Senior Project Engineer/ Project Engineer

LGI Homes; Ankeny (IA); On-site; USD 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

LGI Homes seeks a seasoned Process Engineer to develop, troubleshoot, and optimize key manufacturing processes in APC plants, with focus on dryers, membranes, separation, and fractionation.

You will lead process improvement initiatives, implement DOE studies, and collaborate with Operations, Quality, and R&D to deliver cost savings and quality enhancements while ensuring GMP compliance. Willing to travel up to 25%.

Qualifications

• BS in engineering or related field.
• 5+ years in manufacturing with process control and development.
• GMP knowledge and food safety preferred.

Responsibilities

• Identify opportunities to improve quality, cost, and delivery.
• Use 8D, DOE to understand variables and reduce variation.
• Deploy improvement solutions with supervisors and managers across facilities.
• Lead plant and supplier trials with Ops, Quality, and R&D.
• Document control plans and calculate engineering savings impact.
• Collaborate with R&D for lab and pilot plant access.
• Write capital expense requests and oversee project budgets.
• Willingness to travel up to 25% domestically.

Skills

Process optimization

DOE (design of experiments)

Statistical analysis

Project leadership

8D problem solving

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor of Science in Engineering or related field

Tools

PLC programming

DCS integration

Control narratives

Job description

Develop, troubleshoot, and optimize key manufacturing processes utilized in APC plants. Deliver cost savings, quality improvements, and robust control of these processes. Be the go-to technical process expert for dryers, membranes, separation, and fractionation of APC products.

JOB QUALIFICATIONS:

Education:

Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Food Science, Food Technology, Chemistry, or related field.

Experience:

Bachelor’s degree with 5 or more years of experience in a manufacturing environment with an understanding of process control and development is required, or 5 to 8 years of relevant professional experience.

Working knowledge of food or feed industry, food safety, and GMP is preferred.

Process troubleshooting, designing and implementing new processes.

Experience in Food, Agriculture, Dairy, BioProcessing or other process intensive industries.

Previous Project Management or leadership experience.

Experience with controls (PLC’s, DCS integration) at the very least control narrative documentation.

JOB DUTIES:

• Identify opportunities for quality, cost, and delivery improvement. Develop solutions to mitigate issues and optimize Operations performance metrics.
• Utilize tools such as 8D problem solving, design of experiments, to understand critical input variables that affect process performance and identify viable changes, modifications, and improvements to reduce variation.
• Work with supervisors, managers, and employees to deploy improvement solutions, including procedural changes, line and equipment modifications, and SOP revisions, that are sustainable and consistent throughout all manufacturing facilities.
• Serve as a technical resource for applied statistics, process assessment techniques, cost determination, project planning, and control plan implementation and assist with engineering savings impact calculations.
• Lead plant and supplier trials in cooperation with Operations, Quality and R&D to access new technologies and processes.
• Design and implement methods for process control, process improvement, testing, and inspection.
• Develop a deep technical knowledge of key APC processes such as drying, membranes, separation, and fractionation. Document and share this knowledge in a sustainable way.
• Understand APC processes globally and assist as needed in unifying best in class processes.
• Assist Engineering Manager in special projects as assigned.
• Willingness to travel and spend time in the processes at our manufacturing plants, on both day, weekends, and off-shifts as required.
• Coordinate with R&D personnel for use of the lab and pilot plant as needed.
• Write Capital expense requests, coordinate equipment ordering and supervise project work to ensure approved requests are completed within budget.

JOB REQUIREMENTS:

• Comprehensive knowledge of process development tools and capability to statistically analyze complex manufacturing processes. Ability to design new processes and optimize existing manufacturing processes.
• Strong analytical skills to interpret data to make decisions.
• Above average skills in Microsoft Excel.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Approximately 25% domestic travel.

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