Title: Senior Process Control Engineer

Location: La Porte, TX

Who we are:

Voted one of the Nation's Best and Brightest Companies to Work for, Kuraray America, Inc. (KAI) is a global leader in specialty chemical, fiber and resin production. With top-of-the-line research and production facilities located in Houston, Texas, and a vast network of supply from around the world, Kuraray leads the industry in specialty dental, fiber, resin, and elastomer products. Kuraray America is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuraray Company, Ltd. Based in Tokyo, Japan. Kuraray has operations in 28 countries and employees more than 10,000 employees, including over 750 in the United States.

Why Kuraray:

Kuraray is building a better tomorrow, today. Our team members are dedicated to expanding our business with committed professionals who share essential values such as integrity, excellence, teamwork, and accountability.

As a part of Kuraray America, Inc., our team shares the advantages of working for the leader in specialty chemicals, resins and fibers. Our international presence and resources allow us to be a world-leading innovator in the industries we service. Yet, despite our size, our people are more than just a number. As a new team member you can expect to earn responsibility quickly. Our commitment to our people is visible in our comprehensive benefits package. As a Kuraray team member, you will have the opportunity to enjoy competitive salaries and benefits, incentive opportunities, and an excellent work environment.

Position Summary: The primary purpose of the position of the process control engineer is to provide regulatory process control for the different unit operations composing the processes for the manufacture of vinyl acetate monomer and vinyl alcohol copolymers. Additionally, the process control engineer will be responsible for coordinating the maintenance and development of some advanced process control systems, SIL rated safety systems, and small projects.

Responsibilities:

• Work closely with plant operations and the technical department to optimize the overall process control of the vinyl acetate monomer and vinyl alcohol copolymer production unit.
• Identify and propose control improvements to existing control strategies and propose new and improved strategies, when warranted
• Manage, implement, and optimize process control projects, as directed by management.
• Be the process control technology expert and champion of regulatory and advanced control applications by taking process control initiatives that will improve manufacturing costs, reduce emissions, and improve overall plant safety and plant operability.
• Work with the E&I engineering team as needed for all the process control issues and projects regarding the maintenance of the DCS system, installation and configuration of any electronic hardware required and maintenance of the data historian.
• Actively participate in unit troubleshooting, unit start-up and incident investigations.
• Perform programming and DCS configuration changes.
• Assist maintenance with daily I/E work.
• Be one of a group of contacts for DCS process and safety interlocks.
• Monitor alarm management according to ISA 18.2
• Change alarms and DCS settings.
• Tune control loops.
• Perform monitoring of Aspentech data historian.
• Participate in Process Hazards reviews.
• Design new safety instrumented functions.
  

Qualifications:

• B.S. Chemical Engineering,
• Minimum of 8-12 years of experience of directly related work experience in regulatory process control and advanced process control in the chemical manufacturing. Of particular interest is a chemical engineer with wide variety of unit operations and chemical plant equipment (such as distillation columns, refrigeration units, cooling towers, compressors, instrumentation, and safety systems).
• Demonstrated experience and knowledge in a variety of chemical processes in general and of process control, advanced process control, chemical reaction engineering and distillation operations.
• Hands on knowledge of basic PID controllers, PID controllers tuning and a good understanding of advanced process control techniques such as advanced regulatory, multivariable, model predictive, non-linear, feedforward, advance process optimization, etc.
• Demonstrated collaboration and influencing skills.
• Heavy experience with Honeywell TDC3000 distributed control systems strong preferred. Experience with other distributed control systems considered a plus.
• Experience with operators' training simulators and chemical process flowsheet simulators such as Aspen Plus is advantageous. Familiarity with dynamic simulation of chemical processes is also a plus.
• Experience with real time optimization.
• Very strong oral and written communication skills including communication across language barriers with foreign expatriates. Ability to understand and explain complex problems and solutions.
• Ability to plan, direct, and execute multiple projects simultaneously.
• Must be able to work with limited direct supervision.

We offer a competitive compensation package that includes base pay and an annual incentive. This program is designed to reward individual performance and align overall rewards with corporate and team performance.

Our employees enjoy an attractive healthcare benefits package, including wellness reimbursements to promote a healthy lifestyle. We also provide an Educational Reimbursement Plan, helping our employees fulfill their career goals, as well as a competitive 401(k) through Fidelity Investments.

Please apply online at: http://www.kuraray.us.com/careers/

Kuraray America, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer AA M/F/disability/protected veteran status

No third party candidates accepted.