Sr. Engineer - Minerals & Petrography

Job Description

Job Description

About Us
Original Composites and Fiberglass is a global leader in glass reinforcement solutions for the composites industry. Recently separated from Owens Corning, the business now operates independently under the Praana ownership model, continuing a strong legacy of innovation, manufacturing excellence, and customer partnership.

Purpose of the Role
As a member of the Technology & Capital Delivery organization, the Sr. Engineer, R&D - Americas Minerals & Petrography serves as the regional technical expert for mineral raw materials, glass chemistry, petrographic analysis, and analytical characterization across the Original Composites & Fiberglass Americas manufacturing network. This role advances technical understanding of mineral systems, glass defects, raw material performance, furnace-related quality issues, and sustainability opportunities to support safe, stable, and cost-effective operations. The position partners with plant technical teams, Operations, Innovation, Quality, Supply Chain, Sourcing, and external suppliers to improve product quality, process capability, raw material utilization, and manufacturing performance.

Job Responsibilities Safety Excellence

• Promote a culture of safety and environmental stewardship in all laboratory, plant, and field activities.
• Ensure compliance with applicable safety procedures, laboratory standards, and environmental requirements.
• Support safe execution of trials, testing, sample collection, and technical investigations.
• Participate in risk assessments and technical reviews associated with new materials and process changes.

Minerals & Raw Material Expertise

• Serve as the Americas subject matter expert for minerals, raw materials, and batch constituents used in glass manufacturing.
• Evaluate raw material performance, consistency, purity, availability, and impact on furnace operations and product quality.
• Support supplier qualification, alternative source evaluations, and sustainability initiatives involving recycled and decarbonized materials.
• Partner with Sourcing and Operations teams on strategic mineral-related challenges and opportunities.
• Develop technical recommendations for material specifications, acceptance criteria, and change management.

Petrography & Analytical Leadership

• Lead petrographic analysis and characterization of glass, defects, inclusions, refractory contamination, stones, seeds, cords, and other quality concerns.
• Utilize microscopy, SEM, XRD analytical tools, and laboratory techniques to determine root causes of manufacturing and product issues.
• Develop and maintain best practices for petrographic investigations, sample handling, documentation, and technical reporting.
• Interpret analytical results and communicate findings and recommended actions to plant, quality, and leadership teams.
• Lead petrography of OCF plants for supporting escalations analysis and training for global network

Manufacturing & Process Support

• Provide technical support to manufacturing plants on glass chemistry, batch formulation, melting performance, and process capability.
• Positive impact on continuous improvement batch house projects via measurables of cycle time, reducing batch weighing variations (Cpk), and batch house maintenance/reliability across the network
• Support troubleshooting related to raw materials, melting, refractory interactions, and product quality.
• Analyze operational and laboratory data to identify trends, risks, and improvement opportunities.
• Support process optimization initiatives that improve quality, productivity, sustainability, and cost competitiveness.
• Provide technical support during major furnace events, trials, rebuilds, startups, and material transitions as required.

Innovation, Standardization & Knowledge Transfer

• Support development and implementation of innovative mineral technologies, recycled materials, and sustainability initiatives.
• Participate in research focused on raw material performance, furnace efficiency, emissions reduction, and circular economy objectives.
• Collaborate with Innovation teams to transition new technologies and formulations into manufacturing.
• Develop technical standards, procedures, training materials, and repeatable methods for regional use.
• Capture lessons learned and mentor plant engineers and technical personnel in glass chemistry, minerals, defect analysis, and petrography.

Collaboration & Technical Influence

• Build strong partnerships across Operations, Innovation, Quality, Capital Delivery, Supply Chain, Sourcing, and external partners.
• Communicate complex technical findings clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Influence decisions through data, expertise, sound judgment, and collaborative problem solving.
• Share best practices across plants and contribute to a connected regional and global technical network.

Job Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Materials Science, Geology, Mineralogy, Ceramic Engineering, Glass Science, Chemical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Demonstrated experience in glass manufacturing, industrial minerals, raw materials, analytical laboratories, or another process manufacturing environment.
• Strong knowledge of glass chemistry, batch formulation, mineral systems, and melting processes.
• Experience performing root-cause investigations and translating technical findings into corrective actions.
• Knowledge of petrographic analysis, microscopy techniques, defect characterization, and material characterization methods.
• Ability to interpret complex data and translate findings into actionable business and manufacturing recommendations.
• Strong project management, technical writing, presentation, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Ability to travel throughout the Americas region approximately 25-40%, with travel fluctuating based on plant priorities and project needs.

Preferred Requirements

• Advanced degrees in Glass Science, Geology, Mineralogy, Ceramic Engineering, Materials Science, or a related field.
• Experience with fiberglass, glass manufacturing, refractories, industrial minerals, or comparable process industries.
• Knowledge of analytical techniques such as SEM/EDS, XRF, XRD, optical microscopy, image analysis, or related technologies.
• Experience supporting sustainability, recycled materials, alternative raw materials, or raw material innovation initiatives.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Provides technical leadership for minerals, raw materials, glass chemistry, petrography, and analytical investigations across Americas manufacturing locations.
• Supports manufacturing, innovation, quality, sourcing, and capital project teams as a senior individual contributor and subject matter expert.
• Leads regional efforts related to raw material qualification, defect reduction, glass quality improvement, and process optimization.
• Serves as a technical resource for furnace performance, batch formulation, raw material performance, and glass structure characterization.
• Collaborates with internal and external laboratories, universities, suppliers, and technical experts to advance OCF capabilities.
• Reduction in mineral-, glass-, and raw-material-related quality defects and repeat events.
• Glass fiber manufacturing performance stable operation contribution and meet annually defined the team goal setting
• Improved raw material consistency, qualification effectiveness, and supplier technical performance.
• Faster identification and sustainable resolution of manufacturing quality issues.
• Successful implementation of alternative, recycled, and lower-carbon raw material initiatives.
• Improved plant technical capability through standards, training, knowledge transfer, and repeatable analytical methods.
• Measurable contribution to safety, quality, productivity, cost, and sustainability objectives.

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