My Food and Beverage Industry Experience as a Statistician

• Activity Number: 590
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 12, 2015 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Section for Statistical Programmers and Analysts
• Author(s): Chun-Yen Cochrane*
• Companies: Hill's Pet Nutrition
• Keywords: food & beverage industry ; skill set

Abstract

The food & beverage companies that I have worked for have all had a dynamic work environment. As a statistician in the Research & Development group, I work with food scientists, chemists, engineers, flavorists, and sensory scientists to ensure that appropriate designs and data analysis are used in foundational research, new product development, product optimization, cost reduction, sensory evaluation, and consumer studies. Understanding of statistical tools such as linear models, design of experiments and multivariate analysis is essential for this position. Non-technical skills including time and project management, business acumen, influencing, and communication are also important.