Manager of Engineering and Quality
22 days ago
Grand Rapids
Job Description If you are looking for a company where you can grow and develop alongside respectfully collaborative teams, join us at Oliver Packaging and Equipment Company. With a history dating back to 1890, we offer the stability of a well-established organization and the support of colleagues who truly value one another. In addition to competitive base pay, we provide a generous benefits package, including a bonus plan, a 5% 401(k) match, 15 days of paid time off, and 10 paid holidays in your first year (pro-rated in year one). Our culture is built on teamwork and a shared commitment to creating and delivering packaging and equipment solutions around the globe. You’ll see your work make a real impact—in places like Walmart and Panera Bread, in schools providing meals to children, through programs like Meals on Wheels supporting seniors, and in hospitals helping patients in recovery. If you want your work to matter and to be part of a supportive team with a strong foundation and long-term vision, this is the opportunity for you. Benefits: • 401(k), • 401(k) matching, • Dental insurance, • Employee assistance program, • Flexible spending account, • Health insurance, • Health savings account, • Life insurance, • Paid time off, • Parental leave, • Professional development assistance, • Referral program, • Tuition reimbursement Primary Responsibilities: • Leadership & Strategic Planning, • Develop and implement a strategic vision for the Engineering and Quality teams to align with overall business goals., • Build and foster a high-performing team environment by recruiting, mentoring and retaining top talent across all functions., • Establish clear objectives and performance metrics to measure team effectiveness and drive continuous improvement., • Collaborate with executive leadership to align with company goals, strategies and customer needs., • Foundational and deep understanding of multi-phase gate NPD processes and managing engineering workload and capacity. Operational Excellence • Oversee the Engineering team to ensure the design and development of innovative, reliable and customer-focused products and solutions., • Lead the Quality team to maintain and improve product standards, ensuring compliance with regulatory, industry and customer requirements., • Ensure compliance with Food Safety certification requirements., • Develop overarching Quality strategy, ensuring product specifications, testing and supplier qualification are appropriately in place., • Develop and monitor budgets, forecasts and resource planning., • Implement and refine processes to drive efficiency, reduce costs and enhance overall team productivity., • Maintain visibility to all KPIs associated with product quality, ensuring timely notification of issues to the appropriate departments to allow for prompt root cause analysis and sustainable countermeasure implementation., • Provide monthly report-out to the Leadership Team of all complaints with root cause and corrective actions in place. Customer Focus & Support • Serve as the primary technical escalation point for customer and supplier quality issues, working cross-functionally to resolve complex challenges and ensure customer satisfaction., • Assign Engineering and/or Quality resources, as required, in support of complaint resolution, including on-site customer visits, as needed. Quality Assurance & Compliance • Ensure strict adherence to quality assurance processes and regulatory compliance requirements., • Collaborate with Operations and Supply Chain to provide clear and detailed product specifications (to customers and suppliers) to ensure consistency and excellence throughout production stages, delighting our customers in their experience., • Collaborate with other members of the company in the development of new products, Engineering designs and manufacturing and training methods., • Ensure documented standards are effective and clearly written. May assist others with the writing and revision of policies, procedures and work instructions., • Assist in Supplier Management System by qualifying and requalifying suppliers, in collaboration with Supply Chain., • Maintain Quality documentation system., • Assess strategy related to product and incoming inspection., • Interface for third-party regulatory partners, ensuring the Company is up to date on all upcoming regulatory issues that may impact operations or supply., • Responsible for SQF-based internal quality audits, external supplier audits and customer requirement reviews to drive process improvements across all departments., • Identify and implement improvements to enhance product quality, reliability and overall customer satisfaction., • Ensure timely resolution of customer complaints and NCM processes by effectively administering the Corrective and Preventive Action Program (CAPA)., • Prepare product and process quality reports; collect, analyze, summarize and communicate information and trends to the Leadership Team., • Drive root cause analysis and corrective action plans for product or service-related issues. Innovation & Collaboration • Promote a culture of innovation within the Engineering team, encouraging the development of new technologies and solutions, on schedule., • Collaborate with Sales, Marketing and Operations to align Engineering and Quality initiatives with customer needs and market demands., • Leverage data and analytics to identify trends, anticipate challenges and make informed decisions., • Center point for the quality-to-engineering feedback loop for product modifications and/or enhancements to lessen field quality, nuisance and safety issues. Basic Qualifications: • Excellent leadership, organizational and time management skills, • Results-oriented individual with a strong focus on customer success, • Excellent presentation, interpersonal communication, analytical and logical skills, • At ease establishing business relationships with individuals from various industries and at various corporate levels, • Requires logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems, • Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Technical Management, Quality, or a related field required., • 8+ years of experience in Engineering or Quality Management, with at least 5 years in a leadership role., • Lead Project Management experience., • Experience in developing validation test plans, overseeing a test lab and technician and establish statistically relevant metrics., • Hands-on experience and working knowledge of quality assurance in a Food Safety-certified environment., • CQA certification preferred. Interpersonal Skills: • Comfortable speaking before an audience of between 2 – 100 people in either a live conference or teleconference setting., • Requires contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, virtual meetings or otherwise) and working and interacting in a group or team, • Ability to read, analyze and interpret data/documents/safety rules or manuals/operating instructions or procedures/maintenance, etc., • Ability to manage employees, resolve conflicts, etc., • Expertise with CRM, MS Office, particularly Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook Travel Requirements: This position requires up to 20% travel to support Engineering and Quality team members in the field, meet with customers/suppliers/vendors, and attend trade shows or industry conferences. Trips will be scheduled in advance, based on business needs.