Plant Chemist

Press-Seal Corporation•Fort Wayne, IN

9d•Onsite

About The Position

The Plant Chemist is a full-time, on-site position in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The role develops rubber compounds for engineered rubber gasket products and provides material-development solutions to customer needs. It supports production and product teams across mixing, calendaring, extrusion, and curing, and works with quality, engineering, production, supply chain, and rubber mixing teams to ensure material performance and improve operations. The Plant Chemist leads research and development of new and improved compounds, continuous-improvement and cost-reduction projects, evaluates materials, supports product-return analysis, maintains raw-material specifications, and manages and operates analytical laboratory equipment.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in chemistry, chemical engineering, or polymer science; non-degreed candidates with experience in compound rubber will also be accepted.
Minimum five years of experience in rubber processing, such as mixing, calendaring, and extrusion.
Rubber formulation experience with EPDM, isoprene, chloroprene (neoprene), and nitrile.
Experience with analytical and statistical DOE methods for rubber compound development.
Analytical experience with Mooney viscometers, rheometers, tensiometers, lab mixers, lab mills, cure presses, and densometers.
Demonstrated project-management and organizational skills.
Familiarity with database systems such as DAISY, SCADA, or PLM.
Experience using MS Office tools.
Ability to meet the physical demands of basic sitting, standing, bending, and minor lifting up to 20 pounds; reasonable accommodations may be made.

Nice To Haves

Experience with LEAN Manufacturing and Six Sigma tools.

Responsibilities

Design and develop rubber compounds for engineered rubber gasket products made using injection and compression molding presses.
Provide technical solutions to customer needs through material development.
Support process and product teams in mixing, calendaring, extrusion, and curing for industrial products.
Develop compound formulas and manage systems that interface with quality, engineering, and production to ensure materials meet internal and external customer requirements.
Lead research and development efforts for new and improved rubber compounds for products and processes.
Lead continuous-improvement and cost-reduction projects focused on productivity and cost reduction.
Work with supply chain to evaluate new and alternative materials.
Work with the Rubber Mixing team to evaluate materials and compounds for daily operations and efficiency projects.
Work with product engineering on rubber extrusion and calendaring trials for product development and improvements.
Support quality assurance in analyzing product returns for rubber compatibility issues.
Manage the raw-material specification database for internal and external customers.
Manage and operate analytical laboratory equipment.
Perform other duties as assigned.