Americas Quality Manager

Alkegen•Buffalo, NY

About The Position

Alkegen brings together two of the world’s leading specialty materials companies to create one new, innovation-driven leader focused on battery technologies, filtration media, and specialty insulation and sealing materials. Through global reach and breakthrough inventions, we’re delivering products that enable the world to breathe easier, live greener, and go further than ever before. With over 60 manufacturing facilities with a global workforce of over 9,000 of the industry’s most experienced talent, including insulation and filtration experts, Alkegen is uniquely positioned to help customers impact the environment in meaningful ways. Alkegen offers a range of dynamic career opportunities with globe-spanning reach. From production operators to engineers, technicians to specialists, sales to leadership, we’re always looking for top talent ready to bring their best. Come grow with us!

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related field.
Significant prior experience in quality engineering / assurance with exposure to IATF16949, ISO 9001, AS9100 standards and ideally AIAG and VDA standards.
Experience of dealing with customers and acting as a focal point for the organization with the customer base.
Experience CI and lean methodologies, ideally L6S Black Belt.
Held leadership roles in large-scale manufacturing operations.
Good understanding of Supply chain networks, Design for Manufacture Principles & Project management experience.
Strong analytical skills and experience with statistical process control and manufacturing data analysis.

Nice To Haves

A master’s degree is preferred.
Is a consistent role model for the Alkegen Core Values.
Be able to lead, coach, and develop team members.
Be highly motivated and possess vision and enthusiasm.
Communicating in an open and honest way, that quickly builds trust and respect.
Drives execution with the team and has a bias towards action, and results.
Proven, change management skills. Sets the scene for change, develops workable plans, communicates changes effectively, builds commitment and overcoming resistance to change.
Demonstrated problem solving skills. Quickly able to ascertain the cause of a problem through the use of disciplined, data driven problem-solving techniques. Not driven by emotional thinking when understanding problems.

Responsibilities

Act as a champion of the customer in the organization.
Responsible for planning, developing, and directing quality assurance policies, programs, and initiatives inside the business unit.
Responsible for managing the quality performance of the internal Alkegen supply chain, which operates across multiple sites paying close attention to extended operations & sub-contractors.
Ensure that processes and used inside the Business Unit comply with established quality standards and regulations, not limited to ISO9000 and IATF 16949 standards.
Drive continual improvement in safety, with no compromises to safety at any time.
Ensure that Plants operate with a sense of urgency and commitment to meet the objectives of the business unit.
Be a change agent and an advocate for a zero defects quality culture.
Facilitate the resolution of external / internal quality issues with strong problem solving and critical thinking skills, root cause analysis, effective containment, and corrective action / prevention implementation.
Implement proven improvement strategies supported by statistically rigorous methods and/or lean methodologies.
Deliver improvements in production efficiency and waste reduction to support zero material losses philosophy inside the business unit.
Be an effective influencer of plant managers, quality managers and other operational stakeholders to ensure that sites and functions operate with a sense of urgency and commitment to meet the objectives of the business unit.
Own the QA toolset and develop competence in the tools across the organization.