development technician

Vanessa Kindred

Email: aboqag@r.postjobfree.com

Address: ***** **** *** **

City: Prior Lake

State: MN

Zip: 55372

Country: USA

Phone: 612-***-****

Skill Level: Experienced

Salary Range: 45

Primary Skills/Experience:

See Resume

Educational Background:

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Job History / Details:

SUMMARY

Research and development technician with nearly 10 years experience in the food industry focusing on new product development and launch to market. Experience includes a Fortune 500 company as well as a privately owned, small, contract research and development food company. Strengths include; attention to detail, organizing and planning research projects, effective data collection and communication, working within a multi-function product team, outside of the box thinking and a strong sense of project ownership.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

GENERAL MILLS, INC., Golden Valley, MN 2003 - Present

Sr. Technician II (2009 - Present)

New product development and launch to market.

* Developed and launched a successful line of small bite sized, thaw and sell desserts to improve the bakery portfolio of a large customer.

* Managed project workflow from start to finish; single point of contact for entire project.

* Improved the process and formula for an existing baked goods item resulting in improving product profitability by $110,000 annually.

* Established product shelf life and proper testing protocol, ensuring product quality while reducing customer/ consumer complaints.

* Ensured product nutrition labeling and compliance to reduce the risk of allergen issues to the consumer.

* Managed plant scale up and start up while collaborating with production employees to ensure continued ability to run product effectively.

* Developed a frozen muffin program for a large customer that beat the incumbent supplier with 80% of the consumers preferring the GMI product during evaluations.

* Troubleshot product complaints to improve product performance.

* Qualified new production equipment to improve production processes.

* Created product specifications ensuring consistent production parameters were met.

Sr. Technician I (2007 - 2009)

New product development.

* Formulated products to meet customer requirements while ensuring plant level process ability.

* Ensured lab GMP requirements were met to reduce the risk of cross contact to customer.

* Reformulated to remove transfat containing ingredients from baked goods to comply with internal zero transfat labeling.

* Moved existing baked brownie to a co-packer outside of the US to help free line time for more profitable products while keeping all changes invisible to the customer and consumer.

* Formulated and launched frozen muffin product to a new market increasing the product awareness to new consumers.

* Partnered with supply chain to help deliver $39 million of division cost savings opportunities.

Technician II (2005 - 2007)

Support primary product developer with lab and plant runs.

* Acted as point of contact for ingredient supplier change project streamlining project communication.

* Supported plant runs of new product start up assisting with a national launch of a seasonal bakery item.

* Developed of a patented cake cutting apparatus utilizing strings engineered into the corrugated tray that is licensed for use in frozen baked cakes.

Technician I (2003 - 2005)

Lab support of product developers

* Scaled up ingredients for lab tests ensuring ingredient accuracy for successful test runs.

MERLIN DEVELOPMENT, Plymouth MN 2002 - 2003

Lab Support

Lab support of the Senior Scientist

* Supported testing and approvals of bakery items for large fast food chain ensuring consistent product across the US.

KEMIN INDUSTRIES, Des Moines IA 2000 - 2001

Paid Internship

Lab support for the Senior Scientist

* Ran experimental designs to test enzyme production of selected bacteria.

EDUCATION and PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

AA Biotechnology, Indian Hills Community College, Ottumwa, IA

Professional Training

Inclusion training Food Safety 201

Influence training Respectful Workplace

Working in a Global, Virtual Environment

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