Director, Paper Engineering & Technology

Job Summary:

The overall goal is to provide Sabert with competitive advantages in paperboard manufacturing by identifying and delivering innovative and sustainable solutions that continuously reduce operational costs and enhance manufacturing efficiency.  Primary areas of focus will be new manufacturing equipment and technologies, automation initiatives, and scrap reduction.   

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Manufacturing Equipment:
  • Stays abreast of current paperboard technical and manufacturing trends and developments; keeps the organization (Operations, Engineering, Leadership) informed of new and innovative equipment to improve safety, and manufacturing efficiency or to integrate new products in our facilities
  • Leads projects in the identification, specification and procurement of new equipment and production technologies
  • Identifies proven approaches and technologies to increase efficiency of existing equipment
  • Ensures project proposals and capital requests meet pre-determined payback requirements for return on investment
  • Ensures projects are delivered within agreed upon budgets and timeframes
  • Coordinates with the respective plant engineers and manufacturing staff to ensure proper installation of equipment and hand-off to manufacturing with “center lines”, demonstrated production targets (POE and throughput) aligned with the expected financial returns that justified the investment.
• Automation:
  • Identifies opportunities for cost reduction in paper manufacturing through automation with the appropriate payback period.
  • Works with vendors to identify design solutions to meet safety requirements and production, quality, and efficiency objectives
  • Plays a lead role in partnering with the Corporate Automation team and the local engineering team to identify and vet options for implementation
  • Facilitates efforts to pilot and validate new automation initiatives
• Scrap Reduction and Process Improvement:
  • Identifies and leads projects designed to enhance and improve the overall efficiency of the company’s paperboard manufacturing processes, with a focus on scrap reduction
  • Coordinates with the plant engineers and manufacturing staff to identify machine productivity improvements and scrap reduction opportunities. Coordinates the plans to achieve those efficiencies

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Results orientation; high level of personal initiative, energy, and ownership for success
• Creative thinker with an inquisitive mind; actively keeps abreast of new and developing technologies inside and outside of the industry
• Superior written and oral communication skills; able to communicate across entire breadth of the organization (shop floor – esp. in a Spanish speaking environment – to executive level)
• Strong team leadership and team facilitation skills; ability to work well across teams and in a matrix organization
• Strong service ethic; understands and embraces service relationship with internal and external customers
• Strong project management skills
• Demonstrated ability to develop creative business solutions; good judgment and decision-making process
• Ability to travel up to 50%, based on location, including international travel

Qualifications:

Education-

• Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical, Chemical, Material or Industrial Engineering or similar field
• Advanced technical or business degree is ideal

Experience-

• At least 10 years of engineering experience in the paperboard packaging industry, with background in related packaging processes

• Experience in project management and team facilitation
• Proven track record in development and deployment of new manufacturing technologies, processes, or equipment
• Experience in a multi-site manufacturing organization; global experience a plus