Responsible for producing manufacturing packages of mechanical ‘System Elements’ comprising of General Assembly drawings (GA’s), detail manufacturing drawings, Bills of Materials (BoM’s) and entering the data onto the manufacturing system to allow procurement. ‘System Elements’ are typically Actuators, Solenoid control manifolds, Cardan Bearings and Load cells.
Job title Mechanical Design Engineer
Responsible to Mechanical Design Manager
About the Company
With a justifiably proud history stretching back to 1958, this globally recognised leader in OEM hydraulic test and motion simulation systems develops innovative solutions to meet ever more demanding customer testing specifications. Products are sold and installed worldwide via our direct sales and commissioning teams from operations based in UK, USA and China.
Overall purpose of the role
Responsible for producing manufacturing packages of mechanical ‘System Elements’ comprising of General Assembly drawings (GA’s), detail manufacturing drawings, Bills of Materials (BoM’s) and entering the data onto the manufacturing system to allow procurement. ‘System Elements’ are typically Actuators, Solenoid control manifolds, Cardan Bearings and Load cells.
When assigned a sole work package the Mechanical Designer will assume the accountability of a ‘Lead Engineer’. He or she will be expected to proactively manage their work to deliver it on time, to specification and to cost. The Mechanical Designer may also lead a Junior Designer, and similarly assume the accountability of a ‘Lead Engineer’.
The term ‘Lead Engineer’ does not reflect a level of technical seniority. It defines the person accountable to manage the project phase while in the mechanical design department and may cover, resolving scope / specification queries, tracking progress so that management can be proactively briefed, identifying if additional resource is required to meet the timeline, working with supply chain and project management to agree the supply route / manufacturing method, and checking the manufacturing package before release.
The scope of the role may include focused supporting of suppliers, production and service queries depending on the needs of the business and the experience of the individual.
Reporting lines
- Responsible to Mechanical Design Manager for line management.
- May be responsible to a Lead engineer for technical guidance and / or prioritising work when part of a team project (when another engineer is assigned the duty of the Lead engineer).
Main Duties and Accountabilities
The main duties cover the following and is not intended to be an exhaustive list because the nature of projects and tasks handled can be variable. He or she may be asked to carry out additional duties which are reasonable and within their capacity.
- The individual shall work as part of a mechanical team which designs mechanical assemblies for bespoke motions control simulation systems.
- Design moderately complex ‘System Elements’ and produce the manufacturing packages along with the hydraulic schematics to allow procurement. Many system elements will be adapted from existing designs.
- Ensure designs satisfy functional performance requirements, legislative requirements such as the Machinery Directive, Pressure Equipment Directive to facilitate UKCA or CE compliance, taking the appropriate guidance.
- Working under the guidance of senior engineers may design innovative / new designs of ‘System Elements’ or layout a complete new mechanical system, and installation including the ring main, and power pack for Projects, and Sales proposals.
- Embrace ‘Design for manufacture and assembly practise’ (DFMA) for ‘System Elements’ and test rig hardware. This is also to cover ease of serviceability in the field.
- Be conversant with the companies MRP system to input BOM’s.
- Hold design reviews to convey / exchange ideas between stakeholders and be capable of steering decisions to move designs forward to the next phase.
- Creation of assembly procedures and design of test rig verification hardware to support production.
- Compiling Design guidelines to capture knowledge into the mechanical library.
- When acting as ‘Lead’ Engineer, maintain an up to date ‘Mechanical Project tracker’ to show progress of releasing components and log issues to be resolved.
- Creation and maintenance of ‘Technical construction file’ to capture for example project scope changes, demonstration of compliance, calculations, and source data relied on.
- Support the companies ‘Continuous Improvement’ philosophy.
- Support the company’s ‘Health and Safety’ policy.
- Comply with the companies ‘Quality & Environmental Management’ system when executing duties.
- Assisting Project engineers with Risk Assessment and method statements (RAMS), manuals.
- Assist Project engineers or Production in the build and / or test of motion control simulation systems as and when necessary, and feedback lessons learnt to enhance machine designs.
- According to the business needs act as the central point within the company for logging in all mechanical supplier concession requests, allocate them, ensuring they are completed on time and document records/ drawings are maintained up to date.
Working knowledge and experience when fully competent in the role
- Able to coach junior engineers in ‘System Element’ detail design.
- Understand principle of operation of the various ‘System Elements’ i.e., Actuators etc.
- Understand design parameters which influence the performance of these ‘System Elements’.
- Proficient in conducting basic stress analysis and selecting material on ‘System Elements’ to check machinery is safe in operation such as assessing the stresses in the cylinder (using FEA), checking loadings on bearing head bolts, sizing cardan bearings.
- Able to size snubbers using in house software.
- Able to use ACE 5 in-house software to select servo valves.
- Proficient in producing accurate drawings which do not need in-depth checking.
- Able take the ‘Lead Engineer’ role on projects comprising of separate ‘System Elements’ as opposed to leading the design of a complete Mechanical System.
- Motivated to enhance product design by proactively providing ideas to typically reduce material cost and / or assembly time and / or ease of manufacture, and / or performance repeatability and / or reliability.
- Conduct fault finding and problem solving to find the ‘root cause’ for service or in house factory acceptance issues.
Skills and Experience
- HND or degree qualified and / or at least 5 years’ experience working in a design and manufacturing environment of hydraulic / pneumatic equipment and / or mechanisms incorporating precision machined components.
- Practical experience gained from working with heavy plant machinery, welded structures, pipework, and / or having served a mechanical engineering apprenticeship.
- Attention to detail with excellent data management and configuration control.
- In-depth ability utilising 3D Modelling packages, ideally SolidWorks.
- Thorough understanding of producing manufacturing drawings of machined and fabricated components in accordance to BS 8888.
- Thorough understanding of Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) to BS 8888 and Limits and Fits to BS 4500.
- Ability to detail design cost effective solutions by selecting suitable manufacturing process to balancing between lead time, cost, and quantity constraints.
- Conducting tolerance analysis to verify the assembled design functions under the variability of the manufacturing process.
- Knowledge of Draftsight desirable for updating 2D legacy work.
- Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
- Ability to travel to customer sites (World-wide) as, and when required.
Personal qualities
- Ability to manage time efficiently for the allocated work package to effectively meet project time scales.
- Motivated with a ‘Can do’ approach to work around design obstacles.
- A diligent / accurate approach to work to aim for a ‘First time right’ design mentality.
- A proactive communicator with the ability to collaborate with other team members on joints projects.
- Team player with willingness to liaise with all areas of the business covering Purchasing, Production, Project Operations, and Customers to achieve the best outcome for the business.
- Flexible hands-on approach and willingness to support others.
