Brittle Manufacturing Design Engineer

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The people here at Apple don’t just build products - they craft the kind of wonder that’s revolutionized entire industries. It’s the diversity of those people and their ideas that inspires the innovation that runs through everything we do, from amazing technology to industry-leading environmental efforts. Join Apple, and help us leave the world better than we found it!

Apple MDE’s are extraordinary engineers that provide end to end manufacturing and process solutions for key design features. This includes manufacturing process development and capability (includes incorporating all aspects of equipment, consumables, key parameters, process setup, and qualification), selection and/or design of manufacturing equipment, automation, and strategic R&D.

Description

• Define best-in-class processes to meet all Apple design and operational requirements.
• Develop and document processes including all parameters, consumables and secondary operation requirements to meet defined specifications.
• Provide leadership at manufacturing sites during development and product production ramp, and drive engineering issues to resolution.
• Use data to drive process decisions, basic data analysis, DOEs, SPC, etc.
• Identify, research, develop, and qualify premier equipment manufacturers and suppliers.
• Define part tolerance and specifications by demonstrating process capability to Product Designers and Industrial Designers.
• Work with Global Supply Managers to define and establish supply chain requirements using selected equipment and manufacturing suppliers.
• Work with Manufacturing Quality Engineers to work on and close quality issues, drive yield improvement, and ship good parts to downstream supply chain nodes.
• Coordination of activities and direction through clear communication between the Asia and US-based teams, as well as suppliers.
• Lead process development/have expertise in one of the process development areas listed below:

• CNC machining - Develop all CNC milling and turning processes. Scope appropriate CNC equipment to be used, develop CNC fixtures, implement touch probing, lead the reduction of cycle time, development of advanced cutters and coatings, High Speed Machining implementation, support the programming and optimization of all CNC-related activities. Own yield improvement actions and process change decisions based on SPC data analysis.

• Surface Finishing - Develop new processes in the area of blasting, tumbling, polishing, wet sanding, lapping, anodizing, and PVD. Ensure that quality and yield requirements are met.

• Assembly - Develop all assembly processes. Includes incorporating welding, gluing/adhesives, and mechanical fit based processes. Support qualification of equipment at suppliers, including detailed documentation of process parameters. Own yield improvement actions and process change decisions based on statistical process control (SPC) data analysis. Identify automation opportunities and justify automation projects based on automation line efficiency metrics.

• Glass Processing - Develop all processes for glass scribe/break, grinding, lapping, polishing, chemical strengthening, decoration and functional coatings (with inks, and other thin film deposition techniques etc). Ensure that quality and yield requirements are met.

Preferred Qualifications
Strong abilities and background in materials characterization with hands-on troubling (understanding of analytical tools such as SEM / TEM / EDX / FTIR / XPS etc.).
Ability to work independently with cross-functional teams and drive towards common goals.
Ability to present technical analysis of manufacturing capability to diverse cross-functional team.
A team player who is self-motivated, result oriented and detail driven.
Knowledge in deep learning (DL) and statistical machine learning (ML) is preferred.
Able to take frequent travel.

Minimum Qualifications
BS/MS/PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Physics, or equivalent.
Experience in leading process development in a high volume manufacturing environment.
Experience in the selection, set-up, and validation of manufacturing equipment.
Good English communication skills.