Lab Technician

Salary: up to £45k pa (depending on experience)

A market leader in the delivery of innovative ink solutions to a complex, demanding industry is looking for a Lab Technician to be responsible for building a solid working relationship with both the Lab Supervisor and the wider technical team and offer support and assistance as needed.

With full accountability, the Lab Technician will be responsible for completing Lab enquiries and quality control in a timely and efficient manner. The role will ensure an excellent standard of housekeeping is maintained across the technical department within a safe working environment. The successful candidate will need to develop their skill base through training schedules to enable the implementation of technical strategies and use their knowledge to aid and support the wider team.

The Lab Technician will play a key role in supporting the Lab supervisor and follow their lead on workload distribution and collection.

Key Main Tasks

1. Perform routine laboratory functions with a comprehensive understanding of different ink technologies
2. Apply understanding of raw materials, why certain raw materials are used, and knowledge of which raw materials are not compatible with each other
3. Understand customer requirements to apply ink system requirements for the end use, and make recommendations for substrate type, application, resistance, etc.
4. Formulation of new products or product ranges to meet customer requirements
5. Reformulation of current products for product improvement, quality, production efficiency, or margin improvement
6. Testing new raw materials – pigment, additives, etc., and assessing their suitability
7. Colour matching to customer requirements, with and without colour formulation software, utilising the optimum pigment combinations (dependent on resistance properties required) while considering cost factors
8. Understanding proofing methods and the correlation from laboratory to Flexographic/Gravure presses
9. Creating and maintaining formulations on a computer database
10. Understanding production processes and techniques, including what each machine does and why
11. Ability to test production batches and adjust as required within set tolerance
12. Capable of completing enquiries/reports on time to the required level ensuring all details are correctly recorded
13. Capable of reviewing product standards and specifications and amending as required
14. Undergo press-side tuition at customer sites, learn to adjust for viscosity, colour, and basic troubleshooting
15. Maintaining physical history records
16. Ensuring all work is recorded to meet the current ISO standards
17. Providing technical support to internal staff and customers in a clear and professional manner
18. Competent in all day-to-day technical functions (in all laboratory units)
19. Involvement with the reviewing of lab risk assessments and safety procedures
20. Be able to build SDS to enable label production when inputting formulations
21. Working safely and in a clean and tidy manner with Health and Safety rules