what is an operations engineer? what do they really do?

Answer 1

One of the reasons for having licensing in the engineering feild is the massive number of job titles that include the word "engineer."

There isn't really a specific job. Operations engineer is a job title, generally a highly skilled hourly person. Operations engineer might be the title of a skilled boiler operator, the person directing "operations" in a large warehouse or railroad yard, the person controlling the air conditioning system in a large building, or even the technician controlling a satelite from the ground.

Answer 2

They manage and control ongoing operations in manufacturing or process controls such as refining and chemical manufacturing. They look at the reports about the processes and determine what is causing any changes, such as approaching or exceeding limits (too hot, too cold, too much vibration, too large, too small, too much breakage, bad welds) and understanding the process determine where something is going wrong to specify adjustments, maintenance or repairs, usually by others.