Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between manufacturing consultants and process engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a manufacturing consultant and a process engineer. Additionally, a manufacturing consultant has an average salary of $86,698, which is higher than the $82,443 average annual salary of a process engineer.
The top three skills for a manufacturing consultant include business process, enterprise resource planning and gap analysis. The most important skills for a process engineer are continuous improvement, sigma, and lean manufacturing.
| Manufacturing Consultant | Process Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $86,698 | $82,443 |
| Hourly rate | $41.68 | $39.64 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 40,993 | 66,937 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 76% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
Manufacturing Consultants play an essential role in a company through their outside expertise and experience. They provide solutions and implement actions during the product development process and establish the infrastructure needed for manufacturing. Their duties typically include creating specifications for various components and assembly steps, determining production benchmarks, and optimizing manufacturing efficiency, reliability, and throughput. They are also responsible for providing support in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) development and training and formulating lean manufacturing methods.
A Process Engineer is responsible for coming up with innovative ways to process particular raw materials into different kinds of products. They can also modify various existing machines or maintain their quality by monitoring its functions and conducting tests and examinations. A Process Engineer must do numerous analyses and research to gather data that would help determine possible improvements or decisions to uphold. Furthermore, A Process Engineer also has the task of procuring and installing new equipment, collecting and interpreting data, assessing risks, and ensuring that tasks are done safely.
Manufacturing consultants and process engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Manufacturing Consultant | Process Engineer | |
| Average salary | $86,698 | $82,443 |
| Salary range | Between $55,000 And $135,000 | Between $62,000 And $108,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Rio Rancho, NM |
| Highest paying state | California | New Mexico |
| Best paying company | Intel | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a manufacturing consultant and a process engineer in terms of educational background:
| Manufacturing Consultant | Process Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 76% |
| Most common major | Business | Chemical Engineering |
| Most common college | New York University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between manufacturing consultants' and process engineers' demographics:
| Manufacturing Consultant | Process Engineer | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 89.1% Female, 10.9% | Male, 82.9% Female, 17.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.8% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.7% Asian, 11.6% White, 67.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 15.6% White, 65.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 4% | 4% |