Plant Engineer

Job Summary 

The Plant Process Engineer is primarily responsible for providing technical support to the Bakelite Louisville facility to maintain standards of product quality, process yield, optimization, and compliance with our internal process safety standards.  The position will also provide capital project support to ensure projects are appropriately selecting MET (Most Effective Technology) or MAT (Most Appropriate Technology) for the assigned units in Louisville. This position is responsible for engineering tasks for the assigned operating units, including safety and environmental compliance, PSM, optimization, quality, productivity, and cost improvement. The Plant Process Engineer will report directly to the Engineering and Maintenance Leader and work with the Production Leaders to set unit priorities. Plant Process Engineers will be assigned functional programs to coordinate that will cut across operating units. Functional programs range from PSM Coordinator, Incident System follow-up, Product Engineering liaison, etc. 

Primary Responsibilities 

• Responsible for process optimization of the assigned units. 
• Regularly engage with operators on the plant floor to learn, optimize and troubleshoot process. 
• Champion and lead process and plant improvement initiatives.
• Conceive, design, fund, install and manage improvement projects within scope. 
• Support Production and Maintenance troubleshooting efforts including data gathering and automation tools. 
• Assist the Production Leaders in identifying and implementing capacity creation improvements through equipment or control upgrades.  Co-owner of Site Effective Efficiency and Productivity Metrics. 
• Oversee and assess existing processes and workflows. 
• Optimize productivity by designing, implementing, and testing new procedures. 
• Assemble reports to document process status and changes. 
• Track metrics to discover areas for improvement and monitor upgrades. 
• Communicate findings and proposals to manager. 
• Utilize process simulation software to test and find the most appropriate production strategies. 
• Provide thorough instructions for successful implementation of process changes. 
• Conduct risk assessments. 
• Assess compliance with applicable safety and quality standards. 
• Contribute to departmental efforts by accomplishingrelated tasks as needed. 
• Assistwith identification, development,and implementation of capital projects to improve safety, environmental compliance, quality, productivity, and cost. 
• Utilities ownership for area – support efficiency improvements in energy usage and wastes. 
• Support new product development with production trial coordination and troubleshooting. 
• Track VantagePoint, OEE, SPC and other data sources; analyze data to suggest improvements. 
• Update and maintain Process and Production Data collection systems (SAP and other Database systems). 
• Drive standardization of process operation conditions and reduce process and measurement variability. 
• Utilize Lean/Six-Sigma techniques to drive improvement into our processes and projects. 
• Conduct and use MOC process to document and control process changes. 
• Generate and revise operating procedures. 
• Contribute to operator training programs. 
• Develop and drive production cost improvement initiatives. 
• Learn and improve process control systems. 
• Lead and contribute to capital and non-capital improvement projects throughout the Louisville site. 
• Demonstrate project management skills, include Stage-Gate process. 
• Develop and implement process and behavioral safety improvement projects. 
• Guide and participatein quality and process upset investigations including root cause analysis. 
• Develop and implement improvements in the quality control process and system. 
• Support optimalperformance of multiple production processes. 
• Support continuous plant operations as needed for process and production issues. 
• Generate operating procedures and conduct operator training. 
• Participate duringProcess Hazard Analyses. 
• Participate in reliability improvement teams. 
• Support PSM and ISO 9001 Management Systems. 

Safety:

• Ensure that safe work practices as specified in the Bakelite Safety Manual are followed. 
• Ensure OSHA PSM standards are practiced including Management of Change. 
• Lead or assist in PHA reviews. 
• Actively participates on the site safety committee. 
• Participate in safety incident investigations and provide solutions to prevent recurrence. 
• Drive and promote ownership of the safety program throughout the site. 
• Ensure PFDs, P&IDs, and Operating Procedures are up to date and accurate. 
• Ensure that assigned compliance items are completed as required. 

Quality:

• Participate in Quality incident investigations and provide solutions to prevent recurrence. 

• Champion use of Operational Excellence and Lean tools in teams to improve quality and productivity. 

Environmental:

• Help ensure environmental policies and practices are followed at the site. 

• Support the development and implementation of environmental programs and regulations. 

• Participate in environmental incident investigations and provide solutions to prevent recurrence. 

• Recommend waste reduction methods and formula changes to reduce process waste. 

• Ensure that assigned compliance items are completed as required. 

Required Skills/Abilities 

Chemical manufacturing experience preferred. 

• Strong technical understanding and problem-solving skills. 

• Planning capacity for coordination of multidisciplinary work. 

• Strong interpersonal skills; able to work well and communicate in a timely manner with staff at all company levels. 

• Strong technical IT knowledge with CMMS system experience, preferably SAP. 

• Demonstrated ability to read standard blueprints, machine, and process drawings (P&ID, PFD, and Isometrics). 

• Must have or meet requirements for a TWIC card.  

Education and Experience 

• B.S. Degree in Engineering, Chemical, Mechanical, or Electrical engineering preferred. 

Physical Requirements 

• Must have or meet requirements for a TWIC card. 

• Walking, driving, standing, lifting 55 pounds repeatedly, sitting, carrying, pushing, pulling, climbing, balancing, stooping, kneeling, reaching, talking, hearing, and seeing.   

• Ability to enter confined spaces and wear a respirator. 

Travel Requirements 

• Little to no travel expected. 

Other Duties 

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job.  Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.