Industrial Upholstery Designer

Description

Job Summary:  The Industrial Upholstery Designer will create new seat cover designs and refine existing designs as a member of the Engineering team. This position combines the skills of styling, sewing and pattern making with the ability to translate prototype covers into production products.  This position will use Work Instructions, Bills of Material, and help train the team in the proper techniques used to transform seating cover ideas into durable, functional and stylish finished items. The Designer provides hands-on support to production sewing as needed to ensure consistency and quality, and to assess capabilities and proper function of sewing equipment.  

Essential Duties: 

• Work with Design Engineering to design new seat styles and create the prototype covers that become the production covers
• Work with Design Engineering in making prototype foam and trim components from sketches or drawings
• Work with Engineering and Tooling to design and build foam cutting fixtures and templates
• Work with Production Sewing and with Assembly to improve final fit and appearance of upholstery
• Make new sample covers as production examples to include in our collection of existing samples
• Work with Production to develop or improve methods to process panels, sew covers, and/or assemble covers onto foam and frame subassemblies
• Perform each of the steps in the sequence of producing a cover: pattern, digitize, marker, seal and sew.  
• Digitize new and revised patterns and save in proper folders
• Create the Bills of Material required to list panels to sewn covers. Work with Data Entry to ensure correct part numbers and descriptions are loaded into the company database.
• Write Work Instructions for sewing
• Recommend and assist in evaluating materials for various seating applications
• Assist with evaluating technology products – software and machines - that could improve efficiency and accuracy of making covers 

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: 

• Ability to produce sample covers for production to follow
• Ability to troubleshoot and coach production personnel on methods and processes 
• Demonstrated proficiency in Microsoft Office
• Ability to work independently and within a cross functional team
• Ability to manage multiple tasks at the      same time with competing priorities
• Ability to read and understand engineering drawings and structured bills of material 

Physical Demands:  While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear; distinguish colors and patterns, use hands to manipulate objects and controls.  The employee is regularly required to stand and walk.  On occasion the incumbent may be required to stoop, bend or reach above the shoulders.  The employee must occasionally lift up to 40 pounds. Specific conditions of this job include are typical of frequent and continuous computer-based work requiring periods of sitting, close vision and ability to adjust focus.  

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in a design, apparel or textile related disciple or equivalent years of work experience
• 5 years’ experience in industrial sewing, upholstering and textile pattern making
• Familiarity with digitizing patterns and managing file naming
• Previous experience creating markers for CNC fabric cutting systems
• Experience with upholstery design for styling, manufacturability, and durability  
• Previous experience working with foam sculpting, preferred
• Experience using industrial sewing machines, preferred
• Experience working within vehicle seating industry, preferred
• Specific experience working with various stitching styles and seam placement, preferred
• Previous experience working with product styling, preferred
• Experience in selecting a variety of fabrics and vinyl used in seat covers, preferred
• Experience working with an ERP system, preferred