Product Development Engineer

Summary

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!

Duties and Responsibilities

May include, but are not limited to, the following:

• 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

Education, Experience and Qualifications

• 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 brining 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.

Skills

• Exceptional ability to collaboratively solve challenging problems is a must.  Demonstrated ability to make data driven decisions as a team to develop, evaluate and optimize new product designs and manufacturing processes/specifications. 
• Must be able to organize data, people and tasks; possess leadership skills; have a strong working knowledge of our products and possess problem-solving skills and conflict resolution skills.
• Ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables.
• Ability to define problems, execute test trials, collect data, establish facts, draw valid conclusions, and build consensus amongst a diverse technical and operational team. 
• Evidence of effective project management and communication skills to drive complex technical projects with significant impact on business and operations performance.

Physical Demands

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit. The employee frequently is required to stand; walk; use hands to touch, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; and talk or hear.  The employee is occasionally required to stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.  The employee must regularly lift and/or move up to 10 pounds, frequently lift and/or move up to 25 pounds, and occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.  Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.

Work Environment

The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate in the office.  The position requires the incumbent travel to the various manufacturing facilities as much as 10% of the time.  The work environment at the facilities can include excessive noise levels, exposure to weather elements, working around or adjacent to moving and mobile equipment and climbing ladders.  Appropriate personal protective equipment including hearing protection, steel toe shoes, safety glasses and/or hard hats may be required while working in a facility.

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.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.  The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.