Mechanical Design Engineer — Special Purpose Machines

SC Innovators is a machine building company in Chandigarh, set up in 2017 and in industrial automation since 2021. We design and build special purpose machines, automated assembly and testing systems and electrical control panels for manufacturers, and supply industrial components.

We take a project end to end — application study at the customer's plant, concept and mechanical design, control system design and programming, in-house manufacturing and assembly, factory acceptance testing, site commissioning and after-sales support. Working here means seeing a machine you worked on go from a blank sheet to running production at a customer's line.

Our team is small and hands-on, which means everyone gets real ownership early instead of a narrow slice of a large process.

The Mechanical Design Engineer converts a customer requirement into a manufacturable machine. You will develop the concept, model the machine in 3D, size and select the mechanical and pneumatic elements, release manufacturing drawings with the bill of materials, plan how parts are made and inspected, and stay with the machine through assembly, trials and commissioning. The scope you own grows with your experience: a fresher starts with sub-assemblies under review; an experienced engineer owns complete machines. In a special purpose machine business, the designer owns the outcome — the machine has to work, not just look correct on screen.

1. Concept Design & Feasibility

• Study the customer requirement sheet, component drawings and physical samples handed over by the sales team; visit the customer site where needed to study the existing process.
• Develop alternative machine concepts — the number of stations, sequence of operations, type of indexing (rotary table, linear pallet conveyor, walking beam or single station), feeding method (bowl feeder, magazine, robot pick, manual load) and unloading method — and justify the choice.
• Estimate cycle time station by station and balance the stations so that the required output per shift is achieved with a sensible margin.
• Carry out a feasibility check on the critical operations — reachability, accessibility, part orientation, accuracy achievable, repeatability and handling of part variants.
• Prepare concept layouts, general arrangement drawings and 3D views for the sales proposal, along with an indicative bill of major bought-out items for costing.
• Present the concept in the internal design review and, where required, to the customer; incorporate agreed changes into the frozen concept.

2. Detailed 3D Design

• Model the customer's component from drawings or physical samples — reverse-engineering a sample where no drawing exists — as the starting point of the design.
• Build the machine as a structured parametric 3D model — components, sub-assemblies, joints and the top-level assembly — with a disciplined, sensibly named design tree. We work in Autodesk Fusion 360; engineers coming from SolidWorks, Inventor, Creo or similar tools are welcome and will be trained on Fusion 360.
• Design machine elements from first principles: base frames and weldments, sheet metal covers and guarding, jigs and fixtures, locating and clamping arrangements, grippers, pick-and-place units, slides and stoppers, chutes, hoppers, conveyors and indexing mechanisms.
• Use joints, motion links and motion studies to verify movement, stroke, clearance and interference across the full cycle before release.
• Maintain and grow a library of standard, reusable in-house modules, templates and frequently used bought-out component models.
• Use version control correctly; never let an uncontrolled copy of a model or drawing circulate.

3. Sizing, Selection & Engineering Calculations

• Size pneumatic cylinders — bore, stroke, mounting and cushioning — from the required force, speed and load; select valves, flow controls, manifolds, FRL units and tubing, and prepare the pneumatic circuit diagram.
• Select and size drives and transmission elements: motors, gearboxes, servo and stepper actuators, couplings, belts, pulleys, chains, lead and ball screws, linear guides, bearings and cam mechanisms.
• Perform and document engineering calculations for load, torque, inertia, deflection, bolt and weld strength and factor of safety; run basic static structural simulation on critical frames and brackets.
• Select materials appropriately — mild steel, stainless steel, aluminium extrusion, tool steel, Delrin/POM, nylon, brass — and specify heat treatment, plating, anodising, powder coating and painting where required.

4. Manufacturing Drawings & Bill of Materials

• Release fully dimensioned 2D manufacturing drawings from the 3D model — machined parts, fabricated weldments, sheet metal parts with flat patterns, and assembly drawings with balloons and item lists.
• Apply correct tolerances, fits, GD&T, surface finish symbols, welding symbols and standard notes so that the shop floor and vendors need no verbal explanation — and judge which dimensions actually need a tight tolerance.
• Prepare and maintain the machine bill of materials with part numbers, quantity, material, make, model and supplier, split between manufactured and bought-out items.
• Issue drawings and BOM to purchase and production on time, and manage every revision through a controlled engineering change note (ECN) process; maintain the drawing register and project design archive.

5. Manufacturing Planning & Inspection

• Decide how each part will be made — turning, milling, grinding, wire cut, EDM, sheet metal, fabrication, casting or a bought-out standard part — and send complete details to the in-house shop or the manufacturing partner.
• Prepare inspection plans for parts made outside — the critical dimensions, the instrument, the sample size and the acceptance criteria — and review incoming parts against them, deciding on deviations, rework or rejection.
• Design for manufacturability and cost: realistic tolerances, standard stock sizes and no unnecessary operations; support purchase with technical clarifications, vendor drawing approvals and alternative part evaluation.

6. Coordination, Build, Trials & Commissioning

• Work with the Electrical & Automation Engineer on sensor selection and mounting, actuator and solenoid requirements, cable routing and drag chains, panel and junction box location, and the sequence of operation.
• Agree the design release milestones with your reporting manager at the start of each project, plan the work to meet them, and raise any risk to a release early.
• Support the assembly team during machine build — clarify drawings, resolve fitment issues on the floor and close design gaps without delaying the project.
• Take part in trials, debugging, internal testing and the customer Factory Acceptance Test (FAT); visit customer sites for installation, commissioning and Site Acceptance Test (SAT) support as required.
• Record every change made during build and trials back into the 3D model and drawings so that the as-built machine and the design agree.
• Capture field feedback, failures and wear issues into design standards and checklists, and work on cost reduction and standardisation of repeat machines.
• As the design team grows, review drawings and models by junior designers before release and give specific, teachable feedback.

7. Safety, Standards & Documentation

• Design with operator and maintenance safety as a requirement — fixed and interlocked guarding, safe access for loading and maintenance, pinch point and sharp edge elimination, emergency stop reachability, and provision for light curtains and safety switches.
• Consider ergonomics of loading height, reach, visibility and operator effort.
• Follow applicable machine safety and drawing standards and any customer-specific engineering standard supplied with the order.
• Prepare the machine documentation package — general arrangement drawing, pneumatic circuit, operation and maintenance manual inputs, spare parts list and preventive maintenance schedule.

• Diploma or degree in Mechanical, Mechatronics, Production or Automobile engineering.
• 0 – 5 years of experience in machine design, special purpose machines, tooling or fixture design. Freshers are considered only with real design project work they can show (models, drawings or a built project).
• Hands-on ability in at least one 3D CAD tool — parametric part modelling, assemblies, sheet metal, weldments and 2D drawing generation. Fusion 360 preferred; SolidWorks, Inventor, Creo or similar accepted. You must be able to show your own models or a design portfolio at the interview.
• Sound fundamentals in engineering drawing — orthographic projection, sectioning, dimensioning, fits and tolerances, GD&T, surface finish and welding symbols — and the practical meaning of geometric tolerances such as perpendicularity, parallelism, concentricity, symmetry and flatness on a machine.
• A firm grasp of engineering fundamentals — mass, force, torque, inertia, stress and deflection — with calculations done rather than guessed.
• Working knowledge of manufacturing processes — turning, milling, grinding, drilling, wire cut and EDM, sheet metal cutting, bending and welding — and their practical limits and costs.
• Understanding of pneumatics and machine element selection: cylinders, valves, bearings, linear guides, fasteners, couplings and gearboxes.
• Ability to read supplier catalogues and technical datasheets and make a justified selection.
• Comfortable working in the assembly shop with fitters, machinists, welders and vendors, not only at a desk.
• Clear written English for drawing notes, BOMs and emails, and working Hindi for the shop floor and vendors.

• Experience with rotary indexers, pick-and-place units, bowl feeders, servo-driven axes or robot-integrated cells.
• FEA / structural simulation and Fusion 360 CAM.
• Aluminium profile framing, and stainless steel builds for food or pharma applications.
• Rendering and animation for customer presentations.
• Experience guiding or reviewing the work of other engineers.
• Awareness of machine safety standards and risk assessment practice.

• Takes ownership of the machine working on the floor, not just of the drawing being released.
• Makes design decisions and stands behind them, with the calculation or reasoning to support them.
• Attention to detail — a missed tolerance or a wrong hole position costs real money in a one-off machine.
• Practical problem solving when the machine behaves differently from the model, and willingness to learn from the shop floor.
• Discipline in documentation, naming, revisions and backups.
• Treats customer drawings and our machine designs as confidential — nothing leaves company systems.

• Salary: as per industry standards, decided on the skill and aptitude demonstrated during the selection process.
• Travel allowance, site allowance and reimbursement of work-related expenses as per company policy.
• Statutory benefits: PF, ESI / medical insurance and gratuity as applicable.
• Structured on-the-job training on our machines and on Fusion 360 where needed.
• Growth path to Senior Design Engineer and Design Lead as the engineering team expands.

• Send your CV to [email protected] with the subject line “Application — Mechanical Design Engineer”.
• For any query about the position, call or WhatsApp +91-9855104671.
• Please include in your application: your current and expected CTC, notice period, current location and willingness to relocate to Chandigarh.
• Attach any supporting work you can share — a design portfolio, models and drawings, project reports or machine photographs and videos (subject to your current employer's confidentiality obligations).
• Selection: CV shortlisting, a written test (aptitude and technical), and one in-person interview at our Chandigarh works that includes a practical design task.

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