Job Description

Experience: 5–8 Years

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Industry: Rubber / Elastomers / Rubber Products

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Department: New Product Development

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Position: Senior Engineer – NPD

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Location: Kuruli

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Reporting To: Factory Manager

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Job Purpose

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To lead and execute new product development activities for rubber products from concept to successful production, ensuring the products meet customer requirements, quality standards, cost targets, and timelines.

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Key Responsibilities

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- Handle end-to-end New Product Development (NPD) activities from customer requirement/technical specifications through trials, validation, and commercialization.
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- Study customer drawings, specifications, standards, and application requirements and convert them into product and process requirements.
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- Develop and optimize rubber compounds, including selection of polymers, fillers, plasticizers, curing systems, and additives as applicable.
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- Coordinate with R&D;, Quality, Production, Tool Room, Purchase, and Sales/Customer teams for successful product development.
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- Prepare and review BOM, process specifications, technical documents, trial reports, and development records.
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- Plan and conduct laboratory, moulding, extrusion, mixing, and production trials as applicable to the product.
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- Analyze trial results and identify opportunities for improvement in compound formulation, process parameters, dimensional accuracy, and product performance.
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- Conduct root-cause analysis for development and trial failures using tools such as 5 Why, Fishbone, DOE, and other problem-solving techniques.
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- Support development of prototypes, samples, and pre-production batches within agreed timelines.
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- Validate products through appropriate physical, chemical, mechanical, aging, and application-specific testing.
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- Ensure products comply with applicable customer specifications, ASTM/ISO/DIN or other relevant standards.
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- Work on cost reduction, material optimization,



alternate raw-material development, and process improvement.
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- Support successful transfer of new products from development to regular production with defined process controls.
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- Interact with customers during technical discussions, sample submissions, development reviews, and technical issue resolution, where required.
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- Monitor development projects against quality, cost, delivery, and performance targets.
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- Maintain proper documentation of development history, trials, test results, changes, and lessons learned.
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- Support PPAP/APQP, FMEA, Control Plan, MSA, capability studies, and other customer-specific requirements, where applicable.
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- Identify opportunities for product innovation and improvement in existing products.
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Required Technical Skills

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- Strong knowledge of rubber compounding and processing.
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- Positive understanding of rubber raw materials such as NR, SBR, BR, EPDM, NBR, CR, silicone, FKM, etc., depending on product/application.
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- Knowledge of mixing, calendaring, extrusion, compression/injection/transfer moulding, curing/vulcanization, and related processes.
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- Understanding of rubber testing and characterization, including hardness, tensile, elongation, tear, compression set, abrasion, aging, rheology/MDR, specific gravity, etc.
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- Ability to interpret engineering drawings, product specifications, material specifications, and test standards.
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- Experience in troubleshooting development and production-related technical issues.
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- Knowledge of APQP, PPAP, FMEA, 8D, CAPA, SPC,



and root-cause analysis is desirable.
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- Good analytical and problem-solving skills.
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- Working knowledge of MS Excel, PowerPoint, and technical documentation.
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Education

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- B.E./B.Tech in Rubber Technology, Polymer Technology, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent.
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- M.E./M.Tech in Rubber/Polymer Technology will be an added advantage.
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Preferred Industry Experience

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Experience in development of rubber products such as:

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- Automotive rubber components
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- Seals, gaskets, O-rings
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- Hoses and profiles
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- Rubber moulded components
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- Anti-vibration products
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- Industrial rubber products
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- Rubber-to-metal bonded components
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Key Competencies

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- Product development and commercialization
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- Customer focus and technical communication
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- Rubber compound development
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- Project and timeline management
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- Problem solving and analytical thinking
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- Cross-functional coordination
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- Cost-conscious approach
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- Quality and process orientation
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- Innovation and continuous improvement
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Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

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- On-time completion of NPD projects
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- First-time-right development and trial success
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- Customer sample approval rate
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- Development-to-production conversion
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- Product quality and performance
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- Development cost and material cost optimization
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- Reduction in development/trial rejections
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- Successful resolution of technical issues
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- Cost-saving and process-improvement contributions
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Ideal Candidate Profile

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A technically strong rubber professional with 5–8 years of hands-on experience in product development, capable of independently managing development projects, solving rubber compound/process problems, coordinating cross-functional teams, and taking products from customer requirement to commercial production.

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