Process Engineer

Ottawa, OH

Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing

About the position

The Process Engineer - Extrusion Blow Molding (EBM) role is a key resource in the organization to support the Silgan Plastic Operation sites with technical knowledge to launch new products and continuous improvement projects supporting safety, quality, and operation in each facility.

Responsibilities

• Assist operations, engineering, and commercial team by applying plastics processing knowledge to evaluate new business opportunities on existing Silgan blow technology machines.
• Perform blow machine factory acceptance tests (FATs) to approve safe, quality, and in spec equipment for new business opportunities.
• Determine success criteria based on bottle specifications and operational performance requirements and go/no go for machine shipments to plants.
• Work with Product Development Engineers to support unit or full set process development for molds and annual evaluation of mold vendors for competitive bid process.
• Able to read and understand product part drawings (bottle, closure, etc.) and specifications to understand what features are critical to part function and performance.
• Train Silgan Plastics operations and engineering team members on shuttle machine safety, operation, set-up and troubleshooting.
• Work with department manager to evaluate skillset gaps across the company and training required to close gaps.
• Travel to operation facilities to assist with setup and support of new & continuous improvement process development and production startup.
• Work with EBM equipment vendors to ensure proper training materials, maintenance, and operations manuals are easy to understand.
• Spend time at vendor's manufacturing sites to train on their equipment to develop as internal expert resource for EBM technology.
• Able to work safely in an environment with industrial equipment and provide support on safety improvements to machine design, operation, and layout.
• Assist with machine changeovers and troubleshooting as required to support manufacturing operations.
• Able to use test equipment for basic bottle measurements scales, calipers, optical comparator, magna mike, top load tester, etc.
• Verify that the correct materials are being used and are properly prepared, review bill of material documents during new product set up.
• Support Product Development Engineers and plant on new product startups.
• Target process parameters to develop process for new products.
• Evaluate parts to determine if bottles meet specification requirements.
• Use data (statistical methods) to determine the best process or quantify improvements.
• Determine and document trials and the optimum process to meet product spec requirements.
• Assist in electrical and mechanical troubleshooting of blow machines and ancillary equipment including material handling and color prep and dosing.
• Address minor problems in the field and work with plant and service support for major issues.