R&D/TS&D Technician

At Dow, we believe in putting people first and we’re passionate about delivering integrity, respect and safety to our customers, our employees and the planet.  

Our people are at the heart of our solutions. They reflect the communities we live in and the world where we do business. Their diversity is our strength. We’re a community of relentless problem solvers that offers the daily opportunity to contribute with your perspective, transform industries and shape the future. Our purpose is simple - to deliver a sustainable future for the world through science and collaboration. If you’re looking for a challenge and meaningful role, you’re in the right place. 

About You and This Role:

The NA Technical Service and Development (TS&D) group has an exciting opportunity for a P&SP Technician located at Pack Studios in Freeport, Texas supporting the Performance Plastics – Specialty Packaging business.

The TS&D group supports 7.0 Billion lb/yr of product sales. The successful candidate will be part of a team in the fabrication laboratory supporting Technical Service & Development scientists and engineers in developing, screening and commercializing new polymers and applications, and servicing customers. This role will support commissioning and operation of a new equipment.  The fabrication team comprises a total of over twenty technologists and contractors, responsible for converting (i.e. fabricating e.g. films, bottles, caps, pipes, etc.) and testing those articles, as requested by TS&D scientists, engineers and customers. Equipment includes blown and cast film equipment, extrusion coating, injection and blow molding, pipe and fiber extrusion, application converting and transportation testing equipment. In this role you will be expected to safely achieve project goals using technical, role-specific skills and experience. This may also include the need to introduce new procedures for new instrument methods, equipment changes, or new equipment. Key responsibilities will include preparing samples from existing or developmental new materials, and fabricating samples for further testing.  

In this role, you will be using your prior related experience, job-related training, or vocational training to complete routine activities. You will need to have basic technical or administrative skills to follow the established and approved work processes. You will need to understand how these assigned duties relate to other jobs within your workgroup and be able to exchange basic technical information with other team members.

It is your responsibility to use standard operating procedures and/or analytical/scientific methods to address defined and straightforward problems. You must have the ability to select solutions from established options to resolve typical administrative, data organization, and data coordination problems. You will be accountable for managing your own assigned workload with no additional supervisory responsibilities. Your performance impacts the quality of your own work as well as your team’s work.

Responsibilities:

• Handles laboratory tasks including methods and procedures and recommends variations in problem solving approach with little or no supervision.
• Independently develops and implements experimental plans and acts responsible for a wide variety of laboratory tasks.
• Holds essential know-how on safe operation of experimentation and on equipment ownership and implements these to Dow standard.
• Accountable for the operation, maintenance and calibration of plastic processing and fabrication equipment.
• Understand study prioritization and queue management.
• Works with leadership and broader team to ensure requests are appropriately prioritized, completed and reported.
• Complies to all relevant EH&S requirements, and intervenes with others, as appropriate.
• Ensures appropriate ISO compliance across areas of responsibility.
• Maintains request database for equipment to ensure accurate queries/reports.
• Ensures all changes to materials or work procedures are reviewed, and MOC’d as needed.
• Uses knowledge of the relevant technology consisting of product, test method, and testing equipment to quickly screen alternative approaches and recommends and implements variations in approaches.
• Understands the group objectives and the business or group's value creating strategy and is an important contributor to the technical solutions that result in project and team success.
• Trains other work group members and contractors on specific work processes, equipment, and machinery.
• Prepares for and independently performs standard and some non-routine procedures using relevant equipment and instruments, for which activities may include sample or materials preparations, equipment setup and/or configurations, and proper handling and