Senior Packaging Engineer

PPC FLEX•Kansas City, KS

About The Position

As a Senior Packaging Engineer at PPC Flex, you’ll act as the gate between our Sales and Operations teams, ensuring new packaging designs meet the packaging criteria of both internal and external customers through various manufacturing, filling, shipping, and display conditions. You will help facilitate conversations directly with our customers, raw material suppliers, and tooling and machine vendors to design new products and troubleshoot technical challenges as they arise. You will develop qualification and testing protocols for new materials and products that meet both our customers’ requirements and internal capabilities. You will identify, participate, and lead cross-functional teams to ensure success is met on internal and customer trials. In the Senior Packaging Engineer position, you will play a critical role in ensuring the successful onboarding of our customers for PPC Flex. The responsibilities described below are to be used as a guide, but additional responsibilities may arise that have not been included. Your /Manager/Director may ask you to perform other related duties not specifically included in this description. Likewise, this description will be revised when required to meet current business needs. Additionally, given our 24/7 production environment, flexibility in work hours outside of normal business hours may be necessary to complete specific project goals and business objectives.

Requirements

You have a degree in Packaging Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or another closely related technical field.
You have 6-10+ years of experience in packaging engineering development with a growth mindset and human centric solutions.
You are a team player with a desire to work in groups to achieve significant results.
You have experience leading cross-functional teams in a manufacturing environment or R&D team with manufacturing and supply chain partners to capture the manufacturing needs/expectations
You have strong interpersonal communication skills with the ability to provide a clear understanding of technical needs and solutions to a non-technical audience.
You have a passion for continuous improvement and a high sense of urgency to achieve results.
You have good data analysis and math skills so that decisions and conclusions are based upon sound scientific judgment and/or statistical analysis.
You have experience using standard test equipment including a ruler, micrometer, tensile tester, haze meter, drop tester and other common tools utilized in a packaging engineering function.
You are familiar with and can apply ISTA, ASTM, and other relevant testing protocols to the design of a package and its supply chain performance needs
You are detail-orientated for completion of required paperwork and information system inputs with a high degree of accuracy.
You have trained and utilized continuous improvement methods (lean manufacturing, six sigma, etc.)
You have a proven track record of managing multiple projects (5+) concurrently using proven and standard methods of project management utilizing project tools i.e.: MS Project, Monday.com, or other. You have proficient skills using Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.
You have working knowledge of flexible packaging manufacturing and filling equipment and knowledge of plastic films.

Responsibilities

You will perform feasibility and machinability reviews on new business opportunities with priority customers at PPC Flex.
In conjunction with the Strategic Sourcing and Procurement you will test, analyze, and determine raw materials for new products based on durability and cost effectiveness.
You will translate customer requirements into product and process specifications, so the resulting packaging product meets or exceeds the needs of the customer.
You will utilize knowledge of commonly used concepts, practices, and procedures within the field of packaging engineering and new product development.
You will develop and execute on product specific qualification and testing protocols for internal and external (customer) trials for new business development, which may include in-person participation in the manufacturing environments at PPC Flex and at our customer’s locations.
You will act as the lead technical point of contact for the customers you are assigned to work with.
You will support training initiatives with peers and new members on the technical team.
You will manage and maintain the contents of the sample inventory area: warehouse and office.
You will assist our Field Service Engineers with customer technical service requests and resulting product/process re-engineering efforts.
You will support the creation of packaging specifications and die lines in conjunction with engineering support, acting as the customer advocate with new products or revisions to existing products.
You will perform and/or coordinate the creation of packaging mockups/hand samples as needed for new business/customer development activities.
You will assist in the qualification of film on new equipment, suppliers, or material grades as needed.
Travel may be required periodically in conjunction with customer visits, supplier visits, and other project activities you are involved with.
You will help develop CAD drawings for new tooling designs and new tooling acquisition.
You will assist with other technical duties as assigned.