Field Service Engineer chez PPC Flex

A Day in the Life:

As a Field Service Engineer at PPC Flex, you’ll act as the face of PPC, supporting our customers by providing technical expertise and service to their packaging machinery, ensuring our packaging designs meet the customer’s demands. You will partner with internal and external stakeholders to ensure successful implementation of PPC product formats for various manufacturing, filling, shipping, and display conditions. You will help facilitate conversations directly with our customers, raw material suppliers, and tooling and machine vendors to troubleshoot technical challenges as they arise. You will help develop qualification and testing protocols with our customers for new materials and products introduced. You will participate and help lead cross-functional teams to ensure success is met on internal and customer trials, all while exhibiting PPC Flex’s Core Values:

• Do What’s Right
• Play to Win
• Act as One
• Make it Better
• Preserve the Planet
• Care for People

In the event of absence, these job responsibilities will be covered by another employee within the Technical Engineering department at PPC.

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Job Duties): 

In the Field Service Engineer position, you will play a critical role in ensuring the successful onboarding of new business and continued execution of existing customers for PPC Flex. The responsibilities described below are to be used as a guide, but additional responsibilities may arise that have not been included. Your Supervisor/Manager may ask you to perform other related duties not specifically included in this description. Likewise, this description will be revised when required to meet current business needs. Additionally, given our 24/7 production environment, flexibility in work hours outside of normal business hours may be necessary to complete specific project goals and business objectives.

• You will travel to customer facilities to support fill trials on new products and troubleshooting efforts related to film performance and/or quality.
• You will coordinate travel with Sales, Packaging Engineers, and customers directly.
• You will complete field service visit reports to capture findings and action items as a result of your visit.
• You will support feasibility and machinability reviews on new business opportunities with priority customers at PPC Flex.
• On occasion, you will be asked to travel to customer FAT’s at filling equipment manufacturer facilities.
• In conjunction with the Packaging Engineers and Operations team, you will test, analyze, and help determine raw materials for products based on Form, Fill, and Seal equipment capabilities.
• You will translate product and process specifications into optimized processing parameters for our customers fill lines, so the resulting packaging product meets or exceeds the needs of the customer.
• You will utilize knowledge of commonly used concepts, practices, and procedures within the field of flexible packaging. 
• You will help develop and execute on product specific qualification and testing protocols for external (customer) trials for new business development, which may include in-person participation in the manufacturing environments at PPC Flex and at our customer’s locations.
• You will act as the lead technical point of contact during on-site troubleshooting visits for the customers you are assigned to work with.
• You will support training initiatives with peers and customer’s operational personnel to ensure best practices are documented and effectively executed.
• You will aid in a supporting role with customer complaints and resulting product/process re-engineering efforts (as needed).
• You will assist in the qualification of new equipment, suppliers, or material grades as needed.
• You will complete expense reports for required travel within a timely manner to ensure the technical budget is accurate.
• Domestic and international travel may be required periodically in conjunction with customer visits, supplier visits, and other project activities you are involved with.
• You will assist with other technical duties as assigned.

Desirable Qualifications:

• You have a degree in Plastics Engineering Technology, Packaging Engineering, or another closely related technical field.  
• You have 5+ years of experience in a customer facing technical service or packaging engineering environment. 
• You are a team player with a desire to work in groups to achieve significant results.
• You have experience leading cross-functional teams in a manufacturing environment.
• You have strong interpersonal communication skills with the ability to provide a clear understanding of technical needs to a non-technical audience.
• You have a passion for continuous improvement and a high sense of urgency to achieve results.
• You have good data analysis and math skills so that decisions and conclusions are based upon sound scientific judgment and/or statistical analysis.
• You have experience using standard test equipment including a ruler, micrometer, tensile tester, haze meter, drop tester and other tools utilized in a packaging engineering function.
• You are detail-orientated for completion of required paperwork and information system inputs with a high degree of accuracy. 
• You have experience with utilizing continuous improvement methods (lean manufacturing, six sigma, etc.).
• You have a strong mechanical aptitude and creative problem-solving skills.
• You have a strong working knowledge of flexible packaging material types and filing equipment.
• You remain levelheaded in high tension situations.
• You have working knowledge of Microsoft Office products and Expense Reporting Systems.

Working Conditions and/or Physical Requirements:

• Able to lift 50 pounds using safe lifting techniques.
• Must travel as required, with an expected amount of 50-75% with limited notice; overnight and international travel may be required. Valid US Passport needed.
• Able to tell differences in printed colors and compare to color standards.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.