Blow Mold Process Engineer

Catania Oils•Ayer, MA

8d•Onsite

About The Position

Catania Oils, a fourth-generation, family-owned business with 125 years of excellence in the edible oils industry, is looking for a passionate and driven Blow Mold Process Engineer to join our team. This role requires a candidate who thrives in a fast-paced environment, loves solving problems, and knows how to bring out the best in people. The company emphasizes core values such as being family-oriented, taking ownership, striving for a job well done, being customer-focused, and maintaining authenticity.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required in Mechanical Engineering (BSME), Plastics Engineering, or related engineering discipline.
8–10 years of hands-on experience in PET stretch blow molding process engineering.
Strong experience with rotary blow mold machines required.
Proven ability to develop and optimize settings/recipes for multiple bottle sizes & formats.
Strong knowledge of PET processing, preform behavior, heating profiles, stretch ratios, pressure settings, and bottle defect mechanisms.
Demonstrated success improving process stability, scrap, bottle performance, and machine efficiency.
Strong troubleshooting, root cause analysis, and problem-solving capability.
Ability to work independently as the plant’s technical subject matter expert for blow molding.
Comfortable working in a fast-paced manufacturing environment with significant time spent on the production floor.
Hands-on, floor-based, and action-oriented leadership and working style.
Strong technical ownership mindset.
Disciplined around standards, documentation, and recipe control.
Collaborative with operators, maintenance, quality, and engineering.
Calm and effective under production pressure.
Focused on long-term process stability, not one-time adjustments.

Nice To Haves

Krones, Kosme, Sipa, or similar high-speed blow molding platforms strongly preferred.
Experience supporting new equipment startup, commissioning, SAT/FAT, or process validation preferred.

Responsibilities

Own blow molding process performance across all assigned equipment and bottle platforms.
Establish, validate, document, and maintain machine settings, recipes, and process windows for current and new bottle formats.
Optimize blow molding processes for bottle quality, material efficiency, line efficiency, uptime, scrap reduction, changeover performance, and throughput.
Provide direct technical support and hands-on troubleshooting for preform heating, stretch/blow timing, pressure profiles, oven settings, transfer issues, bottle defects, dimensional variation, and top load and performance issues.
Lead startup, commissioning, qualification, and ramp-up support for new blow molding equipment.
Develop standard work for startup, shutdown, changeovers, center lining, recipe control, and abnormal condition response.
Partner with Operations, Maintenance, Quality, Packaging, and Continuous Improvement teams to improve reliability and process capability.
Analyze performance data and trends to identify chronic losses and drive corrective actions.
Reduce bottle and process variation through disciplined experimentation, root cause analysis, and control of critical process parameters.
Support mold trials, preform trials, bottle design changes, and new package launches.
Define and sustain best practices for recipe governance, parameter management, and process change control.
Train operators, mechanics, and technicians on blow molding process fundamentals, defect identification, machine interaction, and standard settings discipline.
Support troubleshooting across downstream packaging lines when blow mold performance affects filler, capper, labeler, conveyance, or palletizing performance.
Work with OEMs, tooling suppliers, and internal teams to improve machine capability and bottle performance.
Ensure all work supports plant standards for safety, food quality, reliability, and operational excellence.