Mechanical Engineer

Summary The Mechanical Engineer designs, specifies, and validates the mechanical hardware and systems the plant runs on.

This covers custom fabrication and change parts, modifications to existing equipment, conveyance and material handling, machine guarding, drive systems, and the mechanical utilities that support production.

Where the Manufacturing Engineer defines how a product is made, this role defines the physical means of making it and is accountable for whether that hardware is sound, sanitary, serviceable, and safe.

A design that runs but cannot be cleaned, cannot be maintained, or cannot be reproduced from the drawing has not met the standard.

Duties and Responsibilities Mechanical Design and Fabrication Produce three dimensional models and detailed fabrication drawings for change parts, tooling, fixtures, guards, transitions, chutes, hoppers, frames, and platforms, with tolerances and finishes specified rather than left to the fabricator.

Perform the engineering calculations that support a design, including loads, stress, deflection, fatigue, torque, drive sizing, and power transmission selection.

Select materials and finishes appropriate to a food environment, accounting for product contact, cleaning chemistry, temperature, corrosion, and wear.

Apply sanitary design principles to all custom fabrication, including radii, surface finish, drainability, avoidance of crevices and hollow bodies, and appropriate fastener and joint selection.

Manage fabrication through internal shop resources and outside vendors, including drawing release, quoting, progress review, inspection, and acceptance of finished work.

Maintain drawing control, revision history, and bills of material so a part can be reordered years later without being reverse engineered.

Equipment Modification and Machine Systems Design and validate modifications to existing production equipment, and assess the effect of any modification on machine safety, sanitary status, warranty, and original equipment manufacturer support before it is made.

Design and lay out conveyance and material handling systems, including transfers, accumulation, elevation changes, and product handling that protects product integrity.

Size and select drive components including motors, gear reducers, belts, chains, bearings, and couplings, and document the basis of selection.

Design machine guarding and access to the applicable safety standard, and support machine safety risk assessments.

Design pneumatic and hydraulic circuits and specify components for the application and the environment.

Design for maintainability, so that wear parts can be reached, serviced, and replaced without disassembling unrelated equipment.

Mechanical Utilities and Facility Systems Provide engineering support for mechanical utility systems including refrigeration, steam and condensate, compressed air, process water, wastewater, and heating and ventilation.

Perform load, capacity, and sizing calculations for utility systems and dist...