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The differences between advanced manufacturing engineers and product engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become an advanced manufacturing engineer, becoming a product engineer takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, an advanced manufacturing engineer has an average salary of $90,343, which is higher than the $89,645 average annual salary of a product engineer.
The top three skills for an advanced manufacturing engineer include lean manufacturing, project management and sigma. The most important skills for a product engineer are CAD, product design, and project management.
| Advanced Manufacturing Engineer | Product Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $90,343 | $89,645 |
| Hourly rate | $43.43 | $43.10 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 75,116 | 157,888 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 74% | Bachelor's Degree, 74% |
| Average age | 43 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 6 |
An advanced manufacturing engineer specializes in designing and developing equipment and machinery to optimize an organization's manufacturing operations. Among their responsibilities include performing research and analysis to identify the manufacturing facility's needs, creating prototypes and test structures, liaising with vendors and suppliers to purchase materials, managing budgets and timelines, assessing existing systems and methods to find areas needing improvement, and implementing solutions against problem areas. Furthermore, as an engineer, it is essential to conduct maintenance checks on systems and equipment to ensure quality standards and compliance with state laws and regulations.
A product engineer specializes in designing and developing commercial materials and services. They are primarily responsible for conducting thorough research and analysis of the latest trends and marketing conditions to come up with new ideas and products for the public. Moreover, they are also responsible for producing reports and presentations, coordinating with the development team of their company. Product engineers also reach out to vendors and suppliers for the raw materials, set regulations and standards for the product, and even conduct a rigorous and regular quality check.
Advanced manufacturing engineers and product engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Advanced Manufacturing Engineer | Product Engineer | |
| Average salary | $90,343 | $89,645 |
| Salary range | Between $67,000 And $121,000 | Between $68,000 And $118,000 |
| Highest paying City | Santa Rosa, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Meta | |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Technology |
There are a few differences between an advanced manufacturing engineer and a product engineer in terms of educational background:
| Advanced Manufacturing Engineer | Product Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 74% | Bachelor's Degree, 74% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between advanced manufacturing engineers' and product engineers' demographics:
| Advanced Manufacturing Engineer | Product Engineer | |
| Average age | 43 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 93.1% Female, 6.9% | Male, 87.8% Female, 12.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 10.4% Asian, 17.2% White, 63.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 17.0% White, 67.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 5% |