Production Operator 1st Shift

Who We Are:

Challenge Manufacturing's mission is to manufacture with operational excellence by empowering our employee-owners. As a leading tier 1 supplier of complex metal assemblies for the global automotive industry, we drive innovative solutions for future mobility. We believe the best ideas come from individual unique perspectives. These ideas combined with the teamwork of industry leaders allow us to accomplish any challenge. Our team members take pride in the work we do and embody our core values of safety, ownership, and teamwork every day; they are the true driving force in our operations.

Challenge is proud to be one of the largest employee-owned automotive companies in North America. One of the many benefits of joining the Challenge team is the ESOP program. This program allows Challenge to give shares of the Company to all employee-owners annually. These shares are an additional retirement benefit that will continue to grow during your time at Challenge. Being part of an ESOP means our employee-owners share in Challenge's success

Challenge is #QualityDriven and #PeoplePowered

Who We Want:

Sets up and operates resistance spot welders and/or power press to weld, trim, punch, shape, notch, draw, or crimp metal, composite, or plastic stock by performing the following duties.

What You'll Do:

• Understands and can explain the company's Quality Policy.
• Understands job description and required tasks. Able to explain how this position impacts customer satisfaction and contributes to fulfilling the Quality Policy.
• Understands the overview of Quality Management System and document architecture.
• Understands and explain all relevant quality policies, procedures and work instructions associated with this job description.
• Understands and can identify Quality Management System and implementation nonconformances and document and/or log all non-conformity
• Participates in preventative actions where appropriate. Conducts corrective actions and perform problem solving analysis and reporting as required.
• Conducts housekeeping for personal work area and shared facility space.
• Observes and complies with all safety, environmental, regulatory, and statutory requirements associated with this job description.
• Participates in needs analysis and attends and performs the requirements of scheduled training and educational programs identified for this position.
• Participates, as requested, in independent objective auditing activities and supports company continuous improvement activities.
• Stops work on processes as appropriate and contains suspect or defective material or services to avoid further processing.
• Works at different workstations as production needs require.
• Ensures materials needed are present and requests or retrieves needed material when necessary.
• Positions parts against fixtures or stops on machine bed or on die.
• Starts press and observes operation to detect misalignment or malfunction.
• Inspects parts for conformance to specifications and contacts a team leader and/or quality inspector to discuss non-conformances.
• Cleans machines.
• Packs parts in specified relationship to each other.
• Completes tags to track the flow of product and identify operators performing work on the product.
• Completes appropriate paperwork and turns completed paperwork into the team leader.

When and Where:

This position is a 1st shift role, scheduled Monday through Friday from 6:30 AM to 2:30 PM, with the first day of employment beginning January 12, 2026. The role is located at our Plant 1 facility in Walker, MI.

Occasionally, this may require you to arrive early, stay late, or work on weekends, outside of our regular hours, to ensure we successfully meet customer needs, deadlines, or urgent requests.

What You Need to Have:

• Must be 18 years of age or older
• Able to stand for 8-10 hours a day and be physically capable of performing the essential functions of the position, with or without reasonable accommodation.
• High School Diploma or GED

What We Offer:

We're excited to offer a range of awesome benefits, including medical, dental, and vision insurance, a Health Savings Account with annual employer contributions, Flexible Spending Accounts, company-paid Short-Term Disability and Basic Life Insurance, Voluntary Life and Long-Term Disability options, an Employer 401k Match, ESOP shares, tuition reimbursement, a Referral Bonus Program, Challenge Incentive Program, and paid time off.

Please note, while these benefits are part of what we offer, they may not all apply to this specific role. The details shared in this job description are intended to give you a general idea, but duties and responsibilities may evolve over time, with or without notice. And of course, we're happy to provide reasonable accommodations to help individuals with disabilities succeed in their role.