Essential Duties:
- Lead the Supplier Quality team, fostering a culture of excellence and collaboration to maintain the highest quality standards across the local supply base.
- Develop and implement a comprehensive supplier quality strategy that focuses on the development and maintenance of local suppliers, materials lab management, and plant incoming quality control.
- Cultivate strong partnerships with local suppliers, ensuring their understanding of and commitment to meeting our rigorous quality expectations.
- Oversee the management of the materials lab, ensuring accurate and efficient testing of incoming materials and components to meet quality standards.
- Define and communicate clear quality standards, specifications, and requirements to suppliers, materials lab technicians, and incoming quality control teams.
- Conduct regular audits and assessments of local suppliers, evaluating their compliance with quality standards, regulations, and contractual obligations.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to resolve supplier-related quality issues, conducting comprehensive root cause analyses and implementing corrective and preventive actions.
- Develop and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure supplier performance, materials lab efficiency, and plant incoming quality control.
- Drive initiatives to enhance the capabilities of local suppliers, materials lab processes, and incoming quality control procedures through training and process improvements.
- Stay abreast of industry trends, emerging technologies, and regulatory changes that may impact supplier quality.
- Generate regular reports for senior management, highlighting supplier quality performance, materials lab efficiency, risks, and strategies for improvement.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Requirements:
- To ensure the health and safety in the workplace and for the protection of our employees, wearing PPE is a requirement for some roles at PENA and may include equipment such as a full Tyvek suit, safety shoes, gloves, safety glasses, face mask, bump cap, and a full hazmat suit that includes a respirator.
The foregoing description is not intended and should not be construed to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, skills and efforts or work conditions associated with the job. It is intended to be an accurate reflection of the general nature and level of the job.
Education:
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Quality Management, Supply Chain Management, or a related field. A Master’s degree is a plus.
Essential Qualifications:
- 10+ years of experience in supplier quality management, quality engineering, or related roles within manufacturing or automotive (under IATF 16949 requirements) industries.
- Proven leadership experience, including team management, performance evaluation, and cultivating a culture of continuous improvement.
- Profound knowledge of supplier quality principles, methodologies, and best practices.
- Proficiency in conducting supplier audits, assessments, and qualification processes.
- Strong analytical skills, including data analysis, trending, and performance metrics assessment.
- Experience in formulating and executing supplier quality strategies.
- Excellent communication and negotiation skills to liaise with suppliers and collaborate across cross-functional teams.
- Familiarity with quality standards, regulations, and compliance requirements.
- Previous experience in the battery manufacturing industry or the automotive sector is advantageous.
- Certifications such as Certified Quality Manager (CQM) or similar are a plus.
- Willingness and ability to travel domestically and internationally for supplier visits and audits.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Alignment with Panasonic's seven (7) core principles: contribution to society, fairness and honesty, cooperation and team spirit, untiring effort for improvement, courtesy and humility, adaptability, gratitude.
- Advanced Degree: A Master's or PhD in Engineering, Quality Management, or a related field can be a valuable asset.
- Experience in Battery Manufacturing: Prior experience in managing quality operations within the battery manufacturing industry, especially lithium-ion batteries, would be highly beneficial.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Experience working closely with sales, customer quality teams, and other departments to enhance customer satisfaction and product quality.
- International Exposure: Experience working in a global context, understanding international quality standards and practices, can be advantageous.
- Innovation Mindset: An innovative approach to quality management, incorporating new technologies and approaches to enhance quality control and assurance.
- Presentation Skills: Proficiency in creating and delivering effective presentations to communicate quality initiatives and performance metrics.
- Vendor Management: Experience in working with suppliers and vendors to ensure the quality of incoming materials.
Preferred License(s):
- None
Preferred Certification(s):
- None
Physical Demands:
Physical Activities: (Percentage of time (equaling 100%) during the normal workday the employee is required to)
- Sit: 40%
- Walk: 30%
- Stand: 20%
- Lift: 10%
Required Lifting and Carrying: (Required frequency is: Not required (0%), Occasional (1-33%), Frequent (34-66%, Continuous (67-100%)
- Up to 10 lbs.: Occasional
- Up to 20 lbs.: Occasional
- Up to 35 lbs.: Occasional
- Team-lift only (over 35 lbs.): Not Required
