Industrialisation Engineer

At Eakin Healthcare we put our patient at the heart of everything we do.

Fifty years ago, it all started with one man’s mission: pharmacist, Tom George Eakin. He saw his patients struggling with leaking urostomy pouches and decided enough was enough. He got to work and formulated what would become the game-changing, eakin Cohesive® seal.

Fast forward to today, and we’re still keeping it in the family. We’ve grown a lot since then, both organically and through acquisitions. We now have a team of over 700 colleagues across three manufacturing sites and 12 sales and distribution centres. We’re making a difference in three therapeutic areas:

• Ostomy
• Respiratory
• Surgical

We’re proud to export our innovative products to over 60 countries through a network of 40 distributors plus our own offices in Japan, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium and Luxemburg.

We’re good at what we do – come and join us and you can benefit from:

• Bonus
• 25 days holiday plus bank holidays (rising to 28)
• Option to buy holiday days
• Wellbeing Programme
• Health Cash Plan
• Pension
• Life Assurance
• Enhanced Maternity/Paternity
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Referral Scheme
• Long Service Awards
• Free Parking

ABOUT THE ROLE

Reporting directly to the Engineering Manager this is an exciting opportunity to join a growing team, and work across various functions. Working in close partnership with our Product Designers and Production team to ensure all new products transition from Design to Production seamlessly within the Group.  This role is a partially hands-on role and will suit an individual who can quickly build professional working relationships, work within a team, and enjoy working to a high degree of autonomy.

KEY ACTIVITIES

• Responsible for all design transfer activities.
• Contribute to the development of new devices, from early-stage product concepts to ready for market, in line with Eakin’s development strategy, Quality system and Development Process.
• Contribute as a key team member to allocated work-streams within development projects, to meet project targets and ensure end product meets with customer expectations and operational needs.
• Provide input to technical reports and design documentation for internal and external users to review ensuring that the content is accurate and informed.
• Adopt a continuous improvement approach by proactively seeking out development opportunities by learning and attending training courses to ensure that department has right skills to deliver business needs.
• Provide engineering and process knowledge to input to activities and business decision making within your speciality area.
• As a key member of the New Product Development (NPD) project team investigate all manufacturing solutions and liaise with Production to ensure agreed production systems are in place by the agreed project milestones
• Develop technical specifications for new manufacturing systems.
• Support process validation activities.
• Advise and coordinate with the R&D team on any new equipment, tooling etc required for new products or process improvements ensuring the lead times are considered against project plans for product launches.
• Continually review existing and new processes, implementing process improvements and keeping under review the effectiveness of changes.
• Visit trade shows and develop key working relationships with equipment suppliers to ensure out manufacturing systems reflect the current best in class systems.
• Ensure all associated Quality documentation and reports are maintained and kept up to date.
• Required to make decisions within remit above and to escalate issues with significant risk/implication to relevant Technical Lead(s), Project Manager(s) or Engineer(s).
• Uses a range of standard and well-established methods to guide decisions (for example Design of Experiments) and ultimately establish themselves as a thought leader within the company for decisions related to the Industrialisation of new devices.
• Objectives will be regularly reviewed and set in line with company plans.

Other

• To adhere to the company’s Equal Opportunities policy and Dignity at work policy in all activities and to actively promote equality of opportunity wherever possible.
• To be responsible for your own health and safety and that of your colleagues, in accordance with the company’s’ Health and Safety policy
• To adhere to the company’s Quality policy and Environmental policy
• To undertake other duties as may be reasonably required.

KEY SKILLS

Essential

• Degree or equivalent qualification in an engineering or related discipline
• Previous experience in a similar role(s) within a manufacturing environment.
• Able to manage own schedule and work in a fast-paced environment on multiple projects whilst still delivering to plan.
• Hold a valid driving licence and able and willing to travel internationally and between company sites
• Proficient in the use of 2D and 3D CAD systems

Desirable

• Knowledge of ISO 13485 quality systems or the equivalent.
• Able to demonstrate a working knowledge of electro-mechanical systems.
• Experience with automation and robotic control systems.
• Experience with web handling systems.
• Experience with polymer processing systems.
• Previous experience in a similar role(s) within a manufacturing environment.
• Working knowledge of continuous improvement methods to improve overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), quality, reduce cost, inefficiencies, and waste.
• Experience of designing and conducting Process Capability Studies – this will be a significant aspect of the job.
• Experience in creating and carrying out process validation activities.
• Experience of sourcing, purchasing, and installing manufacturing equipment ideally leading but as part of a team is acceptable.

KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

Internal

• Working alongside the Design Engineers to provide leadership in the transition of Designs to Manufactured and launched Products.
• Working alongside the Test Engineer(s) to ensure test programmes are measuring the important parameters in support of Manufacturing.
• Working alongside the Mechanical Engineer(s) to ensure that the Manufacturing Processes are within identified parameters arrived at through theoretical modelling. As such you will be key to ensuring that the models reflect reality.
• Working alongside Manufacturing to ensure the impact of technical decisions are understood fully by manufacturing.
• Quality - ensuring all documentation is of an appropriate and consistent standard.

External

• Suppliers – principally machinery suppliers but also material suppliers.
• Universities and other sources of ‘best in class thinking’.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• No direct reports
• Occasional UK and international travel requirements, generally no more than 1 week per month but very much project dependant.

COMPETENCIES

Tech Savvy
Anticipating and adopting innovations in business-building digital and technology applications.

Manages Complexity
Making sense of complex, high quantity, and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems.

Action Oriented
Taking on new opportunities and tough challenges with a sense of urgency, high energy, and enthusiasm.

Optimizes Work Processes
Knowing the most effective and efficient processes to get things done, with a focus on continuous improvement.

Collaborates
Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives.

Instills Trust
Gaining the confidence and trust of others through honesty, integrity and authenticity.

Nimble Learning
Actively learning through experimentation when tackling new problems, using both successes and failures as learning fodder.

Being Resilient
Rebounding from setbacks and adversity when facing difficult situations.