Programmer Tech

About the Company

ProDriven Global Brands is a leader in market-leading products and brands found on job sites worldwide. Our success is driven by focusing on end users' needs and delivering exceptional customer experiences. From research to engineering, manufacturing, and commercialization, we create products that ensure ease of use, productivity, durability, and safety. This position is currently onsite to support collaboration, teamwork, and business needs, with minimum in-office requirements subject to change based on evolving business needs.

About the Role

The Engineering Programmer supports Crystal Lake manufacturing by developing, validating, optimizing, and maintaining programs for automated fabrication and forming equipment. This role converts engineering drawings, CAD/DXF/DWG files, specifications, BOM/routing information, material requirements, and production needs into safe, repeatable, and efficient machine programs. The position partners with Manufacturing Engineering, Production, Quality, Maintenance, Materials, Planning, and Product Engineering to improve safety, quality, throughput, equipment utilization, and material yield.

Responsibilities

• Know, follow, and reinforce all safety rules, machine guarding requirements, lock-out/tag-out expectations, housekeeping standards, and safe material-handling practices. Immediately escalate unsafe machine, tooling, program, or process conditions.
• Create, revise, test, post, and maintain machine programs for automated fabrication and forming equipment, including S4, P4, Roboformer, turret, laser, and other assigned systems.
• Interpret blueprints, CAD models, DXF/DWG files, dimensional and tolerance requirements, BOMs, routings, material specifications, and work-center capabilities to determine feasible and repeatable manufacturing methods.
• Develop and maintain nesting and programming strategies that improve material utilization, minimize scrap, reduce unnecessary handling, support correct sheet-size selection, and improve throughput without overproducing parts.
• Support assigned machine setup and production launch activities; make necessary program or setup adjustments in coordination with operators, leads, Manufacturing Engineering, and Production supervision.
• Support production trials, first-piece validation, and controlled rollout of new or revised programs; verify that programs, tooling, setup documentation, and inspection expectations are clear before regular production release.
• Check parts for accuracy against blueprints and specifications; support inspection handoff, dimensional verification, and corrective actions when parts do not meet requirements.
• Troubleshoot programs, tooling, drawing, material, equipment, and method-related issues that affect quality, cycle time, fit, machine performance, or production flow; coordinate resolution with relevant teams.
• Identify tooling requirements, review existing tooling, support tooling procurement or redesign, update tool drawings and records, and help justify tooling decisions based on volume, quality risk, setup time, safety, and cost impact.
• Support engineering changes, deviations, process alerts, drawing updates, and new product launches by reviewing manufacturability and confirming program readiness before production use.
• Maintain accurate program records, revision history, setup information, tooling data, validation notes, and related documentation to support repeatability, audits, training, and production continuity.
• Provide technical direction, coaching, and training to operators, leads, and production support personnel on program setup, safe operation, part handling, and program-related troubleshooting.
• Use Lean manufacturing principles to improve work-center efficiency, reduce variation, eliminate waste, support standard work, improve flow, and strengthen daily management routines.
• Support OEE, hour-by-hour production visibility, work-center data integrity, and escalation routines by ensuring programming, routing, setup, and production assumptions are accurate and usable.
• Collaborate with Manufacturing Engineering on new equipment, automation improvements, offline programming, digital manufacturing readiness, and future automation cell launches.
• Maintain a clean, organized, and professional work area and support the cleanliness and organization of associated equipment, shared files, and programming workspaces.

Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalent required; equivalent hands-on manufacturing programming experience may be considered.
• Experience with fabrication equipment programming, setup support, blueprint reading, dimensions, tolerances, and production troubleshooting.
• Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings, CAD/DXF/DWG files, BOMs, routings, material specifications, and manufacturing instructions.
• Working knowledge of CAD/CAM, nesting, or machine programming software; AutoCAD, SolidWorks, or equivalent 2D/3D drawing software experience is preferred.
• Basic computer proficiency using Windows-based applications and Microsoft Office; intermediate Excel capability is preferred for documentation, data review, and production support.
• Good problem-solving, communication, follow-up, and self-checking skills with the ability to work independently and with cross-functional teams.
• Understanding of Lean manufacturing, 5S, setup reduction, material yield, standard work, quality validation, and root-cause problem solving.
• Familiarity with safety precautions for manufacturing environments, including machine guarding and lock-out/tag-out awareness.
• Ability and willingness to seek additional training and obtain required CAD, programming, machine, safety, or process certifications as needed.

Work Environment and Physical Requirements

• Employees are required to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) such as safety glasses, safety toe boots, and reflective vests.
• The facility may be noisy, dusty, and exposed to various temperature conditions, with safety signs, markings, and barriers to delineate pedestrian, forklift, and hazardous areas.
• Physical expectations may include sitting, standing, walking, bending, lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling, balancing, kneeling, reaching, and handling material. Good manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination are necessary for precise work.
• Dependent on product demand, distribution schedule, and deadlines, employees may be required to work overtime, including extended shifts and weekends.
• Must be able to lift a minimum of 50 lbs.

Pay

The salary range for this Illinois-based role is $25 - $31 per hour. Specific compensation may be influenced by factors such as skill sets, qualifications, experience, education, certifications, training, and location.

Benefits

• 401(k) company match
• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Life and disability insurance
• Paid time off