Ashwin Swaminathan Email & Phone Number

Marshall, Minnesota, Us

El Segundo , California , Us

● Organized and conducted Process Engineering development, Process and equipment trials, Process design and specifications, commissioning, and verification of food manufacturing processes and equipment for production-intent capability, scale, and readiness.● Adopted Kaizen and Continuous improvement measures to maximize yield and improve margins by up to 30% across plant-based Beef, Pork, and Poultry platforms.● Executed Process Engineering projects and activities required for the successful development and commercialization of food manufacturing processes.● Designed and ran effective DOEs, sensitivity analysis, scale-up, and process capability trials.● Commissioned and optimized Protein purification equipment, including membrane filtration units and centrifuges for investigating the feasibility of a plant-based milk line at a pilot scale. ● Advanced Product-by-Process development from the feasibility stage to the final new product introduction and production launches by working with cross-functional teams, including Commercialization, Innovation, Manufacturing, Quality, Marketing, and Supply chain.● Developed and achieved product-by-process viability and Design-For-Manufacturability (DFM) at a pilot scale, capable of meeting project objectives.● Ensured Quality and Food safety critical control points and requirements were built into the equipment and processes.● Established Engineering specifications and provided engineering oversight for equipment and associated tooling selection, procurement, installation, and commissioning.● Developed cost estimates, budgets (capital and expense), and associated plans for the process engineering portion of project activities, equipment, and tooling requirements. ● Established the production process parameters, criteria, and capabilities for materials, processes, and equipment for production readiness and launch.

Los Angeles, Ca, Us

• Designed layouts & process flow, develop new manufacturing processes by performing various R&D and scale-up experiments, optimize processes, and manage the regulatory aspects of a new GMP manufacturing facility under construction in Canada.• Worked with the Director of Engineering to improve the mechanical design of the flash chromatography system and commission the new equipment.• Improved the existing Process Design and Engineering of the extraction technology with proprietary gases to manufacture crude oil that has a higher output and mass yield of CBD. • Developed various Research and Development experiments that are crucial to scaling up of the production processes, while optimizing the existing process steps to reduce the manufacturing cycle time.• Supported the Scale-up of production processes to increase the CBD oil production to about 10 times its initial capacity. • Worked closely with the Chief Technology Officer and the CEO to solve production bottlenecks and in doing research to constantly improve the technologies and processes by the day. • Performed Process Design/Optimization, Quality Control, Statistical data analysis, SOP & Documentation of the new/existing processes to achieve maximum manufacturing efficiency.• Managed data and perform instrumentation maintenance of analytical equipment in the laboratory that includes Gas Chromatography and High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography.• Plan, implement and oversee the company's employee safety at work as the Safety Officer and ensure that the company is in compliance, adhering to OSHA guidelines.

Los Angeles, Ca, Us

• Analyzed oil and trim samples using High pressure Liquid Chromatography and Gas Chromatography, to determine the amount of cannabinoids and the residual solvents present.• Managed data and performed instrumentation maintenance of analytical equipment in the laboratory that includes Gas Chromatography and High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography.• Performed Process design, equipment selection and capacity calculations for the process scale up.• Supervised Flash Chromatography runs on Normal and Reverse phase columns and aid in the optimization of the processes by altering process parameters and the chemistry of the Columns. • Performed various R&D experiments and process methods development at a laboratory scale to help increase the purity of the full spectrum CBD oil, identifying the bottlenecks and offering crucial real-time solution to the problems.• Coordinated with the production manager to collect data from all stages, the extraction of crude to the manufacture of finished CBD oil for data analysis and identifying potential bottlenecks beforehand, for quality control and process improvement.

Irvine, Ca, Us

Student Assistant at UCI hospitality and dining services

Irvine, Ca, Us

• Therapeutic bandages for the cure of snake bites: Helped in the research on developing Therapeutic bandages, consisting of a nanoparticle hydrogel embedded with the antivenom, to treat venom-induced tissue necrosis. • Hands-on experience on DLS, SEM, XRD and TGA-DSC instruments, which I used in the characterization and synthesis of nanoparticle samples, and on erythrocyte lysis assay, PLA2 activity assay, SDS-page & protein purification.

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, In

• Design and Modification of Hydro-processing unit in the Production of Linear Alkyl Benzene: Responsible for the Process development and optimization of the hydro-treating unit. PFD (using CHEMCAD) and P&IDs were developed.• Performed capacity, equipment sizing & mass balance calculations. Participated in Design & Risk reviews, HAZOP studies, etc.• Designed heat exchanger, separator & reactor using ASPEN HYSYS and simulated the purification of the recycled hydrogen gas from 75% to 99% by installing a PSA Poly-bed unit. Economic balance and cost estimation of the process were also done.• Performed laboratory testing on various chemicals and on the physical properties of catalysts.

Mumbai, Maharashtra, In

• Responsible for a new product in Product Development and performed quality testing on the final product to ensure they meet the quality standards.• Provided Engineering support (RCA, FMEA, SPC, DOE, etc.) to operations for consistent application of quality techniques.• Performed tests in the laboratory by analyzing the rheological and pigment properties of paint for quality control.• Carried out a 5S audit and tracked the safety score periodically and was a part of the Departmental Safety Committee.

In

• Responsible for the propylene unit. PFD (using CHEMCAD) and P&IDs were developed for the Propylene unit.• Modified the overall flowrate & improved the design of distillation column using ASPEN, to maximize the production of propylene. Also, an alternate method of fabrication of the reboiler was proposed to improve the overall heat transfer.

Master Of Science - Ms, Chemical Engineering

Master Of Science - Ms, Project Management

Bachelor’S Degree, Chemical Engineering