Food Manufacturing Process Engineer - Vancouver Wa

The Food Manufacturing Process Engineer - Vancouver, WA - 95k-110k (DOE)

The Food Manufacturing Process Engineer develops and engineers’ equipment and processes that will be used at Firestone to freeze fresh fruit, blend and pack ready-to-eat frozen fruit products and pack new and existing products for shipment to customers with the intention of producing safe, high quality and great tasting food efficiently. The Engineer leads all aspects of driving continuous improvement (CI) in Firestone’s fresh-to-frozen (IQF) processing and finished products packing (Repack) facilities. Key accountabilities including coordinating with cross-functional teams to produce and pack products tailored to individual customer specifications, to reduce food and packaging waste, and to driving process improvements.

Duties and Responsibilities

Lead all aspects of designing and laying out production facilities and production equipment.

Lead CI and capital improvement projects in IQF and Repack facilities.

Develop project charters, budgets, and timelines.

Point person when commissioning new equipment to ensure equipment is performing at agreed upon rates.

Investigate and resolve equipment and manufacturing process issues in coordination with Firestone employees, contractors, customers, and suppliers.

Research emerging technologies that will increase productivity, flexibility, and innovation.

Identify technical functionality that aligns with desired new business capabilities.

Employ CI and LEAN manufacturing principles in alignment with company’s core values.

Collaborate with manufacturing, QA, and maintenance to increase overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), reduce food and material waste, and reduce food and human safety risks.

Test and monitor equipment, update current system processes, and conduct risk assessments.

Plan and manage systems testing activities to measure user understanding and acceptance.

Support the creation of SOP and training materials for specific equipment, such as optical sorters, metal detectors and packaging lines.

Responsible for design, installation, administration, support and maintenance of the SCADA system, to include all programmable logic controllers (PLCs), monitoring, and alarm systems.

Ensures SCADA system is highly available, accurately reflects current infrastructure state and secure from cybersecurity threats or non-malicious operations work.

Develops SOPs and staff training related to the SCADA system.

Required Experience

Bachelors in industrial engineering or similar quantitative discipline.

Minimum 5 years of Food manufacturing engineering experience preferred.

Advanced knowledge of programmable logic controllers (PLCs), SCADA, and alarming systems.

Demonstrated proficiency in completing project justifications including payback analysis and management of complex project implementations.

Experience with financial analysis/economic thinking around plant production costs and return on investments.

Must be a proficient user of Microsoft Office Suite such as Excel (create/modify spreadsheets), Word (create/modify documents), and PowerPoint (prepare/present presentations), and Outlook (email correspondence).

Qualifications

Detail oriented and organized – meticulous in identifying and diagnosing problems and careful in drawing right conclusions and solutions.

Superior problem solving and analytical skills (both quantitative and qualitative).

Extensive knowledge of lean manufacturing principles.

Effective oral and written communication skills.

Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a team environment and cross functionally.

Must demonstrate the ability to focus on results and deliver on time.

Must be able to organize data and communicate to all levels of organization in all areas of expertise.

Willingness to work extended hours, weekends, or irregular hours especially during fresh processing season.

Passion for great tasting and nutritious fruit products, including smoothies, would be a big plus.

Salary: $95,000k-$110,000k/yr. (DOE)