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Lean manufacturing engineer vs reliability engineer

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 vs reliability engineer overview

Lean Manufacturing EngineerReliability Engineer
Yearly salary$75,994$105,551
Hourly rate$36.54$50.75
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs59,19344,471
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 76%Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Average age4342
Years of experience24

What does a lean manufacturing engineer do?

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.

What does a reliability engineer do?

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 engineer vs reliability engineer salary

Lean manufacturing engineers and reliability engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Lean Manufacturing EngineerReliability Engineer
Average salary$75,994$105,551
Salary rangeBetween $59,000 And $97,000Between $76,000 And $144,000
Highest paying CityMilpitas, CARichmond, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaWashington
Best paying companyStrykerThe Citadel
Best paying industryFinanceStart-up

Differences between lean manufacturing engineer and reliability engineer education

There are a few differences between a lean manufacturing engineer and a reliability engineer in terms of educational background:

Lean Manufacturing EngineerReliability Engineer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 76%Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Most common majorIndustrial EngineeringMechanical Engineering
Most common collegeNorthwestern UniversityNorthwestern University

Lean manufacturing engineer vs reliability engineer demographics

Here are the differences between lean manufacturing engineers' and reliability engineers' demographics:

Lean Manufacturing EngineerReliability Engineer
Average age4342
Gender ratioMale, 84.4% Female, 15.6%Male, 87.5% Female, 12.5%
Race ratioBlack 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 Percentage5%4%

Differences between lean manufacturing engineer and reliability engineer duties and responsibilities

Lean manufacturing engineer example responsibilities.

  • Lead several independent, cross-functional projects and improve manufacturing quality, reduce cost, ensure environment are supported and FDA compliant.
  • Develop the Kanban system base upon customer demand to reduce inventory, overproduction and increase cycle times.
  • Update and clarify processes as needed to ensure they conform to ISO, GMP and FDA standards.
  • Support implementation infrastructure of Kanban system to the production floor.
  • Compile and update documentation require by OSHA and ISO certification.
  • Champion ergonomics evaluation team, assess manufacturing projects for ergonomic risk and generate solutions to resolve or mitigate risk exposure.
  • Show more

Reliability engineer example responsibilities.

  • Lead a team of over 20 engineers responsible for implementing NASA human-rating requirements to achieve human-rating safety certification.
  • Manage GMP compliance, FDA audits, and the writing of [] procedures.
  • Achieve completion of the resistors and capacitor sections of the AVL.
  • Lead the implementation of utilizing SPC data for software and test set improvement initiatives.
  • Delegate tasks to appropriate CE specialist and manage``burn rate"to prevent cost overrun.
  • Design, build, and manage the entire QMS system from the ground up including re-writing all existing technical documentation.
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Lean manufacturing engineer vs reliability engineer skills

Common lean manufacturing engineer skills
  • Lean Manufacturing, 15%
  • Kaizen Events, 7%
  • Process Improvement, 6%
  • Sigma, 5%
  • Kanban, 5%
  • PDCA, 4%
Common reliability engineer skills
  • Java, 22%
  • Troubleshoot, 10%
  • Ruby, 7%
  • Jenkins, 5%
  • Azure, 4%
  • Debugging, 4%

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