Description

Production Engineer - EcoRecycle

Position Summary

The Production Engineer is responsible for planning, monitoring, and improving recycling production operations at a solar photovoltaic (PV) module recycling facility to ensure safe, efficient, and reliable plant performance. This position develops production plans based on incoming material volumes, processing capacity, inventory levels, and operational priorities, while also identifying and implementing opportunities to improve throughput, equipment utilization, process efficiency, product quality, and operating cost.
The Production Engineer will work closely with Operations, Maintenance, EHS, Logistics, and site leadership to support daily production activities and long-term process improvement initiatives. The role will also support the installation, commissioning, and optimization of new recycling equipment and processes.

Key Responsibilities
• Develop daily, weekly, and monthly production plans based on incoming material volumes, inventory, equipment capacity, manpower availability, and shipment requirements.
• Monitor actual production performance against plan and analyze production gaps, bottlenecks, downtime, and other operational constraints.
• Track and analyze key production KPIs, including throughput, equipment utilization, downtime, yield/recovery rate, productivity, and production cost.
• Identify bottlenecks and implement process improvements to increase production capacity, operational efficiency, material recovery, and equipment reliability.
• Analyze recycling process parameters and establish optimal operating conditions for de-framing, shredding, screening, grinding, and material separation processes.
• Work with Operations and Maintenance teams to identify recurring equipment issues and develop corrective and preventive actions.
• Support preventive maintenance planning by analyzing equipment performance, downtime trends, component life, and production impact.
• Develop and maintain production standards, standard operating procedures (SOPs), work instructions, process flow diagrams, and other technical documentation.
• Evaluate production capacity and identify equipment, manpower, and process requirements necessary to meet current and future production targets.
• Support equipment modification, automation, and continuous improvement projects, including technical evaluation, ROI analysis, implementation, and performance verification.
• Support new equipment installation and commissioning, including layout review, equipment specifications, vendor coordination, acceptance testing, ramp-up, and process optimization.
• Monitor the quality and consistency of recycled outputs such as aluminum, glass cullet, silicon-containing materials, and other recovered materials, and coordinate process adjustments when necessary.
• Analyze material balance, recovery rates, scrap generation, and process losses to identify opportunities to maximize material recovery and recycling value.
• Coordinate with Logistics and Operations teams regarding incoming waste modules, WIP inventory, finished recycled materials, storage capacity, and outbound shipment schedules.
• Prepare production reports, KPI dashboards, capacity analyses, and improvement plans for management review.
• Support root cause analysis and corrective actions for production, equipment, quality, and process-related issues.
• Participate in EHS, ISO, EPEAT, customer, and internal audit activities as needed and ensure production processes comply with applicable safety, environmental, and operational requirements.
• Support annual production planning, CAPEX/OPEX planning, equipment investment evaluation, and future capacity expansion projects.
• Perform other production engineering and operational improvement activities as assigned.

Qualifications

Education:
Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related engineering field.
Experience:
Preferably 3+ years of experience in manufacturing, recycling, process engineering, production engineering, or similar industrial operations.
Preferred Skills & Experience:
Experience with production planning, process improvement, equipment troubleshooting, capacity analysis, and manufacturing KPI management is preferred. Experience with shredders, grinders, conveyors, screening systems, dust collection systems, material separation equipment, or recycling processes would be highly desirable.
Strong analytical skills and proficiency in Excel are required. Experience with ERP/SAP, AutoCAD, Power BI, or similar manufacturing and data-analysis tools is preferred. Bilingual proficiency in English and Korean is a plus.