Automation Placement Sedgefield 2024

CPI helps make great ideas and inventions a reality. We’re a team of intelligent people using advances in science and technology to solve the biggest global challenges in healthcare and sustainability.

Through our incredible people and innovation infrastructure, we collaborate with our partners in industry, academia, government, and the investment community to accelerate the development and commercialisation of innovative products.

From health technologies and pharmaceuticals to sustainable food and materials innovations, we turn the entrepreneurial spirit and radical thinking of our people and partners into incredible impact that makes our world a better place.

CPI is delighted to be recruiting for a placement opportunity who will join the established and growing Automation and Digital team within the National Formulation Centre based at NETPark, in Sedgefield.

About the role

This role gives you the opportunity to join an established team already working in the battery and FMCG spaces. During this placement, you will support and strengthen the current capabilities of the team in support of exciting new capabilities that are being developed at CPI in Nanotherapeutics in the formation of a Liquid Nanoparticle Centre of Excellence.

About the team

The Automation and Digital team are fundamentally about the generation, curation, and analysis of large data sets. We achieve this with a focus on three areas of activity.

• In our Automation and Digital Formulation lab, we have robots to automatically dispense, mix and test a wide range of materials. These facilities are used in commercial and collaborative projects to develop new and improve formulations for a wide variety of applications including paints, coatings, lubricants, personal care products.
• We also provide PAT (Process Analytic Technologies) and Advanced Process Control for our Complex Liquid Scale-Up labs and Complex Particles labs: this involves scouting and implementing advanced in-line and at-line measurement techniques for process measurement and the use of statistical methods and modelling for process control.
• Our third area of activity is Informatics: ensuring we have tools internally to manage and analyse data — which we process to give information and ultimately knowledge for our customers. To do this we make use of an Electronic Lab Notebook, structured data capture databases, visualisation software and custom-developed software for analysis.

We are looking for two placement students to join the Automation and Digital team. One student will be automation-focussed and will be responsible for technical and scientific support to CPI’s existing automation systems. This will include generating and optimising the workflows used by automation kit, maintaining, running, and upskilling in relevant instrumentation, and analytical techniques.

The second student will be digital-focused and will be responsible for supporting the digital and informatics needs of CPI’s projects. This will include using digital skills and tools to design experiments, analyse and interrogate data, and automate computational workflows.

Both students will work collaboratively on research projects, analysing and reporting data back to the project lead. Some exciting projects we have recently worked on are:

• Constellation (Energy Sector): This project used AI and automation to optimise the performance of battery cells for the electric vehicle (EV) market.
• Narrator (Nanopharma): The application of state-of-the-art digital techniques and automation to explore Lipid Nanoparticle manufacture to support RNA vaccines and therapeutics.
• DIY4U (FMCG): The generation of a fabrication lab combining an automated platform with digitally enabled manufacturing for the fast customisable, at point of purchase, fabrication of FMCG products such as laundry detergent.

Key responsibilities

• To present and formally report experimental conclusions and supporting data for internal peer review and submission to clients, to agreed timescales and standards.
• To actively engage in hazard studies / SRA studies and discussions, as appropriate to role level.
• To support the set-up, plan and execute experimental / pilot scale runs and analyse, interpret, and report the results of these within agreed timescales and quality standards, and following project/​client requirements.
• To take ownership in agreeing to weekly work plans with the line manager, project manager(s) and other relevant stakeholders, and delivering the plan to the agreed schedule.
• To support the maintenance and calibration of equipment to ensure it operates in a safe and efficient manner and is available to meet customer needs.
• To maintain consistent and documented compliance with all relevant Safety, Health and Environmental (SHE), quality and best practice requirements.
• To keep self up to date with developments in areas relevant to role, and/​or legislative and SHE related changes as communicated by senior colleagues, ensuring understanding of these and any associated new best practice, methods, or techniques.
• To take responsibility for general housekeeping of technical areas, to contribute to a safe and healthy workplace.

The person we are seeking

You will be studying (or have recently completed) a minimum of HNC or Degree level (or equivalent) in a Scientific/​Engineering discipline.

You will have demonstrable skills in technical problem solving, with the ability to demonstrate evidence of knowledge sharing and network-building practice across teams or groups. You will be able to apply your own judgement and initiative to the role, as well as an understanding of when to seek advice from colleagues.

What does CPI offer you

At CPI, we offer a wide range of benefits to our employees, this includes:

• Up to 36 days holiday, including bank holidays – Plus a holiday purchasing scheme
• Generous pension scheme
• Life assurance and accident insurance schemes
• Flexible working
• Learning and Development Opportunities
• Free parking

CPI is an organisation based in the UK. Commencement of employment is conditional to demonstrating right to work in the UK, sponsorship may be available.