QA Packaging Engineering Intern

QA Packaging Engineering Intern

START DATE

January 2027

DURATION

6-month rotation (January – June 2027)

SCHEDULE

Full-time, 40 hours/week, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

WORK ARRANGEMENT

Hybrid: in office Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday; remote Wednesday and Friday

LOCATION

Exton, PA

TEAM

Packaging Engineering & Quality Assurance

About ACR

ACR is a single stream resource for essential packaging and preparation products used in the foodservice, janitorial, sanitation, industrial, hospitality, and healthcare industries. With multiple shipping points across North America, our family of brands service national level customers with outstanding customer service and an ever-growing product line. For more information about the ACR brand and to explore ACR’s comprehensive range of foodservice essentials and packaging solutions, please visit weareACR.com.

Our work is guided by three values: Agile, Collaborative, and Reliable. Our engineering and quality teams put reliability into practice every day by making sure the products our customers depend on perform the way they should.

Role Overview

The QA Packaging Engineering Intern will support ACR’s Packaging Engineering and Quality Assurance team in the evaluation, testing, and documentation of foodservice packaging products. This is a hands-on, data-driven role. You will work with physical samples, review specifications, and collaborate with engineers, suppliers, and internal teams to make sure packaging meets performance, quality, and intended-use requirements.

Rather than sitting with a single person, the intern rotates across the team’s core focus areas and supports each engineer on live projects. By the end of the six months, you will have seen how a foodservice packaging product moves from supplier sample to approved specification to the customer’s hands, and you will own defined deliverables that the team uses after you leave.

This is an excellent opportunity for a student pursuing packaging, materials, or engineering studies to gain real-world experience in packaging materials, quality testing, specification management, and supply chain collaboration.

What You’ll Do

Commercialization & new product support

• Support new product introductions and dual-sourcing projects with sample evaluations and side-by-side comparisons against current products

• Assess form, fit, and function of alternate-supplier samples and document findings for engineering review

Specifications & materials

• Review and maintain product specifications in SpecRight, checking for completeness, accuracy, and consistency across SKUs

• Build working knowledge of molded fiber, plastics, paperboard, wood pulp blends, and PCR-content materials and how each performs in real foodservice use

QA lab & testing

• Perform and document fit, closure, and visual inspections, plus performance testing such as stack, leak, squeeze, and handling

• Receive, log, and track incoming supplier samples through evaluation, results, and disposition in the QA Sample Retain Library

• Capture test results with measurements, photos, and video, and summarize them in clear reports

Customer technical support

• Support complaint investigations by examining returned product, gathering data, and helping identify root causes

• Help prepare technical documentation and intended-use guidance for customers

Internship Deliverables

Each intern owns three projects with defined outcomes, presented to the team at the end of the rotation:

1. Specification audit: review an assigned product category for missing, conflicting, or outdated specification data and recommend corrections.

2. Complaint trend analysis: analyze complaint history to identify recurring failure modes, affected products, and suppliers, and propose next steps.

3. Qualification test protocol: draft a test protocol for a product or material category, including methods, sample sizes, and pass/fail criteria.

Required Qualifications

Education & availability

• Currently pursuing a BS in Packaging Engineering, Materials Science, Mechanical or Industrial Engineering, or a related field

• Available to work full-time from January through June 2027 (co-op semester or equivalent)

Technical fundamentals

• Fundamental understanding of packaging materials (paperboard, corrugated, plastics, molded fiber)

• Ability to read and understand basic dimensions, drawings, and specifications

• Comfortable working in Excel (sorting data, basic formulas, organizing large datasets)

Hands-on & QA mindset

• Comfortable working with physical samples and lab testing

• Willing to perform and document fit, closure, and visual inspections and basic performance testing (stack, leak, squeeze, handling)

• Ability to follow test methods and procedures accurately

Attention to detail

• Strong focus on accuracy when measuring, recording data, and reviewing specifications

• Understands that small deviations can create large downstream issues

Communication & professional skills

• Clear written and verbal communication

• Organized, reliable, and able to manage multiple tasks across several team members

• Comfortable asking questions, taking direction, and flagging issues early

Preferred Qualifications

Relevant experience

• Prior internship, co-op, or project experience in packaging design or testing, quality assurance, or manufacturing

• Exposure to foodservice or consumer packaging

• Interest in sustainable packaging materials, such as PCR content and fiber-based alternatives

Software & tools

• Experience with any of the following: TOPS, CAPE, ArtiosCAD, SpecRight, Asana, PLM systems, or Microsoft 365

Testing & standards

• Familiarity with ISTA, ASTM, or internal test protocols

• Experience documenting test results with photos, videos, or reports

Data & process skills

• Comfortable working with large SKU lists or specification databases

• Ability to identify inconsistencies and flag issues proactively

Supply chain exposure

• Understanding of manufacturing processes or vendor interactions

• Experience with sample reviews, approvals, or inspections

What You’ll Gain

• Real ownership of projects that the team relies on, not busywork

• Exposure to the full product lifecycle, from supplier samples and specifications to testing and customer support

• Day-to-day mentorship from practicing packaging and quality engineers

• Hands-on experience with the materials, test methods, and tools used across the foodservice packaging industry