Principal Molding Engineer

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.

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.

This position works out of our Lake Forest, IL location in the Core Diagnostics Division We’re empowering smarter medical and economic decision making to help transform the way people manage their health at all stages of life. Every day, more than 10 million tests are run on Abbott’s diagnostics instruments, providing lab results for millions of people.

As the Principal Molding Engineer, you’ll will be responsible for the molding activities to attain strategic engineering objectives for the Abbott Diagnostics Division along with ensuring compliance with safety regulations, policies, and procedures. An engineering professional who, working with little or no supervision, applies scientific knowledge, engineering knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to complete assignments related to molded and assembled consumables. Manages multiple, often concurrent, projects and meets department deadlines.

The Principal Molding Engineer is responsible for the implementation and ongoing support of molded plastic parts and will serve as a subject matter expert in the field of mold design and process within the regional engineering team. Manage molded commodities over life cycle including tactical and strategic activities to support ongoing business such as product, process, quality, and cost improvement initiatives, supplier, and resin changes, obsolescence. Troubleshoot molding issues in conjunction with supplier and lead/support internal investigations as needed. The person hired will work closely with molding suppliers to ensure reliable supply of parts in addition to the below.

• Responsible for utilizing and working within the Quality System in order to maintain effectiveness of the system.

• Perform capacity analysis for molds, presses and assembly automation and make recommendations for future investment.

• Concurrent management of multiple projects.

• Development of cost estimates for capital and expense.

• Regularly interact with molding suppliers to meet quality and cost objectives.

• Lead the mold design activities in coordination with mold suppliers, Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) and validation of molding manufacturing cells in accordance with division engineering best practices and procedures.

• Drive Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA) for assigned projects.

• Create and maintain project schedules, oversee cross-functional team activities to achieve program objectives - Transfer of molds to new suppliers, startup of new suppliers.

• Maintain project controls and reporting for cost scope and schedule; develop execution strategy including procurement support; balance multiple demands within assignment, e.g., execute contingency plans to recover from schedule slippage or financial overruns.

• Interface frequently with inter-organization and outside customer contacts. Represent the organization in providing solutions to difficult technical issues associated with projects.

• Have awareness of the potential consequences (defects & failure modes) of design changes to established processes.

• Act as the subject matter expert for injection mold design reviews and development of an entire molding manufacturing cell with low and high cavitation molds.

• Participate in cross-functional teams to investigate and resolve molding issues.

• Specify all molding cell equipment from mold, molding machines, EoAT, machine side automation, etc.  including process design and development, tooling/automation design, procurement, and qualification plan.

• Full understanding and development of the relationship between molding key process input variables (KPIVs) and key process output variables (KPOVs) for plastic components throughout the value stream.

• Drive Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) at equipment manufacturers per ADD equipment URS and mold build standards. 

• Write specifications, design verification/validation protocols and report.

• Provide technical process support to other engineers within the group and mentor and develop junior team members.

• Read, challenge, develop and maintain a working knowledge of Quality Procedures and Work Instructions and apply knowledge to support completion of mold qualification.

• Lead new mold testing and sampling, DOEs, material sampling, engineering changes, etc.

• Internal lead for supplier driven changes impacting molding equipment.

• Capacity planning in alignment with long term plan and short-term changes in demand.

• Will work regularly with operations, supply chain, quality and various suppliers and perform capacity analysis for molds, injection molding machines, and makes recommendations for future investment.

• Manage measurement system analysis, design control and execution of equipment selection, process development, validation, FMEA and Design of Experiments (DOEs). 

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or technical disciplining desired, or equivalent experience plus demonstrated competence.  

• 5+ years technical work experience with 3+ years of plastic injection and/or blow molding design and process support experience, preferably in the medical device industry.

• Knowledge of plastics processes, resins, tooling required.

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering in a technical discipline such as Plastics Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, etc.

• Knowledge of mold making and design fundamentals, molding process development, plastic resin behavior and required tooling/equipment.

• 5+ years technical work experience with 3+ years of plastic injection and/or blow molding design and process support experience

• Knowledge of plastics processes, resins, tooling required.

• 8+ years of experience in a molding engineering position preferably in the diagnostics or medical device industry.

• Knowledge of FDA QSR's and ISO requirements preferred.

• Knowledge of PFMEA and DFMEA.

• Knowledge of Abbott’s internal Design Plan process.

• Working knowledge of MS Office products including MS Word and advanced MS Excel and PowerPoint capability.

• Must have proven ability to participate in team atmosphere, exhibit and create a sense of urgency and maintain effective working relationships with peers, customers, and vendors.

* Participants who complete a short wellness assessment qualify for FREE coverage in our HIP PPO medical plan. Free coverage applies in the next calendar year.