Principal Molding Engineer at Abbott Laboratories

Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 114,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries.

About Abbott

Abbott is a global healthcare leader, creating breakthrough science to improve people’s health. We’re always looking towards the future, anticipating changes in medical science and technology.

Working at Abbott

At Abbott, you can do work that matters, grow, and learn, care for yourself and family, be your true self and live a full life. You’ll also have access to:

• Career development with an international company where you can grow the career you dream of.
• Free medical coverage for employees* via the Health Investment Plan (HIP) PPO
• An excellent retirement savings plan with high employer contribution
• Tuition reimbursement, the Freedom 2 Save student debt program and FreeU education benefit - an affordable and convenient path to getting a bachelor’s degree.
• A company recognized as a great place to work in dozens of countries around the world and named one of the most admired companies in the world by Fortune.
• A company that is recognized as one of the best big companies to work for as well as a best place to work for diversity, working mothers, female executives, and scientists.

The Opportunity

Our location in Lake Forest, IL or San Diego, CA currently has an opportunity for a Principal Molding Engineer. In this role, you will be responsible for driving improvement in the quality of components sourced from outside suppliers. The Principal Molding Engineer will provide technical support in the selection of suppliers and develop acceptance criteria for materials and component qualification at the supplier. This role also provides technical support to drive supplier corrective action, address manufacturing yield issues, and resolve field failures.

The position is project-focused, specifically on cost and risk reductions, and is integral to new supplier/component development.

What You'll Do

• Support New Product Introduction (NPI) efforts, work with design engineers and suppliers to optimize design drawings and supplier manufacturing processes so that high quality parts are consistently delivered.
• Provide engineering oversight, support and consultancy to suppliers on process validations, design for manufacture (DFM), material selection, and process development.
• Identify and prioritize parts (components and assemblies) requiring supplier development activities.
• Review, understand and incorporate technical design risk assessments into the part evaluation process.
• Lead the technical aspects of Problem Solving, Failure Analysis, and Corrective and Preventative Actions with suppliers. Promote a culture of structured problem solving with suppliers.
• Monitor and control the progress of supplier engineering projects to ensure sound application of engineering principles are used and design intent is being followed. Assist Supplier Quality Engineering and suppliers to develop Component Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (CFMEA). Responsible for filing the completed documents.
• Assist suppliers in developing final test requirements to ensure products meet specifications. Work with the Incoming Quality Control department to evaluate parts and resolve issues.
• Provide technical support to product cost reduction and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Escalate potential supplier manufacturing and compliance issues. Travel to supplier sites as necessary.
• Provide technical support in failure analysis, re-design and drawing updates for discrepant production components, assemblies and field returns. • Cognitive Skills- Works on problems of moderate scope where analysis of situations or data requires a review of identifiable factors.
• Exercises judgment within defined procedures and practices to determine appropriate action.
• Has a broad knowledge of technical alternatives and an understanding of their impact on the systems environment.
• Influence/Leadership- Cultivates a wide range of internal networks and begins to develop an extensive external network of resources to facilitate completion of tasks.
• May lead a project team of moderate scope. Provides guidance to less experienced staff. Acts as a mentor to lower-level individual contributors.
• Influence exerted at peer level and occasionally at first levels of management.
• Planning/Organization- Plans, organizes, and prioritizes own daily work routine to meet established schedule.
• Decision Making/Impact- Exercises authority and judgment within defined limits to determine appropriate action.
• Failure to achieve results or erroneous decisions or recommendations may cause delays in program schedules and may result in the allocation of additional resources.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE YOU’LL BRING 

REQUIRED 

• Bachelor’s Degree
• 2-5 years of related work experience with an understanding of functional areas
• Experience with manufacturing processes, including machining, extrusion, molding, welding.
• Experience with GDT (Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing), quality measurement technique and use of SolidWorks.

Preferred

• Bachelor’s degree in industrial or mechanical engineering, technical field, or material science preferred.
• Knowledge of FDA QSR's and ISO requirements preferred.
• AIM Institute or equivalent certificate preferred.
• Experience with GDT (Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing), quality measurement technique and use of SolidWorks.
• Experience with process validation, six-sigma root cause analysis and statistical software such as Minitab or JMP preferred.

WHAT WE OFFER

At Abbott, you can have a good job that can grow into a great career. We offer:

• Training and career development, with onboarding programs for new employees and tuition assistance
• Financial security through competitive compensation, incentives and retirement plans
• Health care and well-being programs including medical, dental, vision, wellness and occupational health programs.
• Paid time off
• 401(k) retirement savings with a generous company match
• The stability of a company with a record of strong financial performance and history of being actively involved in local communities.

Learn more about our benefits that add real value to your life to help you live fully:  http://www.abbottbenefits.com/pages/candidate.aspx

Follow your career aspirations to Abbott for diverse opportunities with a company that provides the growth and strength to build your future. Abbott is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to employee diversity.

The base pay for this position is $95,000.00 – $190,000.00. In specific locations, the pay range may vary from the range posted.