Principle Engineer, Fluids & Flexibles

Spectrum Plastics Group•Pleasant Prairie, WI

About The Position

The Principal Engineer, Fluids and Flexibles (F&F) provides guidance, support, and subject-matter expertise to the global engineering teams supporting Medical Tubing and Flexible Packaging extrusion and value-added processes. This candidate has responsibility to support safe plant operations, new product/process qualifications and scale-up, capital equipment planning and execution, manufacturing standards and training, continuous improvement, and other new products or sustaining operational activities. The ideal candidate for this role is a technical leader and process expert with a proven track record of maximizing business impacts and jumping in with a hands-on approach to drive process excellence. They will support a culture of identifying and addressing root cause of failures through measuring and monitoring process capability and gaps to key operational metrics such as OEE, TEEP, yield, cost savings realization, and quality complaints. They will lead projects to create sustainable processes and procedures that minimize deviation from standards across the division while driving industry best practices to enable growth across the network.

Requirements

BS, MS or PhD in Engineering, Bioengineering, Materials Science, Chemistry or related field or equivalent experience
10+ years’ experience in R&D, Engineering, Technical Services & Development and related roles in growth-oriented businesses
5+ years industry experience in polymer extrusion and converting
Strong track record of establishing “best in-class” polymer and medical device processes and personnel development which enable sustainable and long-term business growth
Ability to manage multiple, significant activities and respond to changing priorities with minimum disruption

Responsibilities

Create and uphold a customer-centric mindset within the engineering function, to develop and maintain customer confidence and satisfaction in our quality, service, and products
Actively establish benchmark standards and develop the capabalities of technical staff across the division
Provide divisional support in the evaluation of processes, and identification of enhancement opportunities
Support capital budget, planning, and execution for the global division of Fluid Management and Flexibles operations – Lead capital projects where applicable
Support cost savings programs (PRISM) at the global division level
Act as Commercial Liaison for capacity and capability assessments across the enterprise
Support R&D and new product and process development across the enterprise
Partner with Technical Services & Development to develop the technology roadmap to create and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage in medical tubing and packaging extrusion and converting. Lead the execution of programs that stem from the technology roadmap
Benchmark best practices for new product introduction and manufacturing technology throughout the division and identify opportunities to standardize and improve capabilities
Ensure learnings from site RCCA efforts are applied across enterprise as applicable
Drive data-driven strategic operational improvement programs and oversee execution at the division level by benchmarking site performance, applying pareto principles to the impact to quality, yield, and output metrics, and create actionable plans
Support the quality organization with complaint investigations and root cause analysis, including the identification and implementation of corrective and preventative actions and the roll-up into broader quality improvement plans
Contribute to the development of the division asset strategy and support the execution of capacity expansion, capacity release, and product transfer efforts to support the strategy
Support growth by ensuring execution to new product/process qualifications and scale-up programs
Support the development of verification and validation plans including the protocols, test methods, and reports for execution of design verification and validation testing
Coach, Mentor, and Train cross-functional teams to apply Medical Device and Polymer Processing best practices