Skip to main content

Method Development Chemist and Software Developer

Position Information​

  • Company: Siemens Gas Chromatograph Integrations (now Valmet)
  • Time Period: July 2023 - February 2024
  • Summary: I served as a Method Development Chemist for Siemens Maxum II projects. As the Method Development Chemist I served on projects as the gas chromatography subject matter expert, contributing from conception to final test and installation. I also worked as a Software Developer for internal tools and processes

Method Development Chemist​

The Method Development Chemist (ME) position at Siemens Gas Chromatograph Integrations (GCI) division is an integral role on each new project. The ME serves as the subject matter expert on gas chromatography and sample analysis. The entails advising the associated Project Engineer (PE) on machine components and requirements; also selecting the proper detector, analytical columns, sample loop, and other key components. After manufacturing, the ME then advises and assists technicians with testing the machine and ensuring it meets the customers expectations.

While serving as an ME, I worked on numerous project from a wide array of industries including natural gas, oil/petroleum, and environmental monitoring. However, the largest project that I worked on was a global standardization project. After decades of production the Maxum II has become the industry standard for oil and natural gas analysis; however, this also led too dozens of iterations and deviations from initial standards. These deviations did not impact performance or effectiveness for the customers, but it did impact manufacturing and test time internally. To remedy these internal deviations, a new global project was launched. The project's goal was to establish and streamline project implementations and configurations. This entailed creating standard configurations for common customer applications and establishing workflows that reduced internal cost and time. I was the ME on the project designing and developing the standard configurations based on researched common customer applications. I formulated the ideal configurations to effectively measure the customer's application, then worked with technicians to test and validate this configuration.

In the end I developed a half dozen standard applications that were then deployed to all manufacturing hubs for sale and manufacturing. These standard configurations reduced sales, engineering,manufacturing, validation, and service time and cost globally.

Software Developer​

To complement the new standard application configurations, I also developed a tool that assists sales and engineering with configuration selection. Configuration selection based on customer application can still add unnecessary time to the sales process, so I developed an integral tool to reduce this time.

The integral tool lives as a Vite+React web app that utilizes a complex algorithm to compare and contrast component measurements against the library of standard configurations. Sales team members, only need to input the customer provided component measurements and the algorithm will analyze these values to find the optimal configuration. The algorithm compares measurement ranges, cycle time, and component overall (to reduce cost and complexity). The app also visually displays the standard configurations to the user, thus reducing information complex and improving clarity.

Along with the configuration web app, I also developed a suite of productivity tools for integral use. To assist PEs, MEs, and technicians I developed a suite of internally focused productivity apps. The suite included a project tracking board, file shortcut manager, and timer tracker. These tools increased employee productivity and time utilization.