Engineer II, TS&D

SUMMARY

Provide technical assistance to production, sales, and customers to enable Westlake to maintain a high-quality position as a major manufacturer of polyethylene resins.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

May include, but are not limited to, the following:

Provide technical support to the production plant.

• Conduct internal evaluations of commercial and experimental products.
• Establish and maintain finished product specifications.
• Assist, when requested, in preparing work procedures for the safe operation of laboratory testing and fabrication equipment.
• Ability to investigate, summarize, and give proper and concise conclusions on the validity of polyethylene quality complaints.

Provide technical support to Sales and Marketing.

• Prepare product data sheets and competitive resin guides. Audit competitive resins to improve existing products or develop new products.
• Provide technical input on trends and changes in market conditions.
• Participate and represent WPC interests in industry trade and technical
• associations such as SPI, SPE, ASTM, TAPPI, AND NFPA. Supervise qualifying evaluations of new or existing WPC resin products at customers’ plants.
• Recommend improved or new products in existing or new market areas.

Provide technical support to customers.

• Investigate, resolve, and equitably document quality complaints to the company and customer.
• Introduce new products to customers that provide technical/cost advantage while maximizing company profits.
• Perform customer liaison duties and foster goodwill.
• Conduct training, provide start-up assistance, and educate customers in resin and equipment design.
• Maintain thorough working knowledge of resin applications, properties, and process ability of polyolefins and other polymers.
• Optimize WPC customers' fabrication processes for increased quality and production output.

Perform duties in a manner that protects personal and all personnel on-site safety.  Whenever appropriate, promptly report Safety, Health, or Environmental incidents or issues to management so the situation can be corrected.  Attend Monthly Safety meetings to help prevent off-site and job accidents.

Ability to effectively plan and organize job tasks and activities, and make efficient use of time. Ability to present and express information in an organized, understandable, complete, and concise manner.  Ability to interact effectively with others, regardless of their level, and to develop rapport, trust, and respect, as well as to accept and work through interpersonal differences.

Ability to travel when needed and effectively maintain T&E to budget.  Ability to assist others as needed, such as covering for an absence due to travel or illness

Ability to keep management informed/updated on topics of importance, including customer issues, industry events, marketing findings, and competitive situations.

Perform other related duties as requested/mandated by management.

EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE, AND QUALIFICATIONS

• B.S. Degree in Chemical Engineering required, with demonstrable, direct experience in the industry.
• Five years of experience with polyolefins in technical service, production, quality control, or research and development functions.  Experience with extrusion coating or LLDPE grades is a plus.
• Computer experience, proficiency in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel are needed.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

This job is performed mainly in a control room or office setting; physical presence is required. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit; stand; walk; have full use and range of motion of arms, hands, and fingers to reach, grasp, hold, push or pull, twist, and work with tools; and talk or hear.  The employee is occasionally required to perform tasks that may require bending, stooping, kneeling, crouching, lying down or working from elevated platforms. The employee must be able to move safely over uneven terrain or in confined spaces.  The employee must regularly lift and/or move up to 10 pounds, frequently lift and/or move up to 25 pounds, and occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.  Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus. The employee must be able to see details of objects that are more/less than a few feet away; see differences between colors, shades, and brightness, and determine the distance between objects. This job requires a response to audible emergency alarms inside the plant.  Employees must be able to evacuate when required.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The employee must be able to work in a normal factory environment, including enclosed spaces and exposure to various hazards. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate as normally based in an office.  Some of the work may be required in the operating units which can require usage of required PPE including safety glasses, hearing protection, flame retardant clothing, etc.  May also result in exposure to outside elements and may require usage of stairs and elevators.  Travel including air travel or auto travel is required up to 50% of the time.