Expert Project Engineer

Land O'Lakes

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Expert Project Engineer position leads the design, installation, and start-up of plant construction or process equipment projects for Feed Supply Chain and Manufacturing operations, with a specific focus on packaging equipment. The role involves developing project scope, collaborating with the Feed Engineering Manager and Plant Manager on project and process design, capital and expense estimates, contractor selection, equipment specifications and purchases, and coordinating implementation plans. The position also provides recommended methods and standard operating practices to optimize processes and meet product specifications. This role can be based at Land O’Lakes Corporate Headquarters in Arden Hills, MN, or remotely in the USA with proximity to an airport. The position requires 50% to 75% travel and exposure to all shifts for training and operations improvements. Project installations can last up to 3 weeks, including weekends. Significant time will be spent in feed manufacturing facilities with typical levels of dust and noise.

Requirements

Bachelors degree in Engineering with concentration in Mechanical, Agricultural, Food, Feed Process or related field and 5+ years of project management experience is strongly preferred.
Will consider a 4 year degree with 7+ years of experience in plant management, supervision or maintenance role in feed/grain handling, milling or processing, with leadership focus in large capital projects.
Technical experience in packaging equipment and robotics is highly preferred.
Technical processing expertise for Feed Operations highly preferred.
Proven track record of Project Management, Capital Expenditures and driving Process Improvements.
Ability to manage multiple projects and cost initiatives.
Solid working knowledge of mechanical or agricultural concepts and processing plants and equipment.
Individual is highly organized, proficient, and knowledgeable in most current grain or food processing systems.
Highly effective communications is required and ability to modify communications approach to reach Operators, Supervisors, and Plant Managers.
Strong interpersonal skills are required to sell and implement improvement projects.
Ability to collaborate closely with operators on the plant and processing floor to understand equipment variables and equipment operations.
Ability to understand root cause of problems and develop solutions is critical to success.
Fact based reasoning and recommendations are essential to optimizing process variables and systems.
Visualize process and building revisions and improvements.
Ability to work closely with operators on the plant and processing floor to understand equipment variables and equipment operations.

Responsibilities

Prepare process designs, equipment specifications, and capital estimates for process upgrades and modifications to existing systems.
Track equipment condition and provide long-term projections for repairs/replacements based on equipment age and number of cycles.
Work closely with the Feed Engineering Manager and Plant Managers on capital approval and implementation steps.
Validate expected improvements are obtained from capital investments.
Prepare equipment standards for processing equipment.
Provide project management working with contractors, equipment vendors, and plant personnel to ensure on-budget and on-schedule project implementations.
Conduct process evaluations through process system audits and in-plant testing.
Evaluate process variables and provide recommendations for processing and energy efficiency improvements.
Implement process improvements and validate improvements.
Provide equipment recommendations and methods to optimize processing.