Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between lean manufacturing engineers and quality engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a lean manufacturing engineer, becoming a quality engineer takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a quality engineer has an average salary of $79,672, which is higher than the $75,994 average annual salary of a lean manufacturing engineer.
The top three skills for a lean manufacturing engineer include lean manufacturing, kaizen events and process improvement. The most important skills for a quality engineer are corrective action, continuous improvement, and ISO.
| Lean Manufacturing Engineer | Quality Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $75,994 | $79,672 |
| Hourly rate | $36.54 | $38.30 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 59,193 | 96,838 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 76% | Bachelor's Degree, 70% |
| Average age | 43 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 4 |
Lean manufacturing engineers are engineering professionals who are responsible for executing the lean manufacturing method, a process that reduces waste in a manufacturing system without sacrificing productivity. These engineers must utilize lean tools and train all plant personnel about using these tools to identify wastes and reduce costs. They must lead the process improvement teams to initiate activities that eliminate waste in all aspects of the operation. Lean manufacturing engineers must also perform cost or benefit analysts to determine the return of investment (ROI) of capital expenditures and project initiatives.
A quality engineer's responsibilities include ensuring that the manufacturing processes are efficient and accurate, documenting findings that would raise concerns, conducting quality tests while observing parameters, and implementing changes as necessary to meet the highest quality standards. Quality engineers need to have excellent problem-solving and observation skills to detect any irregularities and possible malfunctions. They also must be able to communicate effectively with the clients for feedbacks and corrective adjustments, address complaints, and immediately resolve any inconsistencies made.
Lean manufacturing engineers and quality engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Lean Manufacturing Engineer | Quality Engineer | |
| Average salary | $75,994 | $79,672 |
| Salary range | Between $59,000 And $97,000 | Between $61,000 And $103,000 |
| Highest paying City | Milpitas, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Washington |
| Best paying company | Stryker | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Technology |
There are a few differences between a lean manufacturing engineer and a quality engineer in terms of educational background:
| Lean Manufacturing Engineer | Quality Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 76% | Bachelor's Degree, 70% |
| Most common major | Industrial Engineering | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between lean manufacturing engineers' and quality engineers' demographics:
| Lean Manufacturing Engineer | Quality Engineer | |
| Average age | 43 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 84.4% Female, 15.6% | Male, 78.2% Female, 21.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 10.5% Asian, 17.1% White, 63.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 4.7% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 11.5% Asian, 13.9% White, 65.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 4% |