Lab Technician

About Braskem

With a strategy centered on people and sustainability, Braskem is engaged in contributing to the value chain to strengthen the Circular Economy. Braskem’s 9,000 team members dedicate themselves every day to improving people's lives through sustainable solutions in chemicals and plastics. With its corporate DNA rooted in innovation, Braskem offers a comprehensive portfolio of plastic resins and chemical products for diverse industries, such as food packaging, construction, manufacturing, automotive, agribusiness, health and hygiene, and more.

With 40 industrial units in Brazil, the United States, Mexico, and Germany, Braskem exports its products to clients in over 70 countries.

Braskem America is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Braskem S.A. headquartered in Philadelphia. The company is the leading producer of polypropylene in the United States, with six production plants located in Texas, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, as well as an Innovation and Technology Center in Pittsburgh and a New Renewable Innovation Center in Lexington, which focuses on leveraging groundbreaking developments in biotechnology and chemical catalysis.

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La Porte, TX

Department: Quality Laboratory

Travel Involved: 0‑5%

Job Type: Full Time

The Lab Technician tests and assesses in‑process and finished product samples, returns vital data to the concerned production areas, ensuring the production of product specific polypropylene, while maintaining safety, integrity, and efficiency of the facility. The Lab Technician is responsible for maintenance, calibration (when applicable), and operation of laboratory equipment and instrumentation to ensure accurate analysis. They also must have thorough knowledge of the laboratory equipment, instruments, and procedures required for testing, recording, and reporting data, and must work cooperatively with other technicians and personnel from other departments and/or plants to ensure we are supplying ONSPEC product to our clients.

The Lab Technician has the additional responsibility of assisting in preparing and shipping pre‑shipment or special samples to customers and R&T. They must follow all shipping regulations to prepare and ship the samples. This person must be a multi‑tasking individual who can take ownership of their work to support the facility’s Quality processes.

• Test and evaluate standard analyses per protocol, then review and analyze the data for accuracy and conformance to specifications.
• Complies with all lab quality procedures and maintains the lab’s supplies and inventory.
• Improves and updates current work instructions, training documents, workflow, and templates.
• Conduct investigations of out‑of‑control standards and instrumentation.
• Receive and analyze (Wet, Physical‑Chemical, and Physical Properties) samples per the prescribed sampling schedules and, on occasion, non‑routine sample analysis.
• Inform technicians, management, and the affected operational unit of suspect instrumentation and/or data, and provide insight into possible solutions.
• Records data in Lab Soft or other appropriate programs, and, in the case of OFFSPEC material, communicates findings to the operations team and creates an EVENT in Sphera Cloud.
• Prepares equipment and instruments for maintenance and coordinates work with maintenance craftsmen and other technicians to ensure safe, continuous operation.
• Performs tasks necessary to ensure the laboratory performs at optimal capacity and that the product meets quality specifications, while following all safety procedures that apply to the Lab (i.e., LO/TO, Permitting, WO, MOC, Contract Administration).
• Actively participates in plant safety protocols by using applications like LMS, TIPPs, Sphera Cloud, and housekeeping inspections, to take ownership of personal and co‑worker safety while adhering to all HES policies and procedures.
• Actively participates in the review, validation, and training of procedures and instructions as needed, and assists in the training of new employees as detailed in the training procedures or assists in the training for new instrumentation.
• Ac…