Quality Assurance Manager

Job Description

Industry: Industrial Coatings, Metal Finishing, Fasteners and Surface Treatments

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Company Overview

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An established industrial manufacturing organization specializing in protective coatings, surface treatments and related processing of fasteners and engineered metal components.

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Position Overview

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Seeking an experienced, hands-on Quality Manager to lead quality operations at its manufacturing facility located North East of Chicago

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This is an important plant leadership position responsible for maintaining strong quality systems, improving manufacturing performance and ensuring that customer requirements are consistently achieved.

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The successful candidate will be an established manufacturing quality leader with strong technical knowledge, sound judgment and the ability to communicate effectively with customers, plant leadership and production personnel.

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We are particularly interested in individuals who have managed quality in demanding industrial environments and can balance quality system discipline with practical, shop-floor problem-solving.

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Key Responsibilities

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• Lead the plant's quality organization, including quality systems, inspection, testing, corrective actions and continuous improvement activities.
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• Maintain and improve quality management systems consistent with applicable ISO 9001, IATF 16949 and customer-specific requirements.
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• Drive effective root-cause analysis, corrective and preventive actions, and sustained resolution of internal and external quality issues.
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• Serve as a key contact for customers regarding product quality, complaints, audits, corrective actions and performance improvement.
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• Partner with manufacturing, engineering and maintenance leadership to improve process capability, reduce defects and strengthen operating performance.
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• Establish and monitor quality metrics, including customer complaints, scrap, rework, internal defects, cost of poor quality and corrective-action effectiveness.
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• Ensure appropriate process controls, inspection procedures, testing methods and documentation are established and consistently followed.
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• Lead internal and external audits, customer quality reviews and quality system improvement initiatives.
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• Support product and process launches, process changes and customer qualification requirements.
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• Develop, coach and hold accountable quality engineers, technicians, inspectors and other quality personnel.
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• Promote a culture of prevention, accountability and continuous improvement throughout the operation.
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Candidate Qualifications

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• Demonstrated success as a Quality Manager, Plant Quality Manager or senior quality leader in an industrial manufacturing environment.
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• Experience managing a quality function, including people leadership, customer relationships and quality system accountability.
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• Strong working knowledge of ISO 9001 and structured quality management systems.
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• Practical experience with root-cause analysis, corrective actions, problem-solving and manufacturing process controls.
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• Familiarity with automotive quality tools such as 8D, PFMEA, Control Plans, SPC, MSA and PPAP.
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• Ability to communicate professionally and effectively with customers, senior management and plant-floor employees.
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• Strong analytical skills and the ability to translate quality data into effective manufacturing improvements.
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• Demonstrated success improving quality performance in a high-volume or process-intensive manufacturing environment.
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Highly Desirable

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• Experience with IATF 16949 and automotive customer-specific quality requirements.
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• Background in metal finishing, industrial coatings, plating, heat treatment, fasteners or related metal processing.
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• Knowledge of coating thickness, adhesion, corrosion resistance, salt-spray testing and related surface-treatment quality requirements.
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• Experience with automotive OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers or demanding industrial customers.
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• Experience managing customer audits, supplier quality issues and new-product/process qualifications.
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• ASQ certifications or equivalent technical credentials.
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Ideal Candidate

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The ideal candidate is an experienced manufacturing Quality Manager who has already demonstrated the ability to lead a quality organization and improve results.

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This individual understands quality systems but is not simply a systems administrator. They are comfortable on the manufacturing floor, capable of diagnosing process problems, and effective in working with production and engineering teams to achieve sustainable improvements.

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They also have the confidence and communication skills to represent the company with customers, manage difficult quality situations and contribute as a member of the plant leadership team.

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Direct experience in industrial coatings or metal finishing would be valuable, but we will also consider strong quality leaders from automotive components, metal processing and other technically demanding manufacturing environments.