R&D Engineer

Vitro Architectural Glass

Vitro Architectural Glass manufactures a broad range of industry-leading, energy-efficient products such as Solarban®, Sungate® and Starphire Ultra-Clear® glasses.  Throughout our storied history, collaboration and innovation have been central to our advancements. Today, the key to our success continues to lie in the strength of our partnerships. With a foundation formed on trust, teamwork and shared excitement, the possibilities for impactful innovations in glass are truly endless.

With manufacturing facilities throughout the U.S. and Mexico, Vitro Architectural Glass is committed to sustainable manufacturing processes and products.  Vitro also operates one of the world’s largest glass research and development facilities in Pittsburgh, PA and has four residential glass fabrication plants in Canada.

Website:  www.vitroglazings.com

The R&D Engineer’s general function is to build, maintain, and improve laboratory and plant-level equipment (including equipment for sample preparation, test, and measurement), and develop new experimental methods, in support of R&D and non-R&D customers. The engineer also own process and product improvement projects that may have visibility beyond R&D (for example HOSHIN-level projects). 

Responsibilities:

• Offers technical information or opinion toward solutions.
• Coordinates closely with the building and facilities services group to improve and maintain laboratory equipment.
• Responsible for designing new products and processes involving technology that is largely unknown and/or not practiced within Vitro or elsewhere in industry and improving and maintaining existing products. At times, this work may be completed under supervision from a scientist or higher-level colleagues.
• Designs and analyze components or assemblies to assist in the development process by ensuring designs are cost efficient, manufacturable, and reliable. 
• Defines process improvements that yield results in safety, quality, cost, and control.
• Responsible for working independently with known technologies; will further develop new technologies under supervision.
• Initiates and maintains relationships with vendors and purchase equipment and supplies to ensure efficiency and continuity of laboratory operation.
• Assists higher level professionals in performing assigned phases of work, ranging from the use of defined methods to exercise of some degree of technical judgement.
• Provides technical guidance to junior professionals or technicians.
• Leads and manages HOSHIN level projects focused on product or process improvement.
• Analyzes and evaluates current equipment and measurement protocols for new products; identifies gaps and areas for improvement; designs and develops instrumentation to meet those needs.
• Collaborates with other engineers to develop accurate, efficient instrumentation, and data interfaces in accordance with safety and usability standards, customer expectations, and controls methodologies.
• Designs and tests prototypes of equipment. Develops statistically robust measurement process.  Leverage external resources and designs as appropriate.
• Creates basic schematics and simulated models to test designs; modifies designs to meet specifications and budget requirements.
• Working with internal and external resources, oversees the implementation of new measuring devices and control systems, ensuring devices are correctly installed and properly tested at the production location. Demonstrate statistically robust measurement process.
• Drafts and presents formal technical documents, reports, and testing results to manager for approval.
• Drafts technical and user manuals for instrumentation.
• Provides training related to devices to employees and/or customers.
• Works collaboratively with controls, production, and quality engineers to implement process control protocols and tools.

Qualifications:

• AS/GED plus 14 years relevant experience / AS in technical field plus 10 years relevant experience / BS in technical field plus 3 years relevant experience / MS entry level with directly applicable degree, otherwise MS plus 1 year or more relevant experience.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to plan, organize and share information in interactions with management, peers, associates, and vendors.
• Ability to troubleshoot, analyze and resolve problems.
• Must be able to work autonomously as well as in a team setting.
• Computer knowledge required for use of Microsoft Office products.
• Working knowledge of computer-aided design equipment and computerized processes preferred.
• Desired: Coding skills in at least two programming languages such as Visual Basic, C, C++, C#, VB, MATLAB, Python, etc. Fundamental understanding of statistics and process engineering. Technical knowledge and experience in Wonderware InTouch, Allen Bradley PLC, and/or other types of control systems. Experience with SQL, OSISoft-PI, and Azure Platform and familiarity with artificial intelligence and machine learning concepts and implementation. Demonstrated proficiency with two or more programming (e.g., C, C++, Python) languages and SQL.  Experience with data interfaces and communication protocols (e.g., TCP/IP) between data acquisition equipment systems.