Job Description

Expert Project Engineer

The purpose of the Expert Project Engineer position is to lead the design, installation and start-up of plant construction or process equipment projects for Feed Supply Chain and Manufacturing operations. This position specifically focuses on packaging equipment. Incumbent is responsible for development of the project scope, working closely with the Feed Engineering Manager and Plant Manager, develop project and process design, capital and expense estimates, contractor selection, equipment specifications and purchases, implementation timeline and coordinate implementation plans for the projects. Provide recommended methods and standard operating practices to optimize processes and meet product specifications.

Work closely with the Directors of Operations to prepare capital plans. Manage the business relationship with packing equipment suppliers.

The target location for this role is Land O’Lakes Corporate Headquarters in Arden Hills, MN, however this position can be remote (virtual) and located anywhere in the USA. International travel will be required occasionally for business meetings.

Responsibilities:

Prepare process designs, equipment specifications and capital estimates for process upgrades and modifications to existing systems. 

Track equipment condition and provide long-term projections for repairs/replacements based on equipment age and number of cycles.

Work closely with the Feed Engineering Manager and Plant Managers on the capital approval and implementation steps. 

Validate expected improvements are obtained from capital investments. 

Prepare equipment standards for processing equipment.

Provide project management working with contractors, equipment vendors and plant personnel to insure on budget and on schedule project implementations.

Conduct process evaluations in the forms of process system audits and in-plant testing. 

Evaluate process variables and provide recommendations for processing and energy efficiency improvements. Implementation of process improvements and validations of improvements.

Provide equipment recommendations and methods to optimize processing

Required Education and Skills: 

B.S. degree with concentration in Mechanical, Agricultural, Food, Feed Process Engineering or related degree and 10+ years related work experience.

Technical experience in packaging equipment and robotics is highly preferred

Technical processing expertise for Feed Operations highly preferred

Solid working knowledge of mechanical or agricultural engineering and processing plants and equipment,

Individual is highly organized, proficient, and knowledgeable in most current grain or food processing systems

Competencies-Skills (Required):  

Highly effective communications is required and ability to modification communications approach to reach operators, supervisors, and Plant Managers. Strong interpersonal skills are required to sell and implement improvement projects.

Ability to collaborate closely with operators on the plant and processing floor to understand equipment variables and equipment operations.

Ability to understand root cause of problems and develop solutions is critical to success. Fact based reasoning and recommendations are essential to optimizing process variables and systems. Visualize process and building revisions and improvements.

Ability to work closely with operators on the plant and processing floor to understand equipment variables and equipment operations.

This position will involve 50% to 75% travel and will involve exposure to all shifts to allow training and operations improvements to be refined and fully implemented. Project installations can be up to 3 weeks in duration, including weekends. Significant time required in feed manufacturing facilities which have typical levels of dust and noise.

Travel: 60%