Product Development Engineer III

Position Summary

The Product Development Engineer III will lead R&D projects from ideation through commercialization by effective collaboration with R&D colleagues, commercial team members, plant personnel, external customers, and suppliers. This position will conduct experiments, analyze data, and present findings in written and oral formats. Innovation will be a focal point of this role with specific emphasis on growing markets associated with graphics applications by way of researching and developing novel pressure sensitive adhesive and film technologies.

The ideal candidate combines technical product development expertise with a passion for continuous improvement and operational excellence.

• Plan and support trials to develop new products.
• Manage projects and timelines within a defined stage gate process.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and deliver outcomes on-time and within budget.
• Perform physical property and analytical lab testing as needed with support from laboratory technicians and scientists.
• Complete any required quality evaluations using plant quality assurance and lab technicians.
• Analyze lab and field trial data, make recommendations based on results, and coordinate additional plant scale-up trials.
• Integrate observations in the field and processes into final coating and product specifications.
• Optimize casting and coating line processes to improve efficiency, quality, and cost.
• Develop and implement process control strategies and documentation with Operations.
• Compile data and draw conclusions.
• Submit analytical requests – compile, interpret, and present results.
• Technology ideation from strategic partners and vendors, universities, trade shows and conferences, patent landscaping, etc.
• Benchmarking of competitor trends, products, and IP to identify material performance gaps and opportunities.
• Pursuit of intellectual property for novel material research in collaboration with external legal counsel.
• Build relationships with sales, marketing, suppliers, and key customers as needed.
• Limited travel to customers and manufacturing sites.
• Ability to spend substantial time on the production floor when necessary.
• Ability to travel when necessary.

• Interested in building formulation design and validation expertise.
• Understanding of polymer materials (polymer chemistry, formulation, processing, etc.) and able to apply polymer structure-property relationships to new material/product/process development.
• Experience in polymer characterization and material property testing. Demonstrated aptitude to quickly understand new concepts and technology and apply them.
• Experience and knowledge of pressure sensitive adhesive materials and technology including liner and release properties, acrylic and hotmelt chemistries related to solvent, emulsion, UV, rubber and various film and coating technologies.
• Troubleshooting and root cause analysis of product and production issues.
• Continuous improvement of product, manufacturing processes, test methods, sustainability, and best practices.
• Confident, motivated, self-starter. Comfortable working both independently and collaboratively.
• Excellent communicator who can communicate technically with people from a wide range of backgrounds and utilize knowledge to advance projects and identify productive synergies. Document accomplishments in clear and coherent technical reports and presentations.

• Decision Impact:
  New product and process development
• Department Responsibility: 0
• Budgetary (P&L) Responsibility:
  No
• Management Responsibilities Level: Individual Contributor
• Reports Relationships:
  • Position Reports to (Direct): VP Innovation
  • Position Dotted Line to:
    None
  • Positions Supervised (Direct):
    None
  • Positions Supervised (Indirect):
    None
• Physical Requirements:
  
  Ability to lift up to 50 lbs. Will be subjected to noise, odor, and environmental conditions that are common in the manufacturing environment. Appropriate Personal Protective Equipment is required and provided.
• Location:
  
  Spartanburg, SC
• Hours:
  
  Ability to work unusual hours to support equipment start-ups and development trials.
• Work Authorization:
  Legal authorization to work in the US is required.
• Relocat…