R&D Co-Op

Building our Future Together. FXI is the largest polyurethane foam produce r in North America with manufacturing locations throughout the United States and Mexico. Our products are designed for use in everything from automotive interiors, to bed in a box mattresses, and even in technical applications like aircraft fuel tank safety filler. Our company leads the industry with expertise in the chemistry of urethane foam reactions, fabrication of the resulting foam material, and de sign of the final products. FXI's state-of-the-art research facility strives for new, disruptive innovation in the marketplace, producing novel chemical formulations and designing groundbreaking products.

We have made it our mission to provide tailored solutions that delight our customers and consumers. FXI has built a culture of innovation and achievement that is recognized by customers, suppliers and peers. We provide one of the broadest sets of comfort solutions to the broadest set of industry players, through the broadest manufacturing platform in the industry. You will find FXI’s comfort technologies inside countless applications you encounter every day. Everywhere comfort is needed, FXI’s innovations lead the way! We are always looking for best-in-class talent to join our innovative, fun, and value-driven culture.

Position Summary: Our R&D group handle s everything from new polymer development, product design, root cause analysis of quality issues, to even analytical analysis of materials and test development. The role of R&D Co-op will start with exposure to all of these areas of work and will follow with a focused project tailored to the student's interests.

Responsibilities:

• In general, this position will require the student, under the guidance of a senior scientist/engineer, to: Synthesize polyurethane foam from base chemicals and explore formulation development.
• Process and test the resulting foam samples for relevant material properties.
• Fabricate the foam into parts and products for further evaluation and testing.
• Analyze raw materials and foam using various instruments, such as DMA, FTIR, SEM.
• Execute technical service requests from the commercial and quality teams.
  • These requests will range from root cause analysis to identification of materials.
• Perform chemical formulation scale-up testing on our pilot plants.
• Potential projects for the R&D Co-op include:
  • Develop novel reaction chemistries to incorporate other polymers, such as siloxanes, into the urethane network.
  • Analyze foams using a variety of instruments to determine the cause of several historical material defects for product improvement and faster formulation development in the future.
  • Explore unique surface treatments to improve foam properties, such as wettability.
  • Develop next generation water filtration foams for bio-trickling filtration processes.
  • Design innovative products based on recently developed foams for untapped markets.
  • Reformulation of legacy foams to improve material properties and reduce chemical costs.
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Qualifications:

• Notions of physics, chemistry, materials science, chemical engineering, or mechanical engineering
• Strongly preferred Laboratory environment experience
• Familiarity with mechanical equipment, such a s band saws and drills
• Strong work ethic, punctual, and self-motivated
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, especially Excel

Preferred Majors:

• Eng. - Chemical Engineering, Eng. - Materials Engineering, Eng. - Mechanical Engineering, Arts & Sci. - Chemistry
• Level(s) of Experience Sought:
  • Beginner - Limited or no previous work experience /first Co-op
  • Intermediate - Some related work or volunteer experience/second Co-op
  • Advanced - Previous related work experience /final Co-op

Our Commitment To a Diverse Workforce: FXI is an Equal Opportunity Employer. FXI does not discriminate in employment matters on the basis of race, color, religion, gender identify or expression, national origin, age, military service eligibility, veteran status, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, or based on any individual’s status in any group or class protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. We support workplace diversity. We strongly believe that diversity contributes to a broader collective perspective that will consistently lead to a better company and better products. We are working hard to increase the diversity of our team wherever we can.

We are interested in every qualified candidate who is eligible to work in the United States. However, we are not able to sponsor visas.

FXI is not accepting unsolicited assistance from search firms for this employment opportunity. Please, no phone calls or emails. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at FXI via-email, the Internet or in any form and/or method without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of FXI. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by FXI as a result of the referral or through other means.