Plant Engineer

Plant Engineer

Tru Roots Company | Chico, California

Base salary: $95,000–$110,000 annually | Annual bonus opportunity: 10% of annual base salary

About Tru Roots Tru Roots Company produces natural and organic foods and beverages under brands including Tru Roots™, R.W. Knudsen™, and Santa Cruz Organic™. Our Chico facility manufactures and bottles juice, with a focus on product quality, operational efficiency, and sustainable manufacturing practices.

The Plant Engineer leads processing and packaging engineering projects at the Chico juice manufacturing and bottling facility, with equal responsibility for both areas. This position develops and improves juice processing systems and designs, develops, tests, and implements packaging solutions that protect products, reduce costs, and minimize environmental impact from the factory to the consumer. The engineer identifies and qualifies packaging suppliers, establishes specifications, leads production trials, and manages equipment improvements and capital projects.

Working directly with Operations, Quality, R&D, Marketing, Supply Chain, and Maintenance, the position ensures materials, equipment, and operating practices work together effectively and provides limited technical support to Maintenance to sustain reliable production.

• Lead projects to develop, modify, and optimize juice processing systems to improve capacity, yield, consistency, efficiency, and product quality.
• Evaluate processing equipment, system layouts, operating parameters, and material flow; recommend improvements based on production data, technical analysis, and business needs.
• Develop process and equipment specifications, diagrams, and operating requirements for applicable blending, pumping, piping, thermal processing, sanitation, and related systems.
• Plan and conduct processing trials and equipment evaluations with Operations, Quality, and R&D; establish acceptance criteria and document results.
• Support new product scale-up and manufacturing changes by evaluating processing capabilities and implementing required equipment or operating improvements.
• Work with Quality and equipment suppliers to ensure processing changes address sanitary design, cleanability, food safety, and applicable operating requirements.

• Design, develop, select, and improve primary, secondary, and tertiary packaging, including bottles, closures, labels, cases, and pallet configurations, to protect juice products throughout filling, storage, distribution, and consumer use.
• Identify and evaluate packaging suppliers; lead technical qualification of materials and suppliers with Purchasing, Supply Chain, and Quality.
• Establish and maintain packaging specifications, drawings, test requirements, and acceptance criteria; evaluate supplier changes and resolve material performance issues.
• Develop and conduct packaging tests for material and product compatibility, closure integrity, durability, distribution performance, and shelf‑life suitability in collaboration with Quality and R&D.
• Lead bottling and packaging line trials to confirm material and equipment compatibility, package quality, line efficiency, and readiness for full production.
• Work directly with operators and Maintenance to resolve filling, capping, labeling, conveying, case packing, and palletizing issues, as applicable to site equipment.
• Evaluate packaging alternatives and recommend changes that reduce material costs, damage, waste, and environmental impact while maintaining quality and production performance.
• Develop packaging operating requirements and provide employee training to support consistent setup, changeovers, handling, and correct packaging practices.