Material Development Engineer

First Quality•McElhattan, PA

About The Position

The purpose of the Material Development/Materials Process Engineer position is to lead material development and the material cost innovation work process while ensuring consistent material quality, supply and material processability on our lines for our absorbent hygiene products. This individual will lead some material innovation activities and work with & provide technical expertise for continuous improvement activities of the process teams for new and existing products within the business unit. This role will work in collaboration with each facility’s process Engineers, operations, Quality Engineers and Product Developers in addition to working with our external supply partners. This individual will lead both internal and external trials in specific material categories.

Requirements

Bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering/ Polymers/ Materials Science or Mechanical Engineering preferred.
Minimum of 5 years in Project or Process Engineering experience.
Minimum of 5 years in industrial experience.
Minimum of 2-5 years Material Development/Process experience.
Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
Ability to develop and organize multiple projects.
Ability to work with a diverse, cross-functional team of professionals to deliver against key objectives and timelines.
Knowledge of material science and analytical testing procedures.
Knowledge and use of statistical analysis.
Knowledge and use of Design of Experiments.
Knowledge of Microsoft Office, Microsoft Excel, Minitab, as well as other office systems.

Nice To Haves

Experience in a lean manufacturing environment preferred.
Knowledge and understanding of absorbent hygiene raw materials, material interactions within product and converting processes preferred
SAP knowledge preferred.

Responsibilities

Promotes a safety culture, embracing safety as a core value, instilling and exemplifying a safety mindset for all team members resulting in an incident free workplace.
Works in conjunction with Quality department to ensure consistent raw material quality and that finished product satisfies all finished product quality standards.
Work closely with suppliers, external partners and internal team members including quality and process team members to define material needs and create/refine/review raw material specifications.
Work closely with both production and process team members to ensure good material processability on our converting lines.
Support funding the growth activities related to materials for the Absorbent Hygiene business.
Investigate new material and relevant technologies and collaborate with PD team members to continuously improve our absorbent hygiene products.
Develops deeper material understanding for some of the material categories such as non-wovens, films, pulp, sap, adhesives, elastics and laminates etc.,
Develops Intellectual proprietary (IP) where applicable to establish competitive advantage, and ensure FTP for performance and cost innovative materials
Assists in planning, conducting, analyzing, and interpreting technical services.
Responsible for project planning and execution on commercial and pilot line trials.
Responsible for evaluating analytical data including material characterization and relaying the information to non-technical personnel.
Responsible for organizing Material Development pipeline and raw material qualifications.
Always maintains a high level of professionalism.