About Nextwaves
Nextwaves develops RFID, antenna, microwave, and industrial wireless solutions. As we scale our manufacturing capabilities, we are building our own internal ERP platform to support every aspect of the business, from customer orders to production, inventory, supply chain, quality, and customer success.
We are looking for an experienced Manufacturing Systems Consultant to help design the manufacturing operating model and translate manufacturing best practices into scalable business processes that will become the foundation of our internal ERP.
Position Summary
This is not a traditional consulting role.
You will work closely with our founders, engineering team, supply chain team, and software engineers to design the manufacturing workflows that will power our next generation operating platform.
Your primary responsibility is to ensure our software is built around world-class manufacturing processes rather than simply digitizing today's manual operations.
Key Responsibilities
Manufacturing Process Design
- Design scalable manufacturing workflows from customer order through shipment.
- Define production planning and scheduling processes.
- Develop material flow and shop floor processes.
- Standardize production operations and work instructions.
Manufacturing Systems
Design business processes for:
- Bill of Materials (BOM)
- Production Orders
- Routing
- Work Instructions
- Inventory Consumption
- Finished Goods
- Lot & Serial Number Tracking
- Production Reporting
- Quality Control
- Non-conformance Management
- Engineering Change Orders (ECO)
- Production Planning
ERP Design
Work closely with software engineers to define:
- Business workflows
- User journeys
- Screen requirements
- Data structures
- Approval workflows
- Master data
- System integrations Translate manufacturing operations into functional software requirements.
Manufacturing Excellence
Introduce best practices in:
- Lean Manufacturing
- Production Planning
- Material Planning
- Capacity Planning
- Shop Floor Management
- Traceability
- Manufacturing KPIs
- Continuous Improvement
Documentation
Develop:
- Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
- Manufacturing workflows
- Process maps
- User requirements
- Functional specifications
- Process documentation
Cross-functional Collaboration
Partner closely with:
- Engineering
- Software Development
- Supply Chain
- Manufacturing
- Customer Success
- Finance to ensure one integrated operating model.
Deliverables
By the end of the engagement, you will have delivered:
- Manufacturing operating model
- Production workflows
- ERP functional specifications
- Manufacturing process documentation
- Shop floor workflows
- Quality workflows
- Manufacturing KPIs
- Data model recommendations
- SOP library
- Knowledge transfer to internal teams
Qualifications
Required
- 8+ years of experience in manufacturing operations.
- Experience implementing or designing Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) or ERP manufacturing modules.
- Strong understanding of electronics or industrial manufacturing.
- Experience with production planning and inventory management.
- Ability to translate business operations into software requirements.
Preferred
Experience with one or more:
- Odoo Manufacturing
- SAP PP
- Oracle Manufacturing
- Microsoft Dynamics Manufacturing
- Epicor
- Infor
- NetSuite Manufacturing Experience in RFID, electronics manufacturing, industrial automation, or EMS is highly desirable.
Success Criteria
Within six months, you will help Nextwaves build a manufacturing operating model capable of supporting the company's long-term growth by:
- Designing scalable manufacturing processes.
- Eliminating manual operational bottlenecks.
- Creating ERP-ready business workflows.
- Establishing manufacturing best practices.
- Enabling software engineers to build the right system the first time.
Why Join Nextwaves
This is a rare opportunity to help build the manufacturing operating system of a fast-growing technology company from the ground up.
Rather than implementing an off-the-shelf ERP, you will help define how the company operates for years to come, working directly with the founders and software team to create a scalable manufacturing platform.