Process Engineer

Zentis is Europe's number one fruit processing company and one of the leading brand manufacturers of jams, sweets and custard-based dessert. The Company's North American operations are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Plymouth, Indiana, where we produce fruit and dairy preparations for a variety of customers including yogurt, ice cream and bakery manufacturers.

As a Process Engineer based in our Plymouth, IN facility you will be responsible for developing and optimizing continuous production and manufacturing processes to achieve the output, quality, and cost goals of the organization. Collect production data and apply standard scientific and statistical methods to analyze, document, and diagram production processes. Identify process bottlenecks and devises solutions to resolve. Recommend changes or upgrades to equipment, work methods, or other aspects of the process to improve efficiency and utilization of resources including labor, energy, and raw materials. Consult on major internal production initiatives.

Additionally, you will be responsible for the development of new recipe manufacturing processes which includes vessel usage, production line used and the process parameters (time, temperature, agitation, flow rate etc.), for the evaluation and analyzation of data produced from the manufacturing process systems to reduce cost, improve sustainability, and develop best practices, and for providing technical support for new manufacturing processes or technology development.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Evaluate and improve processes in manufacturing systems. Continuous review of existing processing equipment and procedures for relevance and efficiency, formulate solutions when shortfalls are noted. Maintain reliable and safe manufacturing systems while improving production rates, efficiencies, yields, costs, and changeovers.
• Work with Sales, R&D, Purchasing, Production and Quality to ensure successful conversion of small-scale pilot plant process to commercially viable production. Create and maintain master recipes and control recipes in the systems (SAP/WinCC). Provide technical input for recipe management and equipment selection from initial recipe development to scale-up to commercial production.
• Improve manufacturing process capability and production capacity while maintaining and improving quality standards. Develop and implement systems that optimize all phases of manufacturing process. Project Leader to improve quality and efficiency of manufacturing process.
• Perform new ingredient testing. Collect, record, transcribe data and publish report. Work with Production, QA, R & D and Maintenance groups to review records and data to find root causes of non-conforming production and develop corrective actions. Provide suggestions during incident investigations (e.g., Customer Complaint, product defect). Provide input, when necessary, on Food Safety, GMP and HACCP. Provide engineering and/or technical support for all factory floor systems, to include working with maintenance department to help troubleshoot and resolve known issues (including but not limited to PLC control system).
• Participate or lead in validation and commissioning of new and modified equipment. Develop, implement, and document novel and creative solutions to complex problems with various system dynamics.

Formal Education Required:

• BS in Food Engineering, Chemical Engineering or related engineering or science discipline.

Specific Experience and Key Knowledge Requirements:

• 1-7 years’ experience in a food manufacturing environment.

Special Skills and Abilities Required:

• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Strong organizational, problem solving and analytical skills.
• Flexibility to frequent changes; and the ability to perform in an active environment.
• Demonstrated ability to interact with other departments and employees.
• Excellent computer skills in a Microsoft Windows environment, SAP and other software systems.
• Knowledge and /or specialized training in HACCP, GMPs and SQF.
• Knowledge of Aseptic (HTST) Processing Systems and requirements.
• Knowledge of HMI, SCADA and data archiving systems.
  • Knowledge of troubleshooting Ladder Logic Programming or PLC control programming.

EOE/M/F/H/V