POSITION:
Packaging Engineer LOCATION: Jupiter, FL
STATUS: Salary-exempt
JOB SUMMARY The Packaging & Preservation Engineer serves as the technical owner for packaging and preservation standards for high-value industrial gas turbine components. This role is responsible for developing, validating, documenting, and continuously improving packaging, crating, preservation, storage, lifting, and handling solutions from supplier shipment through receiving, internal movement, storage, and final customer shipment. The position partners across Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Logistics, Procurement, suppliers, and packaging vendors to protect product integrity while improving safety, standardization, sustainability, and total delivered cost.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIESThe essential functions of the job include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Design and develop custom packaging, skids, crates, and preservation solutions for gas turbine components, including large, heavy, precision-machined, coated, and high-value parts.
- Create detailed packaging specifications, 3D models, engineering drawings, packaging layouts, and handling instructions using CAD software.
- Serve as the technical owner for company packaging and preservation standards, ensuring requirements are consistently applied across suppliers, internal operations, storage, and outbound shipments.
- Collaborate with Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Procurement, Logistics, Warehouse Operations, EHS, suppliers, and packaging vendors to ensure packaging designs meet product, safety, quality, and regulatory requirements.
- Develop preservation requirements based on component material, surface condition, storage duration, transportation mode, and expected environmental exposure.
- Specify appropriate corrosion and moisture protection methods, including VCI materials, desiccants, barrier bags, protective coatings, humidity indicators, vapor barriers, and other preservation methods.
- Define short-term and long-term storage requirements, preservation inspection criteria, and re-preservation intervals for sensitive components.
- Design packaging with appropriate lifting, rigging, crane, forklift, center-of-gravity, load distribution, blocking, bracing, and tie-down considerations.
- Establish clear lifting points, handling methods, orientation requirements, and safe unpacking/repacking instructions where required.
- Ensure packaging and skids are structurally suitable for component weight and anticipated static and dynamic transportation loads.
- Evaluate and validate packaging for mechanical integrity, shock, vibration, compression, environmental exposure, moisture resistance, and transportation conditions.
- Perform or coordinate packaging qualification and transportation simulation testing and establish documented acceptance criteria.
- Ensure packaging complies with applicable standards and requirements, including ASTM, ISTA, MIL-STD, ISPM 15, carrier requirements, cargo securement requirements, and international shipping regulations.
- Design packaging suitable for domestic and international transportation by truck, air, ocean, and multimodal freight.
- Account for containerization, ocean freight condensation, extended transit/storage, port handling, load securement, and environmental exposure when developing export packaging.
- Develop and maintain supplier packaging and preservation standards and communicate requirements through specifications, purchase-order requirements, drawings, and supplier documentation.
- Review and approve supplier packaging plans for critical, high-value, oversized, or sensitive components prior to shipment.
- Conduct supplier packaging reviews/audits and provide technical guidance and corrective actions when supplier packaging does not meet requirements.
- Drive packaging standardization and identify opportunities to reduce the number of unique crate, skid, cushioning, and preservation designs while maintaining product protection.
- Develop packaging cost estimates and evaluate total cost, including packaging materials, labor, transportation cube, dimensional weight, storage, handling, and potential damage risk.
- Identify opportunities for reusable and returnable packaging and improve recyclability and sustainability of packaging materials.
- Optimize package dimensions and container utilization to reduce freight and handling costs without increasing product risk.
- Create and maintain packaging BOMs, specifications, drawings, work instructions, preservation instructions, handling guidelines, and related technical documentation.
- Maintain packaging requirements within applicable ERP, MRP, PLM, or document-control systems and ensure requirements are linked to applicable part numbers and revisions.
- Manage packaging design changes through appropriate engineering and document change-control processes.
- Lead or support root cause investigations for transit, storage, handling, corrosion, and packaging-related product damage.
- Determine whether packaging, preservation, handling, supplier practices, or transportation conditions contributed to damage and develop corrective/preventive actions.
- Support freight and supplier claims by providing technical packaging analysis, documentation, photographs, drawings, and failure assessments.
- Maintain packaging lessons learned and incorporate corrective actions into future packaging standards and designs.
- Develop and track packaging performance metrics, including damage incidents, packaging cost, cost avoidance, supplier compliance, reusable packaging utilization, and corrective-action effectiveness.
- Provide technical training and guidance to suppliers, warehouse personnel, logistics teams, and other internal stakeholders on packaging, preservation, lifting, storage, and handling requirements.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTSEducation & Training- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Packaging Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Industrial Design, or a related technical field.
Skills/Experience- 3+ years of experience designing packaging, preservation, crating, or transport solutions for heavy industrial, aerospace, energy, defense, or other high-value engineered products.
- Demonstrated experience with wood crates, skids, blocking and bracing, cushioning systems, corrosion protection, moisture control, and export packaging.
- Proficiency with CAD tools used for mechanical design, packaging layouts, and engineering drawings.
- Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings, dimensions, tolerances, material specifications, and product handling requirements.
- Working knowledge of packaging validation principles and transportation hazards including shock, vibration, compression, moisture, corrosion, and load movement.
- Knowledge of applicable packaging and transportation standards such as ASTM, ISTA, ISPM 15, and relevant MIL-STD requirements.
- Understanding of lifting, rigging, load securement, center-of-gravity, and safe material-handling principles for heavy components.
- Strong root cause analysis, technical problem-solving, and corrective-action skills.
- Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities while collaborating effectively across technical and operational functions.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to create clear engineering specifications, work instructions, and supplier requirements.
Preferred Qualifications- Experience with industrial gas turbine components, rotating equipment, aerospace components, or other large precision-machined parts.
- Experience developing packaging for components weighing 500+ lbs.; experience with multi-ton or oversized equipment strongly preferred.
- Knowledge of corrosion prevention and preservation methods for nickel-based alloys, stainless steels, carbon steels, coated surfaces, and precision-machined components.
- Experience with ASTM D4169, ASTM D3951, ISTA test procedures, MIL-STD-2073, or similar packaging standards.
- Experience with export packaging, ocean container loading, blocking/bracing, cargo securement, ISPM 15 compliance, and international transportation requirements.
- Experience conducting supplier packaging audits, packaging qualification reviews, or technical supplier development activities.
- Familiarity with hazardous material packaging and transportation requirements where applicable.
- Experience with SAP or similar ERP/MRP systems for packaging BOMs, material masters, specifications, and revision control.
- Experience with reusable/returnable packaging programs and packaging sustainability initiatives.
- Lean, Six Sigma, or structured problem-solving experience is a plus.
Key Performance Areas- Reduction in packaging- and transit-related product damage.
- Supplier compliance with approved packaging and preservation standards.
- Packaging cost reduction and standardization.
- Improved freight cube/container utilization and total delivered cost.
- Timely completion of packaging designs, specifications, and qualification activities.
- Reduction in corrosion, moisture, handling, and storage-related nonconformances.
- Implementation and utilization of reusable or sustainable packaging solutions where technically and commercially appropriate.
