Preparing for a job interview can be difficult if you do not know what to expect. So, knowing the questions a potential employer will ask is beneficial. Below are commonly asked questions in manufacturing engineering interviews and sample answers.
1. Why Are You The Ideal Candidate For This Position?
I am a skilled manufacturing engineer with a high level of technical knowledge who can work well in a team. I can design and enhance production procedures to achieve the highest effectiveness, efficiency, and quality levels. My excellent organizational, management and analytical skills enable me to operate efficiently in all my responsibilities. In addition, I have a degree in production engineering and extensive experience with CAM, CAD, data analysis tools, and other relevant products. I also have a lot of expertise in analyzing and debugging manufacturing equipment and procedures.
2. Describe Your Background In Relation Manufacturing Engineering
I’ve been in the same position for the past eight years. I have experience managing and enhancing manufacturing operations and ensuring cost efficiency and compliance with regulatory norms. My primary duties were identifying areas for improvement, sustaining high production and product quality levels, ensuring cost-efficiency and compliance with regulatory standards, and designing new products and processes. Based on my prior experience, I am confident I will outperform your expectations in this position.
3. What Is Machining Manufacturing Engineering?
Machining is a material-removal process in which a metal is cut into a specified final form and size. The procedures that share this theme are referred to as subtractive manufacturing, which uses machine tools, as opposed to additive manufacturing, which employs controlled material addition. Machining is employed in manufacturing numerous metal items, but it may also be used on ceramic, plastic, wood, and composite materials. Much modern machining is done using computer numerical control (CNC), which uses computers to control cutting machines such as lathes and mills. This boosts efficiency because the CNC machine lowers labor costs because it runs unmanned.
4. In Your Previous Position, What Duties Did You Perform?
In my last assignment, I was responsible for the following:
- Creating and putting into action quality control and cost-saving initiatives.
- Analyzing current production procedures to find room for advancement.
- Ensuring that manufacturing procedures, tools, and goods adhere to legal requirements and safety norms.
- Finding solutions to problems and putting improvements into practice.
- Investigating and creating new procedures, tools, and goods.
- Keeping records of study and activity and creating reports.
- Creating detailed plans for the workflow, processes, and equipment.
5. What Is Design Evaluation Process?
Evaluation planning is the careful focus of evaluation design. It expands on the evaluation environment to clearly describe procedures, timelines, and roles for an evaluation. The specific data acquired at this point can be combined into an evaluation strategy for the specific type of evaluation and added to the other portfolio of assessments.
6. Take Me Through The Phases Of The New Product Development Process
There are several phases that a new product goes through before it is commercialized. They include:
- Idea generation
This is the first stage where a company gathers concepts for a new product. New product ideas can come from customers in the corporate world, rivals, newspapers, journals, employees, and suppliers.
- Screening
The ideas created must be screened to identify the workable ones. To avoid pursuing expensive, unworkable ideas, the company asks its employees, customers, and other firms for their input. Only a few workable ideas from the vast pool of created concepts remain after the screening procedure.
- Conceptualization
The business conducts research to learn about the product’s future expenses, revenues, and profits. The company performs a SWOT analysis to determine the market’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
- Product Creation
The process of actually designing and producing a product is called product development. The creation of a prototype that enables market testing kicks off development.
- Implementation and Commercialization
Before mass manufacturing and marketing, there must be successful development stage outcomes. This is where the company begins to promote the new product. Market research influences the location and timing of the product launch carried out during the conception stage.
7. Why Should You Conduct A Feasibility Study Before Developing A New Product?
Most business concepts never make it to the operational level since it takes a lot of time and effort. Most of those who make it to the operational stage fail within the first six months. A feasibility study assists in preventing such an occurrence by guiding you in deciding if the benefits of investing in the project would exceed the risks. You ought to follow a staged approach when doing the investigation.
8. What Is Process Improvement?
Process improvements are ways in which a team assesses their current processes and adjusts them in order to boost productivity, reorganize workflows, respond to evolving business requirements, or boost profitability.
9. Which Important Steps Are Necessary To Evaluate A Process Improvement Opportunity?
Regardless of the process, you are aiming to improve, and the improvement process often involves steps such as:
- Recognizing the necessity for change
Finding the need for change is the first step in process improvement. An effective technique to find areas for improvement is to carry out a process audit.
- Examining the existing procedure
You must evaluate the present technique once you have chosen the step you want to improve.
- Obtain support and commitment
Requesting for senior management commitment is the third phase in the procedure. Given that managerial support is crucial to the project’s success, this may be the step that matters the most. You must now succinctly explain why change is necessary and how it will affect the organization.
- Developing an improvement plan
After completing the process analysis phase, you must create your plan. It is advised that you list the process steps that need fixing, why, and how, as well as any costs or resource implications.
10. How Many Different Process Improvement Methodologies Are You Aware Of?
I am familiar with lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, Plan Do Check Act, comprehensive quality management, and business process management. I mostly employ business process management since it enables teams to identify bottlenecks, find automated solutions for manual tasks, and develop plans to reduce inefficiencies.
11. How Do You Analyze Manufacturing Processes?
I start out by evaluating a process’ value and the prospective benefit of any improvements.
I then start gathering information from all process components. Along with information on total output, labor, and costs, I also include data from sensors attached to manufacturing machinery.
I make sure the data is cleaned after its processing to ensure that its free of duplicates and errors. I employ several analytic and machine learning models after collecting and cleaning the data to produce insights.
12. What Challenges Do You Face In Manufacturing Process? What Do You Think Could Be The Solution?
Supply chain disruptions are among the major issues affecting the manufacturing industry, notwithstanding the many difficulties brought on by the pandemic, governmental reforms, tariffs, climate changes, and more. Since inventories are at their lowest points in decades, some goods can’t even be manufactured right now.
To avoid scarcity in supply, businesses with financial resources can return to the days of stockpiling goods, which will raise the demand for extra warehouse space.
13. What Does A Bom In Manufacturing Mean?
A bill of materials, or BOM, is a list of all the specific components that make up a product, though it can also refer to the vendors, equipment, or other items required for production. We routinely work with BOMs because they are one of the key documents used in the manufacturing of new products. Typically, I utilize a BOM to guide me in identifying the materials we’ll truly need to produce a useful and efficient product.
14. Mention The Essential Components Needed To Create A Bom.
There are essential components needed when creating a bill of materials, such as
- The BOM level
Each part is assigned a number that indicates the stage in the overall assembly plan at which it becomes necessary. This demonstrates where it stands in the assembly’s hierarchy. Sub-assemblies will be given a number that corresponds to the stage of completion that it is closest to.
- Manufacturers’ part number, item description and name
For ease of identification, each part and subassembly need a special number, name, and description. There must be no duplicates in order to prevent confusion.
- Phase
Knowing where each assembly component is in the life cycle of the individual product is crucial. This is done to make sure that every sub-assembly process is finished before moving on to the next. If a component hasn’t been finished, it may be marked as “in production,” or if it hasn’t been approved, it may be marked as “in design.” ‘Ready for use’ may also be used to describe certain components. This can be useful for planning timeframes and costs for the creation of new items.
- Quantity and measurement unit
This represents how much of each component is required to make the final product. This makes it possible to order and keep the appropriate number of each item. Forecasts for each component of the BOM can be computed if a predicted value of the finished product is given.
- Type of procurement
It is important to record the steps taken to obtain each component, including the manufacturer or supplier employed, the lead time, whether the component was produced to order or was purchased off the shelf, etc.
15. Explain The Differences Between A Service Bill Of Materials And An Assembly Bill Of Materials
An assembly bill of materials is used to create a list of the components needed to assemble the finished good. This is frequently less difficult than an MBOM.
This is frequently less difficult than an MBOM. A service bill of materials (SBOM) is a list of the supplies required to maintain a piece of equipment, machinery, or product. Only information pertinent to the person ordering the parts and maintaining the asset is included in an SBOM, such as a list of replacements, serviceable parts, and part supersessions. An SBOM may, at times, also provide instructions on how to do the servicing work.
16. Explain Three Types Of Machining?
The three types of machining are turning, drilling, and milling.
Turning, also known as lathing, is the process of turning a workpiece on a machine, and this happens as a single-edged cutting tool stays fixed. The tool cuts materials by gently moving parallel to the rotational axis of the workpiece.
Drilling produces a circular hole by spinning a cylindrical tool. The drilling tool spins parallel to the axis of rotation of the workpiece. The created hole is the same diameter as the tool.
Milling involves removing material from a workpiece using rotary cutters. This is done in a feed motion that is perpendicular to the rotating axis of the cutting tool. Milling is the most commonly utilized type of machining nowadays.
17. What Are The Disadvantages Of Traditional Machining Processes?
The drawbacks of traditional machining methods in their different applications are:
• There is less surface finish created.
• It is difficult to machine complex shapes
• Tool wear is a common occurrence.
• Dimensional accuracy is poor.
• It causes noise pollution that results from noisy operations.
• Lubrication is required.
18. What Is The Use Of Work Holding Devices In Manufacturing Engineering?
During machining and assembling operations, work-holding devices are employed to support, locate, support, and safeguard workpieces. Common work-holding tools include jigs, fixtures, vises, collets, and chucks. These devices are used for the bulk of work-holding in various applications. They are an essential part of several manufacturing processes. Operators that are familiar with using the different work-holding devices are needed for effective, secure, and high-quality component manufacturing. When properly applied, it speeds up production while simultaneously enhancing part tolerance and polish.
19. What Is The Difference Between Molding And Casting?
The primary difference between casting and molding is the material used in the operation. Metal is often used in casting, whereas plastics are used in molding. In particular, molding is applied to shape liquid using a frame called matrix or mold. On the other hand, casting involves the same process, but molten metal is often used. In both situations, the melted material is poured into a die or mold to make the final shape. However, several fundamental variations in the method alter the end result. Molding is preferred for manufacturing high volumes of plastics, while casting is used mostly to make complex shapes.
20. What Is Manufacturing Engineering?
Manufacturing engineering is a professional engineering discipline that shares many ideas and concepts with other engineering disciplines, such as mechanical, industrial, electrical, and chemical engineering. It focuses on enhancing the production of different items. This is accomplished by making product design changes as well as creating effective processes in manufacturing. Manufacturing Engineering is built on fundamental industrial and mechanical engineering abilities, with essential components from mechatronics, commerce, economics, and business management thrown in for good measure.
21. How Is Automation Used In Manufacturing Engineering?
Automation is employed in a variety of manufacturing processes, including machining and welding. The use of automation to make things in a facility is referred to as “automated manufacturing.” Automated manufacturing is used to increase consistency and quality, decrease lead times, simplify production, improve workflow, reduce handling, and boost employee morale. The ultimate objective of automation in manufacturing is to enhance capacity while decreasing expenses. Automation is very useful for repeated operations or jobs that demand exceptional precision.
22. Are Robots Good In Manufacturing Engineering?
Manufacturing robots shield people from monotonous, risky activities while simultaneously producing more desired employment like equipment maintenance, management, programming, and engineering. Welding, assembly, transportation, raw material handling, and product packaging are all jobs that a robot may accomplish. Robotic automation is being used by an increasing number of manufacturers for a broader range of applications. Once a robot has been properly programmed and trained to accomplish a certain function, it may speed up production by reducing part cycle times and generating more efficient manufacturing processes, resulting in increased profitability. Robots nowadays have improved vision and sensor technologies, resulting in extremely high efficiency and precision. They labor alongside humans, doing simultaneous industrial activities.
23. Are You Familiar With Robotic Welding?
Robotic welding blends robotics, artificial intelligence, sensor technologies, control systems, and welding. It includes software with customized programming that allows the welding equipment to transfer energy between the workpiece and the welding power source. The robot’s process sensors detect the welding process’s parameters, while its geometric sensors measure the welds’ geometrical properties. The control system modifies the robotized welding process output according to welding requirements. Robotic welding helps to achieve shorter cycle times, generate higher weld quality, and save labor costs.
24. Is The Internet Of Things Beneficial To Manufacturing Engineering?
Adopting the Internet of Things can benefit manufacturing process companies on many fronts. The most notable advantages are:
- Improved productivity
- Decreased costs
- Reduction in quality defects
- Real-time visibility of production
25. What Motivates You In Your Work?
I read a lot about what others in the profession are doing to overcome common issues at work. I get inspired to learn the solutions they implemented to overcome challenges that I may be facing. I am also motivated by my past achievements.
Conclusion
You now know what to expect during your manufacturing engineering interview and the best ways to answer each question. Ensure to respond boldly and correctly to impress your interviewers. Also, groom decently and arrive early for the interview.
