CAPE Test Engineer

Job Description

IMMI is seeking a Test Engineer to join our Center for Advanced Product Evaluation (CAPE). It is the only crash test facility of its kind in the world! The test engineer is a technical expert of engineering principles, responsible for handling technically complex needs in a variety of situations and topic areas. Two key characteristics of the successful test engineer will be an ability to bring various engineering principles together into a single application and an ability to quickly learn or refresh principles as needed.

MMI® is the trusted, global leader of safety solutions, helping to protect millions of lives every day. For almost sixty years, IMMI has led the way in developing, designing, testing and manufacturing innovative safety restraints and systems. IMMI’s safety products are found worldwide on car seats, heavy trucks, school buses, recreational/off road, military, fire/EMS, motor coach, and construction vehicles. Privately owned, headquartered in Westfield, Indiana and operating eight additional global facilities, IMMI is also home to IMMI VIP steering wheels and CAPE®, the world’s leading state-of-the-art testing facility.

Responsibilities

Some of the ways in which the test engineer may be asked to contribute to CAPE include:

• Define specifications for new test equipment (structural mechanics, hydraulics, fluids, durability, CAD)
• Troubleshooting, maintenance, improvement, or implementation of control systems for test equipment (controls, electronics, instrumentation)
• Write or maintain scripts for controls, data processing, and report generation (numerical methods, scripting)
• Write standard operating procedures for test equipment or test types (technical writing)
• Determine laboratory test conditions to recreate real world situations as a baseline and allow for experimentation of the variables involved (dynamics, kinematics, biomechanics, work/energy, momentum, impact, structural mechanics)
• Support customers having complex technical test needs throughout the test process from quote through report (project management, technical writing, customer communications)
  
  

In addition to having their own projects, the test engineer may be asked to provide engineering guidance to test project managers occasionally as needed. The work is a combination of desk work and being out on the test floor, with the amount of each varying every day.

Additional responsibilities include:

• Maintain a high level of knowledge and understanding of various standards applicable to the services that CAPE provides.
• Maintain a functional knowledge of CAPE test center activities/tasks.
• Participate in the organization and cleanliness of test areas – 5S.
• Help test technicians with setup occasionally as needed.
• Maintenance and updating of processes, standards, and forms as needed.
• Support CAPE management team in company targets and continuous improvement objectives.
• Perform all duties in accordance with IMMI/CAPE safety policies.
• Perform all duties in accordance with the CAPE Quality Manual and CAPE Code of Conduct Policy
  
  

Knowledge and Skills:

• Solid understanding of principles in undergraduate mechanical engineering, and the ability to apply those principles to mechanical systems.
• Ability to break complex general problems into pieces and steps, requirements and assumptions, inputs and outputs.
• Ability and willingness to distinguish between knowledge, assumptions, and guesses in applying engineering analysis and judgment.
• Knowledge of test standards including FMVSS and SAE a plus
• Experience with any or all of the following test equipment a plus: crash barrier, Seattle Safety Servosled, linear impactor, hydraulics, controls.
• Data processing in Diadem
• Test programming in LabView and RSTools
• Experience with crash test dummies (ATDs) a plus.
• Communication: ability to build relationships and trust with customers and coworkers
• Communication: ability to translate customer needs into technical work instructions
• Must be able to obtain a US DOD Security clearance.
  
  

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in ME or MET required.
  
  

Benefits

• ESOP/Employee Ownership
• Healthcare, vision, dental options
• Company paid short- and Long-Term Disability
• On-site health clinic and gym
• Ten (10) paid holidays.
• Paid Time Off
• 401k
• Two (2) Paid IMMI Serves volunteer days per year.