Sustainability Engineer Intern at Ajinomoto Foods North America, Inc. – Ontario, California

The Sustainability Engineering Intern will be responsible for improving production performance and sustainability outcomes and supporting sustainability reporting across the organization. This goal of this role will be to drive measurable reductions in scrap, waste, and utilities usage by applying structured problem-solving and working to optimize reporting and dashboarding to help communicate results.

• • Partner with sites to develop and implement process improvements to reduce scrap and improve yield performance.
  • Monitor production data to identify root causes of scrap, overfill, giveaway, or rework.
  • Lead root cause analysis and corrective action initiatives related to process inefficiencies and product loss.
  • Support troubleshooting of process-related quality or yield issues.
  • Develop SOPs and work instructions to sustain improvements.
  • Lead continuous improvement projects focused on yield, efficiency, and cost reduction.
  • Use structured problem solving tools (5-Why, Fishbone, DMAIC, and RCA) to eliminate chronic & sporadic losses.
  • Lead plant-level sustainability reduction initiatives focused on trash, energy, water, and utilities consumption.
  • Track, analyze, and report utilities usage (electricity, gas, water, compressed air, refrigeration, etc.) and identify reduction opportunities.
  • Develop and implement action plans to reduce landfill waste and improve recycling performance.
  • Partner with Engineering, EHS, Maintenance, and Operations to drive measurable reductions in energy intensity (per lb produced).
  • Support utilities performance reporting and ensure accuracy of sustainability metrics.
  • Help to develop and improve dashboarding and reporting for sustainability reducing manual workload for the sites and improving visibility.
  • Monitor and report financial impact of sustainability improvements and capital projects.
  • Support compliance with environmental regulations and corporate sustainability commitments.
  • Manage small capital projects or initiatives related to scrap, process, utilities, or waste reduction improvements.
  
  

• Senior Level student or recent grad.
• Major in Engineering or Sustainability with classwork and interest in process engineering, process improvements, and sustainability.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a team environment.
• Knowledge of regulatory compliance standards and quality control procedures.
• Must have solid working knowledge in food production processing, packaging equipment, utilities.
• Must have project management skills, be detailed oriented, and be able to prioritize and manage multiple simultaneous projects.
• Must have sound planning and organization skills.
• Knowledge of standard MS Office tools (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, MS Project)
• Must have sound planning and organization skills.
• Range of pay: $26.00 - $32.00 per hour.