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Balancing Act: The Ultimate Project Manager

How Caitlin Eargood of Mettler Toledo manages being a parent, MBA student, volunteer, and full-time employee.

Caitlin Eargood, service project manager, Mettler Toledo
Caitlin Eargood, service project manager, Mettler Toledo

PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, recently announced its fifth annual On the Rise Awards winners. Developed by PMMI’s Emerging Leaders Committee, the awards recognize 10 young professionals who have demonstrated leadership potential in packaging and processing. Caitlin Eargood, service project manager for Mettler Toledo is one of the 2022 winners. Eargood helped transform the project management role into a more efficient, structured process to better support the field service team and improve the customer experience while simultaneously maintaining the required data for KPIs. She thoroughly tested the installation performance & acceptance (IPAC) sign off criteria, along with new tools for enhanced visibility, accountability, and overall customer experience. On top of being a new mother, Eargood is currently enrolled in college to obtain her master's degree having just completed PMP certification in March 2022. Eargood recently spoke with OEM magazine about her current role and career objectives.

 

OEM: Can you provide a brief description of what your company does?

Eargood: The Product Inspection division of Mettler Toledo is one of the leading providers within the field of automated inspection technology. The division includes the following brands: Safeline metal detection and X-ray inspection, Garvens and Hi-Speed checkweighers, and CI-Vision and PCE Track & Trace. The product inspection solutions improve manufacturers’ process efficiency and help them comply with industry standards and regulations. Mettler Toledo systems ensure consistently higher product quality, helping protect both consumers as well as the reputation of manufacturers and their products and brands.

 

OEM: What is your role and your responsibilities at the company?

Eargood: As a service project manager, I get to work with our customers during the installation phase for their x-ray and vision systems. I schedule pre-install calls, support our field service team when they are onsite, work with internal and external stakeholders to ensure things go smoothly, mitigate risks, and create value for everyone along the way. I also am a power user for our field service team. I create and maintain SOPs, conduct user acceptance testing, make requests, ad support more than 80 end users.


OEM: During your seven years at the company, have you had the opportunity to learn different sides of the business?

Eargood: Throughout my time with Mettler Toledo, I’ve been able to learn so much about our service organization and watch our team grow. Because of this, I’ve been considered a subject matter expert on multiple areas related to our field service operations team. It’s also taught me some other skills, like basic understandings of technical items. Through the SAP transition and my current role, I’ve had the opportunity to learn more about the sales and manufacturing sides of our business as well.  My Process Improvement MBA program has also opened the doors for me to start learning about the quality side of our organization. It helps me try to be well rounded and to take care of our customers.