Plant Engineer - Fastening & Torque

Plant Vehicle Engineering, Fastening & Joining Engineer

Are you looking to work for a company that provides an innovative work environment, and your voice is heard? We have a position for a Plant Vehicle Engineering, Fastening & Joining Engineer to work onsite at our client in Warsaw, IN

Who we are:

LER TechForce is an industry leader in embedded controls, software, functional safety, and engineering talent. For over 20 years LER has been working with customers across North America to meet their engineering resource challenges. Learn more about us (3) LER TechForce: Life | LinkedIn

What you will be doing:

Our Client is looking for a hands-on Plant Vehicle Engineering, Fastening & Joining Engineer to support launch readiness, production quality, and continuous improvement for fastening and joining applications in the vehicle assembly plant.

This role serves as a Plant Vehicle Engineering subject matter expert and cross-functional technical partner for fastening and joining-related production concerns. The position focuses on protecting product intent, supporting issue resolution, driving root cause analysis, validating corrective actions, and improving build quality during launch and ongoing production.

This role does not own design release or manufacturing process ownership. It is responsible for identifying fastening and joining concerns in production, partnering with the appropriate engineering and manufacturing teams, and escalating product, process, tooling, material, or workmanship issues when requirements are not met.

Fastening & Torque Support

• Serve as the Plant Vehicle Engineering subject matter expert for fastening-related production concerns, including torque strategy, clamp load, joint integrity, tooling interaction, and fastening data where applicable.
• Support issue resolution involving torque-to-spec, torque-angle behavior, fastener seating, joint stack variation, thread engagement, tool access, and product/process interaction.
• Interpret torque traces and fastening data, or partner with subject matter experts as needed, to identify abnormal joint behavior, tooling concerns, process variation, or product design opportunities.
• Partner with Design & Release Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Production, and Suppliers to resolve fastening issues and validate permanent corrective actions.

Welding & Joining Support

• Support issue resolution for spot weld, laser weld, and joining-related quality concerns through visual reviews, teardown inspections, weld audits, destructive checks, and vehicle-level investigations.
• Help identify joining concerns related to location, size, appearance, penetration, expulsion, fit-up, material stack, coating, access, or process variation.
• Provide plant feedback into joining strategy, inspection standards, repair guidance, Design for Manufacturing and Assembly reviews, PFMEA input, control plan reviews, and lessons learned.

Bonding & Adhesive Application Support

• Support issue resolution for bonded and urethane applications in the Bonding Shop and General Assembly as well as closure-related applications.
• Evaluate adhesive application quality, surface preparation, bead location, application consistency, squeeze-out, cure behavior, contamination concerns, and process robustness in partnership with process and materials teams.
• Investigate bond-related defects, water leaks, squeaks/rattles, fit concerns, and durability issues where bonding may be a contributor.

Launch, Problem Solving & Continuous Improvement

• Lead or support root cause analysis, containment, corrective action development, breakpoint coordination, and validation of permanent fixes.
• Analyze production data, audit findings, teardown results, torque data, repair trends, supplier concerns, and plant feedback to identify risks and improvement opportunities.
• Support prototype, pilot, and production ramp builds, including issue tracking, triage, readiness reporting, containment, breakpoint management, and lessons learned.
• Drive continuous improvement actions that reduce defects, improve first-time quality, minimize rework, and strengthen production consistency for fastening and joining applications.

SUCCESS MEASURES

• Improve first-time quality for fastening and joining-related build issues.
• Reduce rework related to fasteners, torque concerns, weld quality, bonding, sealing, and joined interfaces.
• Reduce recurring build issues through effective root cause analysis and permanent corrective actions.
• Improve launch readiness by supporting build events, teardown reviews, joining audits, and breakpoint readiness.
• Improve containment effectiveness through clear inspection criteria, repair guidance, documentation, and validation of corrective actions.
• Accelerate issue resolution by partnering effectively with Design & Release Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Production, Suppliers, and plant leadership.

What you'll need to be successful:

• 6 years of related automotive engineering, manufacturing engineering, quality, launch, plant vehicle engineering, fastening, joining, body, general assembly, or similar experience
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Materials, Welding, Industrial Engineering, or related technical field preferred; equivalent hands-on automotive launch, manufacturing, or product engineering experience will be considered.
• Hands-on experience with fastening, joining, assembly, body, general assembly, or related production processes.
• Experience with one or more areas such as fastening systems, torque/clamp load, spot welding, laser welding, adhesive bonding, urethane applications, or vehicle teardown/inspection activity preferred.
• Experience supporting production issue resolution, launch builds, containment, engineering change implementation, and corrective action validation preferred.
• Working knowledge of fastening fundamentals, such as torque, clamp load, friction, joint stack-up, tooling interaction, thread engagement, and fastener failure modes.
• Ability to interpret drawings, specifications, quality standards, fastening requirements, weld callouts, and process documentation.
• Ability to interpret production data, torque/fastening data, quality data, teardown findings, repair trends, and plant feedback.
• Familiarity with weld quality, adhesive bonding, urethane applications, or joined-structure inspection preferred.
• Understanding of materials, coatings, stack-up variation, joining interfaces, and how product/process variation can affect fastening, welding, and bonding quality.
• Experience with structured problem-solving methods such as Red X, Six Sigma, 8D, 5-Why, fishbone analysis, DOE, or similar.
• Strong technical leadership, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills with the ability to influence corrective actions across Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Production, Suppliers, and plant leadership.
• Hands-on experience supporting assembly lines and driving improvements in build quality, process stability, and production robustness.
• Ability to work on the plant floor more than 50% of the time.
• Ability to travel domestically up to 20%.
• Must be willing to relocate to Warsaw, Indiana.

What you'll get:

• Full benefits: medical, dental, vision, HSA, FSA
• 401 K with a match and immediate vesting
• Short-term & Long-term disability, life insurance and other optional benefits
• Employee Assistance Program
• Employee Discounts
• Ongoing professional development opportunities including Technical Training and Leadership Development
• The opportunity to work on industry leading projects