Research and Development Specialist Job Opening

Job Description

Highland Industries specializes in the conception, design and delivery of high-performance textiles. Our customers in the Automotive, Industrial, Aerospace and other various fields have complex, ever-changing needs. To meet those needs, our engineers don’t just fabricate solutions—we invent them. By combining the latest materials science with decades of expertise, we can meet or exceed the most demanding performance and regulatory standards.

Highland Industries has an immediate need for an R&D Specialist to work in our Cheraw, South Carolina Manufacturing Facility.

Position Summary: In this position, the Specialist, will partner with a world class team to be creative and innovative in the development of new products as well as enhanced modifications to existing products; the successful candidate will interact closely with current customers as well as potential customers, in order to understand their needs; this will require innovation management, and will meet the tasks of technology management; This will require basic and fundamental research, technology development, advanced development, concept development, new product development, process development, prototyping,

R&D portfolio management, technology transfer, etc.

Essential duties and responsibilities include the following: (Other duties may be assigned)

• Make safety your number one priority; attend all required safety training and set the example with your personal safety on the job
• Conduct all product development work on assigned projects, according to the assigned guidelines
• Setup and carryout laboratory investigations and projects, record and report on results
• Design products and processes than not only meet customer requirements but also are statistically feasible
• Relay important technical, processing and quality standards to assigned associates
• Prepare necessary chemical formulas and follow protocol for introducing new chemicals into the laboratory and plants
• Assist in production, quality control & process improvement in defects analysis and corrective actions
• Take an active part in conducting development trials
• Analyze current process shortcomings; evaluate new process methods, procedures, and equipment or control techniques
• Meet with customers to understand product requirements and support sales/marketing in efforts to introduce new product to customers; answer questions pertaining to the technical advantages of the product
• Work with the costing department to produce estimate and final product costs based upon the raw materials, product design and process parameters
• Meet with suppliers to discuss new raw materials requirements and new product development initiatives.
• Work with suppliers to conduct root cause analysis for understanding undesirable product characteristics and to understand the impact of the final product or process performance.
• Develop innovative materials and or processes to grow the business

Job Requirements

Supervisory Responsibilities: None

Qualifications:

Must Have:

• Bachelor’s Degree from an Accredited College or University; four to six years of related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience or equivalent textile-related work experience
• Willingness to relocate to Cheraw SC and work in the factory (as opposed to working from home)
• Creative Ability to generate new product ideas
• Willing to learn
• Strong work ethic
• Thorough – great planning, execution & follow-up

Strongly Preferred:

• Expertise in the technical field – CK, weft, or wovens
• Technical design of fabrics (how to build the fabric from fiber/yarn choice to pattern choice to finish routing)
• History of running both jobs – Mill Technical Support and R&D
• Reasonably fast typist
• Good computer skills – Excel data manipulation, technical report writing, weekly project status, internet searches for new technology and markets, email, file attachments, databases, creating proper sample labels, scanning, converting files from one format to another, using subdirectories, highly organized & efficient with a laptop
• Reliable & Professional – attendance, punctuality, appearance, behavior, good with customers & vendors
• Statistical training or an understanding of statistics.

Preferred:

• Broad Experience with textile pipeline: fibers, yarns, other mills we may work with
• Experience with Textile Physical Testing – knowing which pattern delivers what type performance results
• Finishing process experience, at least for their technology if not for most all textiles
• Upwardly mobile & highly professional – candidate for promotion & taking on new challenges/assignments, Great presentation skills
• Scientific Approach to Problem Solving – make a plan, collect & analyze data, render recommendations
• Willing to travel to support projects & sales

Nice to have:

• Dyeing & Finishing Textile Chemistry academic training & mill experience -
• Organic Chemistry – 2 semesters
• Textile Mill Environmental experience
• Sustainability training
• Experience in Textile Manufacturing, Time spent managing production/people
• Excellence with MS PowerPoint
• Six Sigma & Kaizen training
• Previous experience with the PPAP process.

Please visit our website at http://highlandindustries.com

We are an Affirmative Action/EEO employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability or veteran status.

NO 3RD PARTY/UNSOLICTED RESUMES ACCEPTED!

Job Type: Full-time

Experience:

• Related: 4 years (Required)

Education:

• Bachelor's (Required)