Job Description

Manager – Polymer R&D; and Compounding

Company: Garware Fulflex Group
Location: **Wai (MIDC), Satara, Maharashtra
Function: Research & Development
Reports to: Head – R&D; / Plant Head

Role Purpose

The Manager – Polymer R&D; and Compounding will lead the development, modification and commercialization of polymer and elastomer compounds for medical, industrial, consumer and sports applications.

The position requires a highly practical compounder who can translate customer requirements into robust formulations, conduct laboratory and plant trials, resolve processing or performance issues, and successfully scale new compounds from development to commercial production.

Key Responsibilities

Compound Development

- Develop new formulations using natural and synthetic rubber, polyisoprene, TPE and other elastomeric materials.
- Select appropriate polymers, fillers, plasticizers, curing systems, stabilizers, pigments and functional additives.
- Develop compounds to meet specific requirements for tensile strength, elongation, hardness, elasticity, ageing, colour, chemical resistance and processability.
- Reformulate existing products to improve quality, consistency, performance or cost competitiveness.
- Develop alternatives for restricted, unavailable or high-cost raw materials.
- Maintain complete formulation records, development reports and technical documentation.

Trials and Commercialization

- Plan and execute laboratory, pilot and production-scale trials.
- Define mixing sequences, temperatures, cycle times, curing parameters and processing conditions.
- Work closely with Manufacturing, Quality, Engineering and Commercial teams during product development and scale-up.
- Ensure a controlled handover of approved formulations and process specifications to production.
- Monitor the initial commercial batches and resolve scale-up issues.
- Establish clear raw-material, in-process and finished-product specifications.

Technical Troubleshooting

- Investigate compound-related production and customer-quality issues.
- Conduct structured root-cause analysis for defects such as blooming, scorching, poor dispersion, surface defects, colour variation, inadequate curing and inconsistent physical properties.




- Recommend corrective and preventive actions and confirm their effectiveness through trials and data.
- Support manufacturing teams in improving mixing consistency, process capability and yield.

Raw-Material and Cost Optimization

- Evaluate and qualify new polymers, chemicals, fillers, additives and suppliers.
- Develop dual-source and alternative-material strategies for critical raw materials.
- Reduce compound cost without compromising performance, safety or regulatory compliance.
- Monitor material usage, scrap, yield loss and formulation variances.
- Work with Purchase and Finance to quantify and validate savings from formulation changes.

Testing, Quality and Compliance

- Interpret laboratory results and correlate them with production performance and customer requirements.
- Ensure that compounds meet applicable customer, quality and regulatory standards.
- Support the development of compounds for medical applications, including biocompatibility and restricted-substance requirements where applicable.
- Assist with customer audits, regulatory submissions and technical documentation.
- Ensure proper change-control and validation before implementing any formulation or raw-material change.

Team and Laboratory Management

- Lead and develop R&D; chemists, technicians and laboratory personnel.
- Establish disciplined systems for sample identification, formulation control, testing and recordkeeping.
- Maintain laboratory equipment, calibration and safe handling of chemicals.
- Build a structured compound-development database capturing formulation history, trial results, processing conditions and commercial outcomes.
- Protect the confidentiality of the company’s formulations and intellectual property.

Qualifications

- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Polymer Science, Polymer Technology, Rubber Technology, Chemical Engineering or a related field.




- Preferably qualified from a recognized institution such as IIT, ICT, IRI or an equivalent university.
- Additional specialization in rubber or elastomer compounding would be an advantage.

Experience

- Approximately 8–15 years of hands-on experience in rubber, polymer or elastomer formulation and compounding.
- Strong practical experience in mixing, milling, extrusion, calendaring, moulding or other relevant polymer-processing operations.
- Demonstrated experience in taking formulations from laboratory development through plant trials to commercial production.
- Experience with medical, healthcare, food-contact or regulated products would be highly desirable.
- Exposure to both natural and synthetic elastomers will be preferred.

Technical Competencies

- Strong understanding of polymer chemistry, compounding ingredients and curing systems.
- Knowledge of rheology, dispersion, ageing, physical-property testing and failure analysis.
- Ability to interpret specifications, test data and statistical trends.
- Working knowledge of laboratory equipment and compound-testing methods.
- Familiarity with ISO, ASTM and relevant customer or regulatory standards.
- Strong technical documentation and report-writing skills.

Personal Attributes

- Highly practical and comfortable working on the laboratory and manufacturing floor.
- Analytical, curious and systematic in solving problems.
- Commercially aware, with a solid focus on quality, cost and speed of development.
- Able to manage several development projects simultaneously.
- Effective communicator who can work across R&D;, Manufacturing, Quality, Purchase, Sales and customer teams.
- High level of integrity, discipline and respect for formulation confidentiality.

Key Performance Indicators

- Number and commercial value of new compounds successfully launched.
- Time taken from development request to commercial approval.
- Savings achieved through formulation and raw-material optimization.
- Reduction in compound-related rejection, scrap and customer complaints.
- First-time-right performance during plant trials and scale-up.
- Improvement in batch-to-batch consistency and process capability.
- Completion and quality of formulation, testing and change-control documentation.

📌 Manager – Polymer R&D and Compounding (Wai)
🏢 Garware Fulflex I
📍 Wai