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The differences between lean manufacturing engineers and reliability 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 reliability engineer takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a reliability engineer has an average salary of $105,551, 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 reliability engineer are java, troubleshoot, and ruby.
| Lean Manufacturing Engineer | Reliability Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $75,994 | $105,551 |
| Hourly rate | $36.54 | $50.75 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 59,193 | 44,471 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 76% | Bachelor's Degree, 76% |
| 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 reliability engineer is in charge of determining and managing the asset reliability risks of businesses. Reliability engineers are professionals who solve problems related to engineering. They are equipped with a better understanding of the principles of performance evaluation and prediction for product safety. The job requires knowledge of the field of engineering, strong communication, interpersonal skills, management skills, attention to detail, and reliability. They are also expected to become experts in engineering systems.
Lean manufacturing engineers and reliability engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Lean Manufacturing Engineer | Reliability Engineer | |
| Average salary | $75,994 | $105,551 |
| Salary range | Between $59,000 And $97,000 | Between $76,000 And $144,000 |
| Highest paying City | Milpitas, CA | Richmond, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Washington |
| Best paying company | Stryker | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Start-up |
There are a few differences between a lean manufacturing engineer and a reliability engineer in terms of educational background:
| Lean Manufacturing Engineer | Reliability Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 76% | Bachelor's Degree, 76% |
| Most common major | Industrial Engineering | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between lean manufacturing engineers' and reliability engineers' demographics:
| Lean Manufacturing Engineer | Reliability Engineer | |
| Average age | 43 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 84.4% Female, 15.6% | Male, 87.5% Female, 12.5% |
| 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, 4.4% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.8% Asian, 14.3% White, 66.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 4% |