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The differences between manufacturing consultants and process improvement 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 improvement engineer. Additionally, a manufacturing consultant has an average salary of $86,698, which is higher than the $82,473 average annual salary of a process improvement 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 improvement engineer are lean six sigma, sigma, and project management.
| Manufacturing Consultant | Process Improvement Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $86,698 | $82,473 |
| Hourly rate | $41.68 | $39.65 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 40,993 | 55,438 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| 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 improvement engineer specializes in conducting research and analysis to develop new strategies and ideas to improve the processes in a manufacturing plant or a similar setting. They prioritize efficiency and profitability. Most of the time, engineers participate in a series of meetings where they coordinate with fellow engineers to determine opportunities for product growth and development. Moreover, a process improvement engineer is also responsible for crafting new policies and regulations, upgrading systems, and developing new practices to ensure product quality and customer satisfaction.
Manufacturing consultants and process improvement engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Manufacturing Consultant | Process Improvement Engineer | |
| Average salary | $86,698 | $82,473 |
| Salary range | Between $55,000 And $135,000 | Between $62,000 And $109,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | California | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Intel | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a manufacturing consultant and a process improvement engineer in terms of educational background:
| Manufacturing Consultant | Process Improvement Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | New York University | New York University |
Here are the differences between manufacturing consultants' and process improvement engineers' demographics:
| Manufacturing Consultant | Process Improvement Engineer | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 89.1% Female, 10.9% | Male, 63.2% Female, 36.8% |
| 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, 4.7% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 11.6% Asian, 10.5% White, 69.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 4% | 4% |