R&D Packaging Intern

Want to help us bring happiness to the world? Want to join an ambitious and fast-growing global biscuits and confectionery business investing heavily in iconic global brands, infrastructure and people? Then this is the place for you.

As proud bakers and chocolatiers and custodians of iconic global brands, we don’t compromise on the quality of ingredients in our products or on the people we hire. We are looking for entrepreneurial spirits who share our passion for bringing happiness to our consumers and who embody our Winning Traits.

To succeed at pladis you need to be purpose-led, resilient and positive to succeed here because we expect pace and agility, we insist on collaboration and demand accountability. If that is your thing, then pladis offers global ambition, a clear Vision and roadmap for success, challenge, and unrivalled opportunities to learn and make an impact.

We are looking for an enthusiastic R&D Packaging intern! Would you like to help pladis achieve its packaging ambitions and be part of the change? Read on!

R&D Packaging Internship Opportunity

Definition

The R&D packaging team at pladis focuses on developing and delivering packaging innovations, renovations and optimizations to market, on-time and in budget, in close cooperation with marketing, operations, procurement, quality and supply chain. In packaging, we are in charge of leading the way towards sustainable packaging as well, aiming for 100% of our portfolio to be recycle-ready, amongst other initiatives. The internship entails a combination of various activities involving technical documentation management as well as practical project work (trial execution on our factories/co-manufacturers, lab measurement, collaboration with suppliers, etc). This role offers a unique opportunity to combine technical expertise with creative thinking in a fast-paced and collaborative environment.

Key responsibilities and achievements

• Structuring and maintaining a technical central database for packaging material and finished product specifications for our European sites and co-manufacturing.
• Creating and updating the packaging visual standards (VST) for our product portfolio.
• Assist the packaging team in trial execution, pilot plant testing and reporting.
• Assist the packaging technologist on plant troubleshooting and data collection on specific issues.

Opportunity to have your own project for recycle ready/productivity for packaging under supervision of the Head of Packaging.

• Ensure that all work is carried out in a safe and hygienic manner, following factory or bakery general manufacturing practices (GMPs).
• Support project manager and/or Head of Packaging in effective scheduling of project tasks and identification of resource requirements (time, money, people).
• Raise any technical or project related issues that might affect quality, cost or time of delivery with project manager and/or Head of Packaging.
• Keep comprehensive records of all work carried out and report results and recommendations as appropriate.

Who are you?

• Passionate about packaging.
• 3rd or 4th year student with a Bachelor or Master Degree (in Food Science (packaging specialization), Technical packaging, industrial engineering or similar).
• Proficient at managing large data sets and Excel.
• Self-starter and quick learner.
• Proactive and creative approach to problem solving.
• Able to work autonomously and organize your time to manage more than one task simultaneously.
• Comfortable building new working relationships and networks with various functions within a business.
• Enjoy variety in your day-to-day role.
• Able to work proficiently in both written and spoken English. Dutch is advantageous.
• You’re available for five or six months and five days a week.

What we offer

We offer you a unique opportunity to work at a large international FMCG company with well-known Dutch brands. The corporate culture is informal with a lot of attention for teamwork and results. Within this position you have many responsibilities and a wide range of tasks in which you can express all your qualities. You become part of an enthusiastic, compact team and are in close contact with other departments, both commercial and factory. The internship compensation is €475,- a month, based on a fulltime workweek. Finally, as an employee of Verkade, you will of course receive free cookies!

Who are we?

Koninklijke Verkade, founded in 1886, with amazing brands like Verkade and Sultana, is part of pladis since 2016. pladis is one of the world's leading snacking companies. We are the proud steward of over 300 years of family baking and confectionery experience. A worldwide community with 16,000 colleagues around the world. Each of us bring our experience in happiness. Each of us is unique, but we find each other as a family of bakers and chocolatiers, hardworking, with pride and purpose. After all these years we believe that biscuits and chocolate bring people together. We are pladis. We bake Happiness. Happiness with every bite.

pladis succeeds because of people like you. People who wake up in the morning excited to get to work. Who believe in themselves and their potential. Who want to grow as part of a global community of like-minded colleagues. pladis colleagues care deeply about being the best. About winning, staying the course and never giving up. Whichever part of the world we’re in, whatever our role. Whether we’re baking, working in HR, finance, marketing or many other areas – we win as one pladis team. And while we’re all unique, we share something in common. It’s the code by which we live and work. We call it our ‘Winning Traits & Behaviours’: Purpose Led, Agile, Collaborative, Positive and Resilient. Five aspects of pladis life that define who we are, how we interact and get things done.