Coordinate and manage all vehicle assembly material cut-over activity
- Direct timely disposition of material in Quality and Cost-effective ways following a proactive approach anticipating changes, constraints and challenges
- Continuously improve NPI processes and systems to ensure effectivity and proper planning and cost effectiveness
Qualifications
- Strong knowledge of MS Office tools including MS-Project, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook
- Working knowledge of change-management and manufacturing systems including PLM (3DX/Delmia), ERP (SAP), Manufacturing Execution Systems, and Jira
- Creative, energetic, self-motivated, and highly organized
- Ability to work in fast-paced and changing environment and scalable organization
- Strong written and verbal skills as well as organizational skills
- Presentation and communication skills are a must
- Ability to coach and train people at different levels of the manufacturing organization
- Bachelor's in engineering industrial/quality/manufacturing required, master's degree preferred
- Experience in NPI role is a must
- 10+ years of experience in an automotive manufacturing organization (OEM) is a Must
- 4+ years of experience with Greenfield OEM is a strong plus
- Experience and knowledge of product design and engineering change management is required
- Ability to travel up to 10% of the time
Education
Bachelor's in engineering (industrial, quality, or manufacturing); master's degree preferred
Experience
10+ years of experience in an automotive manufacturing organization (OEM); 4+ years of experience with Greenfield OEM preferred; experience in NPI role required
Skills
- MS Office tools (MS-Project, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)
- PLM (3DX/Delmia)
- ERP (SAP)
- Manufacturing Execution Systems
- Jira
- Change-management and manufacturing systems
- Product design and engineering change management