The Sanmina Fremont facility is a full-service enclosure systems solution manufacturing plant. Located in California's Silicon Valley, this facility produces low-to-mid volume New Product Introduction (NPI) runs to full-scale volume. The Fremont facility offers everything from small piece parts to fully integrated and tested systems. In addition, this location offers in-house painting capabilities and flexible logistics solutions in distribution, inventory management and hubbing, as well as repair services.
Job Purpose The NPI Fabrication Product Engineer plays a pivotal role in bringing new sheet metal and electromechanical products from concept to full-scale production. Acting as the technical bridge between Design Engineering, Customers, Quality, and Shop-Floor Operations, this role ensures new products are optimized for manufacturability, cost, yield, and seamless integration into manufacturing lines.
Nature of Duties/Responsibilities: Provide technical and commercial leadership for the development and manufacture of new product platforms that deliver competitive advantage in the market, meet financial/ growth goals, and exceed customers' performance and quality expectations at or below target costs.
Key Items of Responsibility: - Oversee early build phases (Alpha, Beta, Pilot runs), driving prototype execution, validating shop-floor processes, and resolving early manufacturing bottlenecks before full volume release.
- Sales support in participating in Project Technical Reviews to help guide manufacturing.
- Lead FAI processes for initial product builds to ensure prototype parts meet customer specs and engineering tolerances.
- Conduct rigorous Design for Manufacturability (DFM) and Design for Assembly (DFA) reviews on early-stage customer CAD models, drawings, and prototypes prior to release.
- Create, structure, and maintain accurate pre-production Bills of Materials (BOMs), assembly structures, and detailed Production Routings in the ERP system for new product launches.
- Support engineering through review of vendor's drawings ensuring accuracy and suitability for the application and distribution.
- Upload, organize, and track technical specifications, engineering drawings, and customer documentation in Agile PLM through initial engineering releases and ECOs/ECNs.
- Collaborate and partner with the entire engineering department.
- Support Procurement by working with Purchasing and Engineering to create drawings/specifications and Long Leadtime Bills of Material.
- Support Product Development as required.
- Identify and coordinate procurement of specialized tooling, welding jigs, and bending fixtures required for new product launches.
- Support Pricing by working with the Estimating Team to update and improve pricing tools used.
- Process RFQs and negotiate pricing where applicable.
- Participate as requested in company training events, applicable industry and product related training or certification classes and marketing - industry sector events. Travel as necessary to client projects, vendor, jobsite, and event locations.
Education and Experience: - BS degree in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Materials or Industrial Engineering (or equivalent hands-on technical experience).
- 2-3+ years in a fabrication, sheet metal, or electromechanical environment, with a strong emphasis on New Product Introduction (NPI) or launch engineering.
- Deep practical understanding of metal deformation, bend deductions, grain direction, standard tooling constraints, welding sequencing, and tolerance stack-up analysis.
- Proficient with Microsoft Suite. Preferred experience with Google Workspace.
- Proficient with Solidworks or equivalent.
- Proven track record in prototype execution, pilot runs, line layout validation, and hand-off to sustaining operations.
- Advanced experience with Agile PLM and standard ERP platforms (e.g., Oracle, SAP) for configuring initial part masters and production structures.
- Expertise in interpreting complex 2D GD&T (Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing) drawings and navigating 3D CAD platforms (SolidWorks, Pro/E, Inventor).
- Demonstrated ability to articulate technical constraints, trade-offs, and DFM recommendations to customer design engineers, suppliers, and shop-floor technicians.
- Excellent problem-solving skills are required. Preferred strong root-cause analysis skills (5-Why, 8D) to resolve unexpected issues during fast-paced prototype builds.
- Ability to act independently and resourcefully to solve problems and ensure high levels of technical accuracy and quality.
- Ability to be flexible and discern appropriate plans of action when working on multiple tasks.
- Implements and maintains engineering objectives and initiatives such as cost savings and complexity reductions.
This is an ITAR facility and applicant must be a US Citizen or a lawful permanent resident. Salary Range (annual): $80,000 - $99,500. Actual base pay within this range (determined at the offer stage) will be based on a candidate's years of relevant work experience, education, certifications, and skills, and is just one element of our total rewards package. The total rewards package also includes a variety of benefits, including health insurance coverage, life and disability insurance, savings plan, Company paid holidays and paid time off (PTO) for vacation and/or personal business and, depending on the role, may include eligibility for restricted stock unit awards and participation in a discretionary bonus program.
