Quality Assurance Specialist: Hand & Machine Cutting
About The Position
The Quality Assurance Specialist: Hand & Machine Cutting serves as the primary technical authority and quality gatekeeper for all hand and automated cutting operations in a high-end upholstered furniture manufacturing facility. This role ensures premium fabric and leather yields, flawless pattern matching (plaids, stripes, motifs), and strict compliance with luxury quality standards. The candidate must be a Master Hand Cutter, possess expertise in hard pattern management, and serve as both a pre/post-cut quality inspector for peer cutters and a certified backup operator for automated cutting systems.
Requirements
- Minimum 7–10 years of professional cutting experience in high-end or luxury upholstered furniture manufacturing.
- Proven status as a Master Hand Cutter proficient with electric shears, rotary cutters, straight knives, and manual pattern layouts.
- Experience operating Lectra automated cutting systems (or comparable CNC textile cutting systems like Gerber or Zünd).
- Deep technical expertise in reading hard patterns, understanding pattern balance, and handling tricky upholstery textiles (velvets, stripes, floral motifs, match points, and top-grain leathers).
- Meticulous eye for fabric defects, weave variations, shading, and tight dimension tolerances.
- Strong interpersonal and coaching skills to effectively advise and provide constructive feedback to fellow cutters.
- Ability to stand, bend, stretch, and lean over large cutting tables for extended periods.
- Manual dexterity and strength to handle heavy rolls of fabric or dense leather hides.
- Visual acuity to distinguish subtle color variations, grain directions, and minor fabric flaws.
Responsibilities
- Pre-review and advise hand cutters on their layouts prior to cutting to optimize fabric utilization, match direct/railroad requirements, and avoid material flaws or natural hide defects.
- Perform rigorous quality checks on completed hand-cut cut-sets (checking notches, grain lines, pattern symmetry, and precision tolerances) before parts advance to sewing.
- Serve as the final authority on standard operating procedures for pattern placement, stretch directional alignment, and fabric handling.
- Organize, catalog, and maintain all physical hard patterns for standard, semi-custom, and custom luxury upholstery styles.
- Routinely inspect hard patterns for wear, edge degradation, or missing markings; coordinate with the development team to re-cut or update damaged patterns.
- Maintain an orderly storage system ensuring fast retrieval and seamless workflow on the cutting floor.
- Execute complex, high-difficulty hand-cutting jobs (custom pieces, high-end velvets, delicate silks, complex pattern-matching fabrics, and premium leathers).
- Provide guidance and technical advice to junior and mid-level hand cutters to elevate the overall craft standard across the team.
- Serve as the designated primary backup operator for automated cutting equipment.
- Load digital markers, set up material, monitor cut execution, and troubleshoot minor operational variances to ensure continuity when the primary operator is unavailable.
- Smoothly transition between hand-cutting station quality reviews and automated machine operation based on production demands.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
Education Level
No Education Listed
