SASA_IND_ Production Engineer_ New Business

One brand, many companies, and many, many people – that’s us in a nutshell. Spread all over the world, we have a passion for home furnishing and an inspiring shared vision: to create a better everyday life for the many people. This, together with our straightforward business idea, shared values, and a culture based on the spirit of togetherness, guides us in everything we do.

To offer a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low, that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. To meet the needs of our customers we have a unique business model and value chain. It includes product development, design, supply, manufacture and sales. And of course, it starts and ends with our customers.

How the function contributes to the business of IKEA:

Lead and collaborate with cross-functional teams to drive the innovation, development, and implementation of high-quality materials that meet product specifications and customer expectations while focusing on process improvements that increase manufacturing efficiency and reduce waste.

How the job contributes to the purpose of the function:

The Production Engineer is part of the business team and work towards the suppliers to develop and secure the running range, production process, handling of quality deviations and secure compliance to all IKEA requirements.

Job specific key tasks and responsibilities:

• Quality Assurance 

• Evaluate potential new supplier’s production facilities and quality systems. 
• Secure implementation of specifications, product requirements, compliance to product requirements at Suppliers 
• Quality audits – participate on setting of the audit plan, preparation, gap analysis and gap closing.
• Assess production risks and strive towards stable processes.

• Informed and accountable for Supplier quality performance and provide feedback from a customer perspective. 

• Manage Quality Compliance 

• Request specific articles from PCS for spot checks.
• Conduct spot checks in DWP.

• Manage compliance deviations - agree and confirm causing party, root cause analysis incl containment, corrective and preventive actions.

• Act on deviations 

• Handle safety alarms, investigate responsible parties, and implement corrective actions. 
• Address corrective actions for various claims and quality issues. 
• Undertake corrective improvement actions based on KPI analyses. 

• Support PTE with corrective actions related to product adaptation. 

• Supplier Development 

• Continuously challenge supplier production processes and share best practices and good examples.
• Collaborate with Suppliers to create action plans (APL) 

• Product Development - News, Moves, Improves 

• Support PTE in the Development phase with production knowledge and Supplier input 
• Manage implementation with support from PTE - verifying measurement systems (MSA) and production capability on CTQs.

• Manage information flow to/from IKEA and Suppliers, for example labels follow up, consumption, technical data, benchmarks.

Competence:

• Very good knowledge of production processes and technologies
• Very good knowledge of IKEA requirements, standards and test methods
• Very good at evaluate the suppliers technical capability and Quality performance to produce the IKEA product(s)
• Good knowledge of Democratic design and customer needs and expectations regarding function, customer friendliness and products critical to quality (CTQ)
• Good knowledge of Quality assurance set up including cost calculation and materials.
• Good knowledge of Lean production methods and tools (Root cause, FMEA, fishbone etc)
• Good knowledge IKEA documentation system (e.g. PDOC and CONNECT)
• Understanding of IKEA Strategic Landscape, IKEA Business model for growth and key processes (e.g. PDP, SDP, DPOP) and IKEA Purchasing Manual
• Understanding of relevant Category Plans and Total Cost.

Motivation:

• Genuinely interested in understanding the reality of production and continuous improvements
• Result oriented, high energy and self-driven way of working to deliver better products for the many people by working together with suppliers and in IKEA.
• Sense of urgency and a never compromise attitude towards quality.
• Eager to actively search for information and continuously learn from good examples and mistakes.
• Interest and drive to build trust and partnership to reach common goals

Capabilities:

• Process oriented with good analytical skills and a structured approach.
• Ability to lead projects and implementation to secure product quality and customer satisfaction for a reasonable price.
• Capability to build trust and relationships, for long- term business partnership by act in reality.
• Engage and motivate people by sharing experiences and coaching others.
• Ability to make decisions and solve problems with a holistic view; always act with the customer, supplier and total IKEA in mind.
• Good communication skills in English both written and verbal

Key previous experience and skills needed before the job can be taken up:

• Experience in production environment and/or production process development.
• Experience of relevant production technologies and materials.
• Lean Manufacturing methods and tools (FMEA, RCA, fish bone, 5 why etc.).
• Understanding of customers' needs and expectations towards the key and secondary functions of
• different products (e.g. safety, durability, ergonomics etc.).
• Has a good balance between overall view and details and ability to understand standards.
• Share and live IKEA values.

External Candidate:

• Experience of industrial production conditions and Lean manufacturing
• Knowledge about Total Quality Management
• University degree in Engineering or corresponding
• Experience to work in production with a process-oriented environment.
• Previous experience as Process or Production Engineer in manufacturing
• Good knowledge about continuous improvements
• Project Management skill

Internal Candidate:

• Track record of delivering excellent results in previous position
• Good understanding of purchasing teams and suppliers daily operational activities
• Understanding of IKEA business model and total cost approach in IKEA
• Knowledge of IKEA value chain
• Competence around Quality tools
• Good understanding of IKEA requirements
• Knowledge of IKEA relevant processes (e.g. PDP, SDP DPOP)

This position will be based in Bangalore, India. Traveling is a part of the assignment since our Engineers work closely with our suppliers. The selection process will take place continuously, so please send in your application in English as soon as possible but latest May 21 ,2025. Please note that we don’t accept applications through email.

Please note that the selection process will take place continuously, which means that we may close the application process earlier than stated if we find the right candidate. So don’t delay, please send us your application as soon as possible.

Please note that we don’t accept application through email. All applications must be submitted through Smart Recruiters system.

If you have questions related to recruitment, please write to Recruitment India.

Please note that Inter-IKEA co-workers will be prioritised in this recruitment.

We are an equal opportunity employer:
At IKEA, we value diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We are committed to providing coworkers with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. We encourage individualism and invite you to come join our team and be yourself with us! We are an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability status, or any other applicable characteristic protected by law. All employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit and business need.