Product Development Engineer

Company Description

Pixelle Specialty Solutions™ is the largest specialty paper company in North America, with fully integrated pulp and paper operations in Chillicothe, Ohio, Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, Stevens Point, Wisconsin and a coating operation in Fremont, Ohio. Supported by an experienced product development team, Pixelle excels in designing customized solutions that help customers bring new products to market. With a long history of leadership in the paper industry, Pixelle delivers the most comprehensive portfolio of specialty papers to help you meet today’s challenging demands.

Job Description

Role

To provide leadership to develop new products in the Chillicothe facility, actively driving long-term mill profitability through effective trial planning and execution. 

Accountabilities

• Develop products and processes in alignment with Pixelle specialty growth strategy for Chillicothe.
• Collaborate product development ideas with the Sales and corporate PD groups that lead to new sales and revenue streams for the business.
• Lead successful trials through solid planning and execution through all levels of Chillicothe processes.
• Develop and maintain effective product development processes and ensure documentation in the mill’s Quality Management System and FDA/GMP documentation system.
• Work with corporate Product Stewardship and Environmental groups to ensure all new raw materials are approved for use in the desired application.
• Ensure adherence to product specifications and satisfaction of customer’s expectations through all levels of product development, including site visits to fully define product requirements and translating those into product success criteria within Chillicothe systems.
• Support and respond to Sales, Production Planning, Manufacturing, and Customer requests in support of Chillicothe’s PD efforts. Communicate product requirements through all process stages within Chillicothe to ensure success.
• Provide technical support for the manufacturing teams, tackling different process or product challenges.
• Provide technical assistance on cost reduction or other mill improvement opportunities.
• Track and communicate progress of projects, including all stages relevant to success of development.
• Maintain knowledge of converting operations utilized by customers Including support for the Technical Field Services team.
• Conduct appropriate process capability analyses to ensure grade is viable post commercialization.

Qualifications

Required Skills and Attributes

• Passionate about development of products to support business revenue improvement.
• Proven ability to drive improvements with minimal direction.
• Possess project management skills with ability to drive results from product vision to meeting customer expectations with products.
• Possess effective prioritization, organization, influencing, and communication skills.
• Maintain effective communications and working relationships with all mill personnel, corporate support, and customers.
• Possess ambulatory capabilities to move freely about the mill in carrying out responsibilities.
• Work beyond normal work schedule including nights and weekends as necessary to fulfill position responsibilities.
• Work weekend duty; current rotation is 1 in 8 weekends.

Experience and Education

• Bachelor’s degree in paper science, chemistry, chemical engineering, or related technical discipline.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in mill technical functions or relevant work experience for education.
• Paper machine operational experience a strong plus.
• Computer skills: Proficient or ability to become proficient at Mini-Tab, Microsoft applications, and various other computer applications required to fulfill position responsibilities.
• Any equivalent combination of education, training and experience that would lead to successfully fulfilling the position responsibilities.

Additional Information

• Competitive 401K match and healthcare benefit package.
• Position requires some degree of travel to support final stages of product development, but do not expect to exceed 15%.