Job Description:Supplier Development Reliability EngineerPosition Summary The Supplier Development Reliability Engineer will support Silfex internal and external supplier-related development projects while driving equipment, process, tooling, and manufacturing reliability improvements. This role will work with suppliers and internal teams to design, improve, and develop next-generation equipment, technologies, tooling, consumables, processes, subcontracting, outsourcing, and alternate solutions in support of Silfex business needs. This role will also focus on improving uptime, reducing repeat failures, improving maintainability, strengthening process capability, and ensuring critical equipment and processes perform reliably in a repeatable manner.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities - Use reliability tools such as FMEA, PFMEA, DFMEA, risk assessments, and failure trend analysis to identify and reduce risk before issues impact safety, quality, delivery, or cost.
- Develop and support reliability strategies for critical equipment and processes, including preventive maintenance, predictive maintenance, spare parts strategy, condition monitoring, and reliability-centered maintenance activities.
- Track and analyze reliability metrics such as downtime, failure frequency, mean time between failures, mean time to repair, repeat failure rate, equipment availability, and maintenance effectiveness.
- Partner with maintenance, operations, engineering, suppliers, and technicians to improve equipment uptime, reduce firefighting, and create practical solutions that can be sustained on the shop floor.
- Review new equipment, tooling, automation, and process designs for reliability, maintainability, serviceability, safety, spare parts needs, and long-term total cost of ownership.
- Experience with design of custom machines, automation systems, and tooling.
- Lead full machine development cycles from concept to commissioning.
- Collaborate closely with machinists, engineers, project managers, operations, maintenance, and suppliers.
- Manage multiple concurrent projects with a focus on quality, cost, delivery, reliability, and long-term supportability.
- Guide and mentor engineers and designers.
- Interface with customers and internal teams to develop project requirements and deliver practical solutions.
- Proactively identify potential issues and engineer solutions before they arise.
- Lead root cause analysis on repeat or significant equipment, tooling, process, and supplier-related failures; drive corrective actions that prevent recurrence.
- Balance engineering innovation with practical manufacturing and design conditions.
- Provide expertise in manufacturing processes critical to manufacturing at Silfex and subcontract partners, including silicon growing, grinding, drilling, electro discharge machining, lapping, polishing, bonding, cleaning, and metrology.
- Manage and support suppliers to advance the state of the art for all applicable processes and equipment.
- Coordinate and oversee development activities with suppliers in developing products, equipment, and consumables to meet Silfex requirements.
- Lead problem solving at supplier sites as well as designing and conducting independent experiments and tests.
- Ensure Silfex suppliers' manufacturing processes, domestic and international, are in place to produce reliable products in a repeatable manner.
- Establish reliability expectations with suppliers and internal teams, including documentation, test plans, acceptance criteria, equipment capability, maintenance requirements, and long-term support needs.
- Assist in continuous improvement activities with the supply base.
- Assist the Supply Chain team with long-term development of suppliers.
Culture - Display a positive attitude and strong work ethic that reflects the Mission and Core Values of Silfex.
- Create and maintain a culture where workplace safety is part of everything we do. Provide the safest possible workplace to our employees by modeling and following all company safety policies, reporting any incidents or unsafe conditions immediately to Silfex management, and wearing all PPE as required by work area or job function.
- Communicate boldly and effectively with empathy and respect to inspire teamwork and collaboration vertically and horizontally within Silfex.
- Assist in applying lean manufacturing concepts and 5S. Demonstrate ownership of continuous improvement ideas and activities. Maintain organization, cleanliness, housekeeping, and 5S within the work area while responsibly escalating maintenance issues.
Qualifications To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.
- Hands-on machining background, such as former machinist, toolmaker, or similar technical experience.
- Bachelor's degree in engineering or technical discipline with a minimum of 8 years of hands-on experience, specifically in manufacturing processes, machine design, reliability engineering, and/or machine shop practices.
- 10+ years of experience with custom machine, automation, manufacturing equipment, or reliability-focused engineering support.
- Understanding of design for manufacturing principles, tolerancing, and real-world manufacturing constraints.
- Demonstrated ability to anticipate problems and develop proactive solutions.
- Strong work ethic, self-motivated, and committed to high standards of quality and accountability.
- Comfortable working in both design and hands-on build/test environments.
- Experience with pneumatics, hydraulics, robotics, motion control systems, CNC equipment, automation, or complex manufacturing equipment.
- High-level knowledge of CAM software and experience with programming or interacting with CNC controllers.
- Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams, manage project timelines, and manage project budgets.
- Strong project management, organizational, and communication skills.
- Knowledge of process control plans, SPC, FMEA, industrial problem-solving techniques, Lean Manufacturing, and Six Sigma concepts.
- Knowledge of reliability engineering methods, including FMEA, PFMEA, DFMEA, MTBF, MTTR, equipment availability, failure trend analysis, and risk-based prioritization.
- Experience developing or supporting preventive maintenance, predictive maintenance, condition monitoring, spare parts planning, and critical equipment reliability improvement plans.
- Ability to turn failure data, maintenance history, technician feedback, and production issues into clear action plans that improve uptime, safety, quality, and cost performance.
- Ability to travel up to 10% both domestic and international.
- Ability to make effective and persuasive speeches and presentations on controversial or complex topics to production personnel, top management, and public groups.
- Ability to utilize computer applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, internet software, email, manufacturing software, and statistical software.
Preferred Experience - Experience in semiconductor, precision machining, ceramics, silicon manufacturing, or high-precision manufacturing environments.
- Experience with predictive technologies such as vibration analysis, thermography, oil analysis, condition monitoring, or machine health monitoring systems.
Certified Reliability Engineer (CRE), Certified Maintenance & Reliability Professional (CMRP), or similar reliability certification preferred.
