Job Title: Senior Consultant – VW Program
Location: Remote from VW Tech locations to be visited once USA (CA, NC, ND, OR) and Tijuana (Mexico). May add few more locations.)
Travel: Majority Remote/Hybrid
Duration: 3 Months
Role Summary:
The Senior VW Consultant will lead, coach, and execute the end-to-end VW program directly at the supplier’s facility for industrial products.
This role ensures that the supplier process, facility, and implementation meet timelines while incorporating quality, performance, or regulatory compliance.
Consultant will work closely with Program Manager, Product cross-functional teams, and supplier to ensure technical issues are resolved per program deliverables and lead times.
Key Responsibilities:
VW Strategy, Planning & Alignment
- Translate client expectations, product scope, and timing targets into a structured VW execution roadmap for the supplier.
- Establish clear governance, cadence, workshop plans, and decision gates for supplier-side execution.
- Ensure supplier leadership and cross-functional teams (Design, Manufacturing, Procurement, Quality, etc.) are aligned, resourced, and accountable.
- Review VW readiness, metrics, timing, process standardization, and specification compliance.
Technical Analysis & Baseline Preparation
- Review supplier’s current product cost structure, BOM, routing, manufacturing processes, tooling.
- Perform should-cost analysis, material savings mapping, tear-down insights, benchmarking, alternate material/process feasibility.
- Identify major cost drivers and critical VW levers.
Facilitation of Workshops & Solution Sessions
- Lead and facilitate on-site VW workshops using industry-standard methods (FAST, DFMA, 7-step VW, idea funneling etc.).
- Drive supplier participation ensuring ideas originate from their teams.
- Promote creative but practical ideation, leveraging benchmarking and cross-industry best practices.
- Maintain traceable idea register.
Technical Cost Feasibility Development
- Guide supplier engineers in developing VW concepts to technically feasible level.
- Review supplier calculations: BOM impact, labor/cycle time changes, tooling implications, yield and scrap effects, supply chain and logistics impacts.
- Ensure savings assumptions are realistic, defendable, and auditable.
- Coordinate supplier pilot assessments (DFM/A, PFMEA updates, etc.).
Validation Planning & Coordination
- Work with supplier teams to define prototype, test, and qualification needs for each shortlisted idea.
- Coordinate timing, PPAP/validation, and supplier internal signoffs.
- Ensure lessons learned capture, knowledge sharing, and VW portfolio evolution.
Reporting, Documentation & Stakeholder Management
- Maintain up-to-date documentation: idea funnel, business cases, risks, decisions, and validation progress.
- Produce weekly reports for Program Manager with cost, timing, dependencies, and decisions needed.
- Present VW status to client engineering, procurement, and leadership stakeholders.
- Drive alignment between supplier and client during reviews.
Implementation Readiness & Handover
- Ensure ideas approved by client are ready for implementation (complete drawings, process updates, validation evidence).
- Support supplier to prepare implementation timelines, investment requests, and transition plans.
- Ensure VW ideas translate into implementation tracking.
Required Experience
- 15+ years in VW/Value Engineering, NPD, Manufacturing Engineering, Cost Reduction, or Industrial Engineering.
- Strong background in product cost breakdown, design-for-manufacture/assembly, and manufacturing processes.
- Experience in industrial products, automotive, design-for-manufacture/assembly, and manufacturing processes.
Technical Skills
- Deep understanding of BOM, cost modeling, manufacturing processes, tooling, and supply chain operations.
- Skilled in structured VW tools and methodologies: FAST diagram, DFMA, tear-down analysis, benchmarking, cost driver modeling.
- Ability to interpret drawings, specifications, engineering change documents.
Behavioral Skills
- Strong workshop facilitation and cross-functional leadership.
- Excellent stakeholder management across supplier teams and client teams.
- High integrity, ownership, accountability, and execution maturity.
- Able to drive consensus, influence, and prioritization.
Typical Deliverables of this Role
- VW roadmap & execution plan
- Baseline cost analysis & savings insights
- Technical feasibility & validation plans
- Workshop outcomes & feasibility packs
- Savings validation documents
- Risk register, validation plan
- Final implementation rollout approval
- Implementation readiness package