Opportunity for an experienced ceramic machinist and optical fabrication technician with excellent work habits and strong hands on skills to contribute to the development of innovative, advanced ceramic optical components. The position requires knowledge of high precision machining, grinding and optical polishing for low volume manufacturing of ceramic optical components. The successful candidate must have a proactive and professional work ethic, thorough attention to detail, and a desire to work in a small team environment.
Specific responsibilities include:
- Performing grinding and polishing on optical polishers and CNC equipment to produce precision surfaces on hard ceramic materials.
- Inspecting dimensions and tolerances by applying mathematical skills and using instruments such as micrometers, sphereometers, interferometry and surface profilometry.
- Maintaining a clean, organized, and safe work environment.
- Recording and maintaining electronic and hand written data logs and observations in a neat, accurate, and orderly manner.
- Monitoring and maintaining supplies and equipment; communicating with equipment manufacturers and suppliers; overseeing equipment repair and maintenance needs.
Qualifications:
- Minimum 3 years’ experience in ceramics machining; optical fabrication/manufacturing experience highly desirable.
- Hands-on experience setting up, operating, and maintaining CNC equipment.
- High School Diploma with proficient computer skills. Associates Degree, Technical Certificate, or other higher education a plus.
- Ability to work independently and efficiently, multitasking as needed in a fast-paced team environment with constant attention to detail and eagerness to learn.
- Excellent observation and data recording skills with understanding of equipment operation, testing, and experimental procedures.
- Good interpersonal, organizational, problem solving and communication skills.
- Also highly desirable:
- Ability to develop, load, run CNC programs to perform grinding and polishing operations;
- CNC programming experience using MasterCAM X4/X5/X6;
- GD&T and optical metrology experience.
Responsibilities
- Performs ceramic powder or product testing such as viscosity, solids percent, shrinkage, moisture content, and density utilizing math skills to calculate surfaces, volumes, weights and measures.
- Works with Manufacturing to fabricate ceramic parts to customer specifications by executing SOPs for ceramic mix and slurry preparation, part forming, heat treatment and densification, material properties and dimensional measurements.
- Performs computations and plots data in the creation of graphs and charts for the production floor or leadership as required.
- Helps develop and maintain drawings, procedures, work instructions, and other manufacturing documentation.
- Assists with quality control measures including incoming materials inspection and qualification as well as in-process product inspection and measurement.
- Works with R&D to execute experiments, develop new processes, determine feasibility, and establish material requirements.
- Maintains a clean and safe work environment. Cleans equipment and work areas as needed and maintains compliance with applicable environmental requirements.
- Exhibits troubleshooting skills for non-functioning equipment reports any deviations.
- Follows and recording procedures and actions for preventative maintenance of fabrication and test equipment.
- Keeps neat, detailed, and organized records of all research, design, and development work through laboratory notebook and written summary reports.
- Provide updates on manufacturing progress to the engineering and management teams in a routine and timely manner.
- Other duties as assigned.
Minimum Qualifications & Education
- Bachelor’s degree with minimum 2 years’ experience in ceramics processing, materials science, or chemistry; or Associates degree with minimum 5 years’ experience in similar fields
- Working knowledge of ceramic powder handling and processing, mixing, forming, drying, high temperature heat-treatment, materials inspection and testing methods
- Basic understanding of Quality Management Systems under ISO 9001
- Experience with developing and documenting procedures and work instructions
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office
Other Qualifications
- A product quality focus and attention to detail.
- Ability to clearly present ideas and issues in written and verbal formats.
- Good time management and planning skills.
- Independent thinker with proactive approach to solving problems and identifying preventive actions.
- Comfortable working and interacting in a small team environment.
- Ability to work in a fast-paced setting where priorities can shift and quick response times are paramount.