Product Engineer

ROLE OVERVIEW

Provides technical support, advice and strategic direction concerning technical issues. Develops sustainable, cost-effective, and competitive sourcing and manufacturing solutions and structures. Actively establishes internal and external innovation networks for benchmarking purposes and keeps abreast of manufacturing, packaging and new product trends aligned to the organisation’s strategy and roadmap. Delivers a strategically aligned innovation and renovation pipeline with new products that conform to quality and safety standards and are executed on time to agreed costs. Manages the Capex process and ROI justification.  Adheres strictly to the relevant Liquor Product Laws and WHO international codes of liquor products.

 

The product engineer will be responsible for designing/reengineering and creating products and production processes. Duties will include constantly analysing competing products/processes to determine and establish customer needs and requirements. The product engineer will ensure that Edward Snell exceeds customer expectations to benefit Edward Snell’s competitiveness in the market.

 

The successful candidate must be familiar with the entire product development cycle, have current knowledge of technological advancements to implement during the engineering phase, and possess experience in the procurement field.

 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

 -not limited to-

1. Product Development (NPD & EPD)

NPD

• Develop product ideas based on customer audience interests.
• Identify customer problems and create functional prototypes offering a solution.
• Coordinate prototype submissions with relevant personnel for approval.
• Perform market analysis on competing products and brands.
• Analyse market and industry trends and conditions.
• Analyse feasibility, cost, and return on investment for product ideas.
• Develop and manage the budget requirements for projects.
• Develop a capability study for the new products and coordinate the sourcing and procuring necessary technical requirements to produce the prototype in mass quantities.
• Plan and coordinate the technical trials for the prototypes.
• Oversee the mass production of successful prototypes.
• Liaison with the critical stakeholders in the innovation process, which includes the MD, Chairman, Marketing Director, Head of Innovation, and Portfolio managers.
• Participate in cross-functional innovation forums.

  EPD

• Conduct an in-depth analysis of existing products and production processes to identify inefficiencies and bottlenecks.
• Develop and implement product and process improvement strategies, considering operational and technological solutions.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to gather requirements, design new products/processes, and ensure successful implementation.
• Utilize data analysis tools and techniques to identify trends, patterns, and areas of improvement.
• Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of product improvement initiatives and make necessary adjustments as needed.
• Provide training and guidance to employees on new products, processes and best practices.
• Stay current with industry trends and advancements in business process reengineering methodologies.

 

2. Project Management

• Ensure the successful implementation of Innovations, value engineering, or other product-related projects per business needs and strategic goals.
• Provide expert-level guidance to the product-related project teams regarding processes, systems, tools, and methods, as well as communication, integration, and successful team dynamics through weekly facilitation sessions.
• Integrate with diverse stakeholders by engaging and facilitating with multiple diverse groups across a spectrum of wants and needs to deliver successful product development projects.
• Engage and facilitate with multiple diverse groups across a spectrum of wants and needs.
• Build professional relationships with all stakeholders through engagement, regular communication, and feedback, using quality metrics and project status reports as drivers.
• Ensure accurate cost estimation based on the innovation brief and project scope.
• Manage project budget within project scope.
• Deliver projects on target within the due date and budget according to the scope and project governance.
• Ensure traceability of defined benefits throughout the project life cycle and escalate any deviations.
• Ensure scope management, including coverage of the brief requirements and based on estimations.
• Manage delivery of project against agreed schedule.
• Meet requirements by advising on the most appropriate Project management approach, identify project stakeholders, communicate their roles, define the level of participation in the project, map their communication needs and manage stakeholder engagement strategies through the project plan.
• Manage each stakeholder group actively through the change cycle.
• Conduct business change impact across processes, systems, and roles according to the change management plan.
• Manage the stakeholders by understanding the behaviours and operations and defining strategies in the project schedule.
• Keep clients and management informed.
• Ensure the change management process is led and supported by the client.
• Ensure client needs are accurately captured in scope and signed off by stakeholders.
• Ensure satisfactory post-implementation review and perform retrospectives/inspect & adapt sessions as required.
• Ensure client needs are accurately captured in scope and signed off by stakeholders.
• Ensure sufficient resource allocation.
• Manage the delivery of medium projects according to prevailing Project Management methodology.

 

3. Procurement

• In this role, you will be responsible for understanding, communicating and helping implement local and international sourcing strategies, including new or changing items and suppliers.
• Provide the planning and production departments with information and requirements necessary to source the input ingredients.
• Proactively understand the business needs and requirements within the assigned scope for functional and plant-level requirements to support cost-effective sourcing strategies.
• Carry out as directed any required data retrieval, analysis, and representation, mapping how ordering and channels work within the downstream sourcing space and identifying improvements to be targeted.
• Interface with local and international suppliers to help with supplier development or switch-out activities, extract savings, drive efficiencies, and introduce new technologies for the business to leverage.
• Work with innovations, sales, planning and production to integrate sourcing plans and outcomes in annual budgets and price planning processes as required.
• As directed by the marketing and innovations, act to integrate innovation, renovation and post-award cost improvement elements from suppliers into all in-scope functional or production processes, ensuring that all supplies to that site adhere to Snell’s quality requirements and all actions from audit events are acted upon.
• Provide information and support for the Supply Chain’s risk mitigation strategies – (e.g. Prioritized list of materials for risk analysis, input for criteria for risk analysis).

 

QUALIFICATIONS AND MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

• A Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering or a related field is required for this position; a Master’s Degree will be advantageous.
• 5 years experience working as a Product Engineer.
• Strong knowledge of the industry and market trends.
• Experience working on multiple products with demonstrated abilities in developing Beer, FABS, Fresh juice, Wine, Cream liqueurs and other beverages.
• Proven project management skills. A portfolio of successful projects is required.
• Demonstrated success in delivering competitive advantage to the business through developing and implementing sourcing strategies for input materials.
• Able to work efficiently with minimal supervision.
• Flexible to travel to suppliers as required for the job.
• Excellent stakeholder management and proven relationship-building skills.

 

SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

• Critical Thinking
• Growth Mindset
• Solution-driven
• Commercial Orientation
• Influence with Impact
• Internal Collaboration
• Build and Maintain External Relationships
• Adaptability
• Accountability
• Grit