What does a senior manufacturing specialist do?
Senior manufacturing specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior manufacturing specialist resumes:
- Manage implementation of improve paste compounding (including extrusion) process.
- Develop knowledge of CNC grinding programming.
- Maintain GMP compliance of equipment and documentation.
- Develop site guidelines for ISO classify spaces.
- Maintain a working knowledge of company, government (FDA), and industry quality and safety codes and standards.
- Authore CMC FDA filing sections including viral safety evaluation; executed/support validation IQ/OQ/PQ/PV for downstream and support processes.
- Ensure compliance with internal/external ISO 9001/1400 and manufacturing process control audits by designing and executing internal/external quality and process control documentation.
- Conduct pricing and ROI analysis to ensure optimal margins.
- Carry out production launches and PPAP submissions for Chrysler truck exhaust systems.
- Support ppap submissions, create PFMEA's and process flow plans for production.
- Specify assembly/process machines (laser welders, precision semi-automatic assembly machines, and microelectronic-type assembly equipment).
Senior manufacturing specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 12% of Senior Manufacturing Specialists are proficient in GMP, Lean Manufacturing, and Sigma. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Listening skills, and Math skills.
We break down the percentage of Senior Manufacturing Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- GMP, 12%
Key GMP, Safety, and Facility assessor of twenty-seven labs and rooms of the Purification group.
- Lean Manufacturing, 9%
Organized Cost Reduction methods and Lean Manufacturing technology.
- Sigma, 7%
Executed several Six Sigma tools (measurement system analysis, variation decomposition, and screening experiments) to improve manufacturing processes.
- CAPA, 7%
Participated extensively in both the investigation and documentation of Process related Customer Complaints (CAPA).
- QA, 6%
Led a team that consisted of representatives from Process Science, QC, QA, Validation, Manufacturing, and Maintenance.
- Process Improvement, 5%
Managed the tech transfer to Ireland by sharing my expertise with Quality review, and process improvements.
Most senior manufacturing specialists use their skills in "gmp," "lean manufacturing," and "sigma" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential senior manufacturing specialist responsibilities here:
Creativity. One of the key soft skills for a senior manufacturing specialist to have is creativity. You can see how this relates to what senior manufacturing specialists 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 senior manufacturing specialist resume shows how senior manufacturing specialists use creativity: "managed the shipping logistics for customer orders via the sap inventory control system. "
Listening skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling senior manufacturing specialist duties is listening skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "these engineers often operate in teams, but they also must solicit feedback from customers, vendors, and production staff." According to a senior manufacturing specialist resume, here's how senior manufacturing specialists can utilize listening skills in their job responsibilities: "communicated and maintained the quality management systems (qms) throughout the company. "
Math skills. This is an important skill for senior manufacturing specialists to perform their duties. For an example of how senior manufacturing specialist 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 senior manufacturing specialist: "trained on doe, statistics for engineers and current good manufacturing practice (cgmp). ".
Speaking skills. For certain senior manufacturing specialist responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "speaking skills." The day-to-day duties of a senior manufacturing specialist 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 senior manufacturing specialists do: "represented operations in the new product introduction (npi) department, ensuring manufacturability of new products. "
Writing skills. A commonly-found skill in senior manufacturing specialist job descriptions, "writing skills" is essential to what senior manufacturing specialists do. Senior manufacturing specialist 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 senior manufacturing specialist duties rely on writing skills in this resume example: "performed doe, data analysis, and technical writing and authoring for iq/oq/pq protocols and process development. "
Problem-solving skills. While "problem-solving skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to senior manufacturing specialist responsibilities. Much of what a senior manufacturing specialist 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 senior manufacturing specialists: "provide recommendations and solutions to manufacturing engineering on process improvements. "
The three companies that hire the most senior manufacturing specialists are:
- EMD Millipore
5 senior manufacturing specialists jobs
- Merck4 senior manufacturing specialists jobs
- L3Harris3 senior manufacturing specialists jobs
Compare different senior manufacturing specialists
Senior manufacturing specialist vs. Quality control engineer
A quality control engineer is responsible for conducting quality assessments for the company's products and services to ensure adherence to federal regulations and quality standards. Quality control engineers recommend strategic methods by analyzing processes and writing test results. They also identify opportunities for more services that meet public demands and market trends, helping the business generate more resources for revenues. A quality control engineer utilizes various software tools and applications to document findings, requiring them to have excellent communication and technical skills.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a senior manufacturing specialist are more likely to require skills like "gmp," "lean manufacturing," "qa," and "technical support." On the other hand, a job as a quality control engineer requires skills like "quality standards," "corrective action," "test procedures," and "data analysis." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
The education levels that quality control engineers earn slightly differ from senior manufacturing specialists. In particular, quality control engineers are 0.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a senior manufacturing specialist. Additionally, they're 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior manufacturing specialist vs. Reliability engineer
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.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, senior manufacturing specialist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "gmp," "capa," "qa," and "process improvement." Meanwhile, a reliability engineer has duties that require skills in areas such as "java," "troubleshoot," "ruby," and "tcp ip." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Reliability engineers earn similar levels of education than senior manufacturing specialists in general. They're 2.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior manufacturing specialist 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.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a senior manufacturing specialist is likely to be skilled in "capa," "technical knowledge," "mes," and "process control," while a typical process engineer is skilled in "project management," "troubleshoot," "data analysis," and "statistical analysis."
Process engineers typically earn similar educational levels compared to senior manufacturing specialists. Specifically, they're 1.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior manufacturing specialist vs. Quality engineer
A quality engineer's responsibilities include ensuring that the manufacturing processes are efficient and accurate, documenting findings that would raise concerns, conducting quality tests while observing parameters, and implementing changes as necessary to meet the highest quality standards. Quality engineers need to have excellent problem-solving and observation skills to detect any irregularities and possible malfunctions. They also must be able to communicate effectively with the clients for feedbacks and corrective adjustments, address complaints, and immediately resolve any inconsistencies made.
Types of senior manufacturing specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
