What does a manufacturing consultant do?
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.
Manufacturing consultant responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real manufacturing consultant resumes:
- Finish goods are managed visually with the use of buffers and kanban cards instead of through a planning department.
- Manage materials and logistics with both customers and supply base to support revenue generation and product diversification strategies.
- Use process flow mapping for all functions of the business to determine key metrics for individual Kaizen events.
- Implement and maintain MRP system.
- Advise in the automation of assembly lines by use of PLC's and CNC units.
- Restructure BOM's and reduce manufacturing cycle times to increase shop through put for several companies.
- Assist in construction of an ISO class 7 clean room that test 100x cleaner than require.
- Develop the supply chain requirements component of a large-scale ERP software selection engagement for large CPG clients.
- Assist the client in developing an understanding of their current business environment as related to ERP solution requirements.
- Coordinate initial Kaizen events at all other facilities worldwide.
- Reduce cost by decreasing CNC programming time and minimizing manufacturing processes.
- Develop ISO packaging documentation of networking products from part drawings into standardized container with multiple inserts.
- Develop financial evaluations of potential major capital investment projects and provide documentation of investment vs payback to companies Sr.
- Implement overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) metrics to focus attention on key process equipment availability, performance and quality factors.
Manufacturing consultant skills and personality traits
We calculated that 17% of Manufacturing Consultants are proficient in Business Process, Enterprise Resource Planning, and Gap Analysis. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Listening skills, and Math skills.
We break down the percentage of Manufacturing Consultants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Business Process, 17%
Develop GAP analyses between business processes and standard Oracle functionality.
- Enterprise Resource Planning, 13%
Deliver proactive enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions to manufacturing companies across the region.
- Gap Analysis, 13%
Completed map-gap analysis to identify gaps in software versus policies and procedures.
- Lean Manufacturing, 6%
Specialized in introduction of Process improvement, Six Sigma facilitation, lean manufacturing, and ISO implementation.
- ERP, 5%
Designed and implemented Manufacturing Control (ERP), Warehouse management, and Data collection systems for over 157 manufacturing facilities.
- Process Improvement, 4%
Provided a wide range of industry specific expertise to facilitate delivery of innovative manufacturing solutions for value added process improvements.
Most manufacturing consultants use their skills in "business process," "enterprise resource planning," and "gap analysis" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential manufacturing consultant responsibilities here:
Creativity. One of the key soft skills for a manufacturing consultant to have is creativity. You can see how this relates to what manufacturing consultants do because "industrial engineers use creativity and ingenuity to design new production processes in many kinds of settings in order to reduce the use of material resources, time, or labor while accomplishing the same goal." Additionally, a manufacturing consultant resume shows how manufacturing consultants use creativity: "redesigned erp airline system on: buyer, inventory, maintenance, and accounts payable modules. "
Listening skills. Many manufacturing consultant duties rely on listening skills. "these engineers often operate in teams, but they also must solicit feedback from customers, vendors, and production staff," so a manufacturing consultant will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways manufacturing consultant responsibilities rely on listening skills: "managed overtime, communicated between engineering, maintenance, and plant leadership to insure production schedule was met. "
Math skills. This is an important skill for manufacturing consultants to perform their duties. For an example of how manufacturing consultant responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "industrial engineers use the principles of calculus, trigonometry, and other advanced topics in mathematics for analysis, design, and troubleshooting in their work." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a manufacturing consultant: "developed and implemented format for fibersim geometry in catia v5 r17. ".
Speaking skills. For certain manufacturing consultant responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "speaking skills." The day-to-day duties of a manufacturing consultant rely on this skill, as "industrial engineers sometimes have to explain their instructions to production staff or technicians before they can make written instructions available." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what manufacturing consultants do: "presented at 2 major industry conferences one of the 1st vertically integrated processes for combining lean and six sigma improvement strategies. "
Writing skills. A commonly-found skill in manufacturing consultant job descriptions, "writing skills" is essential to what manufacturing consultants do. Manufacturing consultant responsibilities rely on this skill because "industrial engineers must prepare documentation for other engineers or scientists, or for future reference." You can also see how manufacturing consultant duties rely on writing skills in this resume example: "increased productivity by writing and de-bugging cnc machine programs for x-rite subsidiary labsphere. "
Problem-solving skills. While "problem-solving skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to manufacturing consultant responsibilities. Much of what a manufacturing consultant does relies on this skill, seeing as "in designing facilities for manufacturing and processes for providing services, these engineers deal with several issues at once, from workers’ safety to quality assurance." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of manufacturing consultants: "assisted the client in developing an understanding of their current business environment as related to erp solution requirements. "
The three companies that hire the most manufacturing consultants are:
- Accenture6 manufacturing consultants jobs
- Henkel2 manufacturing consultants jobs
- Cognizant1 manufacturing consultants jobs
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Compare different manufacturing consultants
Manufacturing consultant vs. Process engineer
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.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a manufacturing consultant are more likely to require skills like "business process," "test scripts," "enterprise resource planning," and "gap analysis." On the other hand, a job as a process engineer requires skills like "project management," "troubleshoot," "lean six sigma," and "data analysis." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Process engineers tend to make the most money working in the technology industry, where they earn an average salary of $87,797. In contrast, manufacturing consultants make the biggest average salary, $93,754, in the technology industry.process engineers tend to reach similar levels of education than manufacturing consultants. In fact, process engineers are 2.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Manufacturing consultant vs. Process improvement engineer
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.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that manufacturing consultant responsibilities requires skills like "test scripts," "enterprise resource planning," "gap analysis," and "oracle ebs." But a process improvement engineer might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "lean six sigma," "project management," "healthcare," and "data analysis."
Process improvement engineers earn a lower average salary than manufacturing consultants. But process improvement engineers earn the highest pay in the technology industry, with an average salary of $89,829. Additionally, manufacturing consultants earn the highest salaries in the technology with average pay of $93,754 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Process improvement engineers tend to reach similar levels of education than manufacturing consultants. In fact, they're 2.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for manufacturing consultants in the next 3-5 years?
Theodore T. Allen Ph.D.
Associate Professor, The Ohio State University
Manufacturing consultant vs. Supplier quality engineer
A Supplier Quality Engineer ensures that the supplier's quality standards are in accordance with the requirement of the organization. They also report supplier performance and quality to management.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from manufacturing consultant resumes include skills like "business process," "test scripts," "enterprise resource planning," and "gap analysis," whereas a supplier quality engineer is more likely to list skills in "ppap," "apqp," "gd," and "quality system. "
Supplier quality engineers earn the best pay in the professional industry, where they command an average salary of $87,103. Manufacturing consultants earn the highest pay from the technology industry, with an average salary of $93,754.Most supplier quality engineers achieve a similar degree level compared to manufacturing consultants. For example, they're 0.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Manufacturing consultant vs. Senior quality engineer
A Senior Quality Engineer ensures that a company's goods meet the quality standards required. They may work in various industries, such as the automobile, textile, clothing, food, and electronics industries.
Types of manufacturing consultant
Updated January 8, 2025
