Laboratory Technician
CurrentReformulated engobe and an extruded clay body to significantly increase their linear CTEs to match two existing glaze bases, eliminating crazing as a defect, while working with process engineers, marketing, and production to smoothly transition to the new product.Identified and rectified the root cause of a persistent crawling defect resulting in its elimination, and the on-time shipment of thousands of dollars of product.Designed and built a laboratory, as well as the SOPs for equipment therein, including: a lab scale extruder, autoclave, gradient kiln, dilatometer, and an XRF to verify that the technical specifications of multiple products were in accordance with ASTM and ANSI standards for ceramic and glass tiles.Worked directly with marketing to formulate new glaze recipes that reflected changing consumer tastes within the constraints of already existing temperature cycles, processes, and work streams.Coordinated with process engineers, safety personnel, and the production team to standardize mixing times, maximize recycling, and optimize drying conditions of extruded tile resulting in a 4-fold reduction of waste, and plotted the ROIs of long-term solutions to present to management.
