Extrusion Engineer

Primary Objective

The Rapid Prototyping & Engineering (RPE) Extrusion Engineer is part of a dynamic team supporting customer development partnerships and driving process innovation within research and development. This individual coordinates with team members, leaders, and customers to create and execute on new opportunities using extrusion & polymer processing expertise. This role is also responsible for innovating within the lab to create new techniques and processes, as well as supporting transfer to a production environment.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Drive new development in conjunction with leaders and customers to support innovation and design partnerships, ensuring goals are met or exceeded.
• Develop new techniques or technologies to improve and expand capabilities of the extrusion labs.
• Oversee day to day operations of the extrusion lab.
• Establish and/or improve output of the extrusion processes for a production environment.
• Manage goals and budget in conjunction with team members.
• Generate and manage project and lab documentation (BOM’s, specification changes, ECO’s, reports, print revisions, fixturing, protocols, etc.).
• Engage with internal and external resources and customers to maintain strong customer relationships with dedication to customer program schedules.
• Plan and coordinate the selection, procurement, installation, start-up, and qualification of new capital equipment, tooling, and fixtures for medical device manufacturing IQ/OQ
• Create and support a culture of mutual respect, trust, accountability, and teamwork.
• Develop and establish robust and efficient structures that build a link between Sales, Customer Service, Operations, and the Customer.
• Drive a collaborative operating culture within a cross functional team environment that strives to exceed customer expectations.
• Gain support for and develop program objectives/deliverables and ensure all groups involved understand customer demands for successful outputs.
• Ensure customer and Company requirements are met including cost, quality, timing, and other related aspects of programs.
• Participate in continuous improvement efforts to enhance products, processes, and programs.
• Comply with all local, state, federal, and SPG safety regulations, policies, and procedures.
• Other duties as required by project demands.

Qualifications: Knowledge, Skills, Education and Experience

• MS or BS Degree in Engineering or 5 to7 years minimum of related work experience and/or education.
• Direct experience with extrusion and polymer processing.
• Strong documentation skills with ISO 13485 knowledge preferred.
• Minimum 3 years medical device manufacturing and/or extrusion/molding experience.
• Demonstrated creative problem-solving skills to identify, gather, and analyze information to develop solutions and resolve problems in a timely manner.
• Strong working knowledge of APQP / PPAP, including thermoplastics materials and processing.
• Ability to convince/sell internal and external customers.
• Strong organizational skills supported by a self-disciplined operating structure.
• Superior time management / prioritization skills.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Skilled in Microsoft Office Suite including but not limited to, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and other business and database programs.
• Understanding of plastic materials and ability to research materials.
• Demonstrated ability to identify key issues that impact customer requirements and develop the initiatives to address them in a cost-effective manner. Forward thinking, innovation, and a working understanding of cost and operational impacts are essential.
• Effective collaboration skills - Ability to work and communicate effectively with cross-functional teams.
• Proven track record of creating, building, and growing a department that consistently delivered measurable results in a customer focused work environment.

Company Competencies

• Diversity - Demonstrates knowledge of EEO policy; Shows respect and sensitivity for cultural differences; Educates others on the value of diversity; Promotes a harassment-free environment; Builds a diverse workforce.
• Ethics - Treats people with respect; Keeps commitments; Inspires the trust of others; Works with integrity and ethically; Upholds organizational values.
• Professionalism - Approaches others in a tactful manner; Reacts well under pressure; Treats others with respect and consideration regardless of their status or position; Accepts responsibility for own actions; Follows through on commitments.
• Quality - Demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness; Looks for ways to improve and promote quality; Applies feedback to improve performance; Monitors own work to ensure quality.
• Safety and Security - Observes safety and security procedures; Determines appropriate action beyond guidelines; Reports potentially unsafe conditions; Uses equipment and materials properly.

Job Competencies

Communication

• Strong leadership, communication, and collaborative working together skills, along with analytic and strategic planning capabilities.
• Consistently clarifies purpose and importance; stresses major points; follows a logical sequence.

Customer Focus

• Makes customers and their needs a primary focus.
• Develops & sustains productive customer relationships.
• Actively seeks information to understand customer’s circumstances, problems, expectations, and needs.
• Present program/project level information to customers to build their understanding of issues & capabilities.
• Considers how program/project level actions or plans will affect customers.
• Responds quickly to meet customer needs & resolves problems.
• Assist Engineering & Manufacturing Team Leaders in implementing ways to monitor and evaluate customer concerns, issues and satisfaction and to anticipate customer needs.

Decision Making

• Consistently recognizes a wide range of complex specialized issues, problems, or opportunities in own work group, across the organization and with external customers; determines whether action is needed.
• Steadily identifies the need for and collects information to better understand issues, problems and opportunities.
• Regularly integrates complex information form a wide variety of sources; detects complex trends, associations and cause-effect trends, associations and cause effect relationships.
• Consistently creates relevant options for addressing problems/opportunities and achieving desired outcomes.
• Formulates clear decision criteria, evaluates options by considering implications and consequences; chooses an effective option.
• Consistently implements decisions or initiates action within a reasonable time.
• Regularly includes fellow team members across the organization and external customers in the decision-making process as warranted to obtain good information, make the most appropriate decisions, and ensure buy-in and understanding of the resulting decisions.

Physical Demands

Must be able to support the production floor as required. The physical demands may include:

• Walking, standing and sitting
• Lifting and carrying, pushing and pulling
• Reaching overhead, at or below shoulder level
• Climbing ladder/stairs, stooping, crouching, kneeling
• Gross manipulation and seldom fine manipulation
• Driving

Work Environment

• Works in an office and manufacturing environment
• Occasionally exposed to dust, odors, fumes and noise
• Occasional travel required.