How to Become a Manufacturing Engineer?

Ever wondered who creates your favorite flavor of chips or who designs the machines that are used in producing that product? A manufacturing engineer is a person who designs and develops production systems to manufacture high-quality and economically competitive products. One of the most innovative branches of engineering, it is a lucrative field that requires both technical skills and theoretical knowledge. As per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the field is expected to grow by 9% in the coming 5 years. Here is your go-to guide to becoming a manufacturing engineer in India and abroad.

What is Manufacturing Engineering?

Manufacturing engineering is defined as a field that produces integrated production systems that produce high-quality products. In simpler terms, the design production processes for creating cost-effective and quality products. For example, automated machines in a chocolate factory that boil the chocolate, churn the chocolate, and even pack them into wrappers are designed by manufacturing engineers. 

Manufacturing Engineer Skills Required

Want to become a manufacturing engineer? You will need a set of both technical and professional to be a perfect fit. 

• Commercial awareness– You can’t just create a product that suits your preferences and habits. A manufacturing engineer has to be aware of the commercial aspects of the industry to make the production process cost-effective.
• Work well under pressure– When you create automation for large-scale production through robotics, you must have the knack to work well under pressure. 
• Problem-solving skills– How can you make the production process 1 second faster? This is just one example of a problem that employers put forward to manufacturing engineers. Problem-solving should be your key skill. 
• Teamwork– You possibly cannot design a production process all by yourself. Teamwork and leadership skills will bring you better results. 
• IT skills– Nowadays, all of the design processes are done on computers. IT, therefore, plays an important role. 

Also Read: How to Become a Food Technologist?

What Does a Manufacturing Engineer do

They are an essential part of the production process and work towards creating low-cost and effective products. You can choose to work in aerospace, food processing, automobile, chemical, computer, garment, pharmaceutical, and related industries.

• Designing equipment and production processes for products 
• Buying, installing, and repairing equipment 
• Supervising the manufacturing process of that equipment
• Detecting technical problems and finding solutions
• Managing the production process under budget
• Building a relationship with suppliers, customers, and the research and development department 

Pros and Cons of Manufacturing engineering

Pros

• People who enjoy practical and hands-on experience would enjoy this course.
• Opportunities and positions abound.
• A job that pays well

Cons 

• Almost entirely inside
• It takes a great deal of expertise and dedication.
• Long hours of labor
• Not recommended for individuals who enjoy teaching.

Manufacturing engineering Popular Courses

Manufacturing engineering is a specialization that you can pursue during an engineering degree. There are a few direct courses for undergraduate students. Here’s a list of all undergraduate and postgraduate courses:

Undergraduate	Postgraduate
Bachelor of Engineering	MSc in Manufacturing Engineering
Bachelor of Science in Manufacturing Engineering	MSc Engineering and Management of Manufacturing Systems
BSc in Manufacturing Engineering Technology	Master of Mechanical Engineering- Advanced Manufacturing
BEng Mechanical Engineering	MBA Tech Mechanical Engineering
	MBA in Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering

Manufacturing Engineer Courses Syllabus

• Mathematics (Calculus, Differential Equations, Statistics, and Linear Algebra)
• Mechanics (Statics & Dynamics)
• Solid Mechanics
• Fluid Mechanics
• Materials Science
• Strength of Materials
• Fluid Dynamics
• Hydraulics
• Pneumatics
• HVAC (Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning)
• Heat Transfer
• Applied Thermodynamics
• Energy Conversion
• Instrumentation and Measurement
• Engineering Drawing (Drafting) & Engineering Design
• Engineering Graphics
• Mechanism Design including Kinematics and Dynamics
• Manufacturing Processes
• Mechatronics
• Circuit Analysis
• Lean Manufacturing
• Automation
• Reverse Engineering
• Quality Control
• CAD(Computer-aided Design which includes Solid Modelling) and CAM (Computer-aided Manufacturing)

Manufacturing Engineering Course Fees

Production engineering is nearly a full-time job for each. The average cost of studying Production Engineering in India ranges from INR 50,000 to INR 3,00,000. Production engineering degrees are available from several universities in India. There are hundreds of state-level universities where manufacturing engineering may be studied. An M.Tech in Manufacturing Engineering might cost anywhere between Rs 10,000 and Rs 50,000 over two years.

How to Become a Manufacturing Engineer?

To become a Production engineer, you need to decide on your 10th grade itself as you have to choose subjects that are compulsory for engineering.

Step 1: Complete Secondary School

To be eligible, you must have 10+2 years of education. Since engineering requires maths, chemistry, and physics, these subjects are compulsory in your 12th.

Step 2: Engineering Entrance Exams 

Once you have completed your secondary education, you can start preparing for your engineering entrance exams. You must choose universities that you wish to study at your graduation before you start preparing for your entrance exam. Some universities accept the common entrance exams like NEET, JEE, and JEE-Advanced while some have their engineering entrance exams like BITSAT for BITS Pilani. 

Step 3: Go for Graduation

Once you have gained admission to an engineering university, you can choose to do your bachelor’s in any engineering degree like BE (Bachelors of Engineering) with a specialization in manufacturing engineering. Graduation can take up to 3 to 4 years depending on the course. Once you complete your graduation you are qualified enough for an entry-level position in this profession. 

Step 4: Pursue Postgraduation 

You can also choose to pursue postgraduation to specialize further. If you want to contribute as a researcher and developer, you can pursue a PhD as well. After postgraduation, work opportunities in the industrial and production space are numerous. As an engineer, your academic journey is demanding with a lot of difficult exams and projects but the professional journey is even more compensating. 

Books and Study Materials for Manufacturing Engineering

The following are some of the greatest books for Production Engineering students:

• Mikell P Groover for Basic Fundamentals of Manufacturing
• P.N.Rao for Different Operations and Processes
• R.K. Rajput for Numericals 
• O.P Khanna for Industrial Engineering

Top Engineering Universities Abroad

From popular study abroad destinations such as the UK, and USA to Switzerland, there are numerous engineering universities. Here are the top 10 engineering universities with QS world rankings 2022:

Engineering College	QS World University Rankings (2022)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	1
Stanford University	3
Cambridge University	3
ETH Zurich- Swiss Federal Institute of Technology	8
Nanyang Technological University	12
University of Oxford	2
University of California, Berkeley	32
Imperial College London	7
National University of Singapore	11
Tsinghua University Beijing	17

Also Read: How to Become a Judge?

Manufacturing Engineer vs. Production Engineer

Production engineers are frequently mistaken for those who work in other industries, as previously stated. Production engineers are frequently mistaken for individuals in the manufacturing industry due to their title and type of job. Despite their similarities, the two jobs have vastly different responsibilities.

Manufacturing engineers spend the majority of their time investigating manufacturing plant design layouts and constructing the technologies that enable them. Production engineers, on the other hand, spend the majority of their time maintaining these systems. They must also verify that everyone follows the established safety measures, assess employee performance, remove waste, and maintain quality control. Both professions are concerned with increasing productivity, producing efficient results, and increasing money. They can work in the pharmaceutical, aerospace, defense, and automobile sectors, among others.

Manufacturing Engineering Career prospects

The structure of the firm you work for, as well as the organizational culture, size, and type of the business, will all have an impact on your career growth. Before becoming chartered, you’ll receive expertise in a variety of production procedures, from design to installation. Ideally, you’ll be exposed to all of your company’s divisions and get in-house and on-site job experience. You might advance to another firm to obtain additional expertise and exposure to various industrial industries. You might potentially take on the responsibility of teaching and supervising more younger engineers. There are additional possibilities for advancement into engineering or manufacturing management, as well as general management, marketing, or sales. It is possible to work as a project manager or to specialize in a certain field and focus on research and development. You might also choose to specialize in a similar field like plant/production engineering, environmental engineering, or health and safety. With enough experience, you may become a partner in an engineering business or work as a consultant on your own.

Top Recruiters

The average salary ranges between INR 6.91-12 lakhs in a year. Here’s the list of top employers of manufacturing engineers:

• TATA Group
• Thermax
• Larsen and Toubro
• The Godrej Group
• Ashok Leyland 
• Kirloskar
• General Motors
• ThyssenKrupp
• Siemens 
• Mahindra and Mahindra 

Manufacturing Engineers Salary?

According to the BLS, the typical yearly salary for an Industrial/Manufacturing Engineer in 2018 was $87,040, with over 280,000 positions available.

Famous Manufacturing Engineers

Being a production engineer is a crucial industrial job that requires you to think on your feet. Many think of it as an underrated job that has limited scope. But here’s a list of famous manufacturing engineers that are famous around the world:

• Henry Ford
• Nikola Tesla
• Beulah Louise Henry 
• Howard Hobard Hughes, Jr
• Narayana Murthy
• Satya Nadella
• Sundar Pichai
• Satish Dhawan 

FAQs

Are you planning to become a manufacturing engineer but not sure where to start? Call our  Leverage Edu experts at 1800-572-000 for end-to-end guidance on your study abroad journey.