Extrusion Engineer - Temp

Balchem Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets specialty ingredients that improve and enhance the health and well-being of life on the planet, providing state-of-the-art solutions and the finest quality products for a range of industries worldwide. Our corporate headquarters is located in Montvale, New Jersey and we have a broad network of sales offices, manufacturing sites, and R&D centers, primarily located in the US and Europe.

Founded in 1967, Balchem is a publicly traded company (NASDAQ – “BCPC”) with annual revenues over $900 million and a market cap exceeding $4.0 billion. The company consists of three business segments:
Human Nutrition & Health;
Animal Nutrition & Health; and Specialty Products. Balchem employs over 1,400 people worldwide who are engaged in diverse activities, committed to developing the company into global market leadership positions. To learn more about our dynamic, stable and growing company, visit

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Extrusion Engineer is a member of the R&D group that is based on Faribault, MN focusing on high-protein extruded food products such as crisps and texturized vegetable protein. This role is both a strategic and tactical in nature and is for someone who enjoys the challenge of bringing new products to market. Working closely with the members of R&D, operations and quality, the Product Development Scientist/Engineer will be leading technical projects related to high-protein extruded ingredients from concept to commercialization to meet business objectives.

The role will be focused on the following activities, including but not limited to, project management for commercialization of new products, new product and process development on pilot as well as manufacturing scale, technical troubleshooting, specification development, product characterization including application testing.

• Lead and champion a culture of safety. Work safely and professionally complying with all company policies and procedures.
• Demonstrates knowledge and expertise in product/process development, innovation, and extrusion operation.
• Ensures diligence and expertise in development, scale up and commercialization of products and technologies.
• Drives change in a complex, fast-paced business and production environment.
• Shows exceptional conceptual, creative and analytic problem solving – the ability to break down complex issues and simplify by focusing on what matters.
• Shows technical and functional expertise and works cross functionally to solve broader business issues.
• Understand the commercialization process with proven experience of its application.
• Ability to learn new categories quickly and provide appropriate guidance.
• Achieves end-to-end success by taking ideas from their conceptual stage to marketplace execution.
• An experienced professional who believes that the consumer is the starting point for all R&D activities.
• Have a proven track record of delivering extraordinary results.
• Meet with customers as a technical expert as required.
• Ensures diligence in development, scale up and commercialization of products and technologies.
• Manage and lead all extrusion product development efforts from pilot to manufacturing including formulation, process development, processing capability, and specification development
• Work closely with Operations, QA and functional business partners to troubleshoot issues with existing products and processes
• Provide subject matter expertise: troubleshoot production problems relating to raw materials, equipment, and/ or processing conditions. Document and present findings and suggest improvements
• Create test designs including formulation and process variables and ability to correlate to impact on finished product for pilot and manufacturing trials. Lead hands-on pilot scale trials
• Have previous knowledge and develop deep expertise in critical parameters involved in the manufacturing of extruded ingredients as well as processes; lead operations on process changes to manufacture finished products within target specification for new products during trials.
• Develop better practices, and standard operating instructions for high first pass quality…