Production Engineer Intern - Valent Biosciences, LLC

Production Engineer Intern

Valent BioSciences LLC is a worldwide leader in the research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of biorational products for the agriculture, public health, and forestry markets. The Valent Biosciences manufacturing site located on an expansive 73-acre site in Osage, IA is a state of the art 130,000 square foot plant and is the largest purpose-built biorational facility in the world. It serves as the manufacturing and quality control center for Valent Biosciences broad portfolio of fermentation products.

Description of Job: As a Production Engineer Intern at Valent BioSciences you will learn and be exposed to various engineering tasks, such as monitoring, troubleshooting, and improving current fermentation, recovery, and formulation processes. You will be assigned a product with particular emphasis on optimization to increase yield and reduce cycle times, while focusing on safety and environmental impact. You will collaborate with Research and Development Scientists as well as Production Engineers to determine feasibility of their proposed methods and will be required to work in the lab to help develop and optimize the process, write/update operating instructions and then if successful in the lab help with implementing the method in production. In addition, you will be exposed to good laboratory practices while using the lab fermentors and recovery equipment and documenting the experiments. You will be required to write a project charter, all applicable protocols and procedures, and if successful, provide a final method transfer report.

Key Responsibilities:

• Support and comply with all VBC safety and environmental training policies and programs.
• Under the supervision of the Production Engineering Team track and trend yield and quality data for each batch for all products to identify and eliminate special cause variation and recommend continuous improvement projects.
• Chart, track and analyze other production data to recommend lean manufacturing projects.
• Identify, develop and implement creative practical solutions to improve the economics of the fermentation, recovery and formulation processes.
• Write, update and maintain production master batch records, work instructions and other standard operating procedures and training manuals.
• Proactively identify problems and develop solutions to improve manufacturing operations and safety.
• Assist production with troubleshooting, drive root cause analysis investigations and implement fail safe solutions as corrective/preventive actions (CAPA).

Preferred Qualifications and Education: Majoring in bioengineering, biotechnology, biochemical engineering, biology, chemical engineering or related fields is required. Must have excellent verbal and written communication skills. Must be able to work independently and as a part of an interdisciplinary, diverse team. Excellent computer skills are desired. Must have flexibility to work some limited off-shift and weekend hours to support all production shifts when needed.

What We Offer: We work together to power our sustainable future. Here's what drives us: Valent BioSciences, LLC has a strong commitment to both sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). In fact, being a responsible corporate citizen has been ingrained in our culture since the company's founding. Today, it remains at the forefront of everything we do. Valent BioSciences LLC is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation and/or identity, national origin, citizenship, immigration status, disabilities, or protected veteran status.