Product Development Engineer

Westlake Chemical - Marion, VA

Full-time - Mid Level

Marion, VA

Chemical Manufacturing

About the position

Join our dynamic team as a Product Development Engineer, where you'll lead innovative product development engineering projects to bring new technologies and products to market. Your passion for nurturing new ideas and products will be key to thriving in this role. Collaborate with cross-functional teams and engage directly with leadership to foster strong partnerships and deliver exceptional results. Be the change agent in our pursuit of excellence!

Responsibilities

• Lead the creation, testing and implementation of new products and technologies to improve the competitiveness of Westlake in the extruded PVC building materials market
• Develop standard work and structured processes for evaluating, scaling and implementing novel products and technologies across multiple customer markets.
• Learn from experienced, data-driven experts in your field and develop sound science-based principles while collaborating with high-function sales and marketing teams.
• Engage directly with cross-functional leadership to share knowledge, ideas and strategies for improving our product portfolio.
• Interface with internal and external customers and stakeholders to strategically plan and develop new products and solve a variety of production related issues.
• Develop collaborative relationships with suppliers to stay abreast of new machinery and/or raw materials.
• Improve product performance, cost efficiency, reduce scrap, etc. by utilizing lab equipment and coordinating trials on pilot and production extrusion equipment.
• Analyze data using statistical software and communicate results into easy to understand formats.
• Utilize state-of-the-art CAD tools to design new product profiles and extrusion processes - knowledge of drafting and specification standards to create production ready documentation is critical to this role.
• Partner with sales, marketing and manufacturing teams in leveraging gated processes to bring new products, concepts and ideas to market.
• Attend trade shows, classes and training seminars to keep skills up to date and learn about new equipment, product and processes related to our industry.
• Assist in capital equipment budget planning and specifying to improve on existing production techniques and to develop new products and production methods.
• Travel up to 10% to support other Westlake sites.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree (B.S.) from ABET accredited university in Mechanical, Chemical, Materials or Plastics Engineering.
• Minimum 3 to 5 years of functional and HANDS-ON product design and development experience with demonstrated expertise in bringing new products from concept to commercialization.
• Knowledge of the manufacture, testing, analysis and application of Polymer chemistry.
• Six sigma green/black belt and knowledge of DOE, DMAIC, Fishbone, 5-Why, FMEA, statistical analysis, etc. is preferred.
• Effectively communicate with all levels of employment both verbally and in writing. Exceptional interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to build collaborative working relationships across a diverse organization are critical to success in this role.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with CAD tools and drafting standards.
• Familiarity with statistical software for data analysis.