Quality Manager

ND Paper • Sturtevant, WI

9d • Onsite

About The Position

The Quality Manager is responsible for building and sustaining the plant's quality management infrastructure. This is a foundational role in an active turnaround: the function does not yet have formal systems, documented processes, or baseline performance data. The Quality Manager will define what good looks like, put the systems in place to measure it, and establish the corrective action discipline required to hold those standards over time.

This role reports directly to the General Manager and operates with cross-functional authority over quality holds, corrective actions, and customer complaint resolution. The Quality Manager works closely with Production, Scheduling, Maintenance, and Sales to ensure quality accountability is embedded at the operator and supervisor level — not concentrated in a single function.

Requirements

• 3+ years of quality management experience in corrugated, folding carton, flexible packaging, or comparable converting/manufacturing environment
• Working knowledge of corrugated board construction, flute profiles, ECT testing, and flexographic print process
• Demonstrated experience building or formalizing a quality management function — not just maintaining one that already existed
• Experience running structured root cause analysis (5-Why, fishbone, or equivalent) and managing corrective action to closure
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office; ability to build and maintain quality tracking tools in Excel
• Effective communicator across operator, supervisor, and customer-facing contexts

Nice To Haves

• Experience with AICC or Fibre Box Association quality standards, preferred
• Familiarity with SPC (statistical process control) or equivalent process control methodologies, preferred
• Bilingual English/Spanish, preferred
• CQE, CQM, or equivalent quality certification, preferred
• Experience implementing or maintaining an ISO 9001 or comparable QMS, preferred

Responsibilities

• Demonstrate safety as a core value and establish a safe work environment by actively leading the safe execution of work.
• Own implementation and maintenance of Quality Hold SOP, including hold initiation, disposition, and release protocol
• Develop and maintain quality standards for corrugated board (ECT, flute profile, caliper, moisture, print registration) and converted products (cut score, glue, stitch, die cut tolerance)
• Define and enforce defect reason code taxonomy across all production lines
• Establish and maintain a quality metrics dashboard with weekly reporting cadence
• Manage the plant's quality hold tracker — ensure holds are coded, dispositioned within defined timeframes, and do not linger without documentation
• Lead structured root cause analysis (RCA) on customer complaints, internal defect events, and repeat hold types
• Own the corrective and preventive action (CAPA) system — issue, track, verify, and close CAPAs within defined timelines
• Drive investigation rigor and corrective action documentation standards across production and quality functions
• Present corrective action summaries to the General Manager on a cadence appropriate to the plant's current complaint volume
• Serve as the primary internal point of contact for customer quality complaints
• Coordinate with Customer Service and Sales to ensure complaint acknowledgment within defined SLA
• Investigate, document, and communicate root cause and corrective action to customers in a professional and timely manner
• Track complaint trends by customer, product type, and defect category
• Conduct daily floor rounds on corrugator and converting lines; observe in-process quality at point of production
• Train operators and supervisors on quality standards, defect identification, and hold protocol — the goal is line-level ownership, not management-dependent compliance
• Support Converting and Corrugator Supervisors in building quality awareness into shift startup, in-process checks, and end-of-run documentation
• Own plant-wide fiber waste as a primary performance metric — track, report, and drive corrugator and converting waste to target
• Establish waste coding by loss category (setup waste, run waste, trim, downgrade, splice loss) so data is actionable, not just reportable
• Conduct regular waste walks with corrugator and converting supervisors; identify top waste drivers by line, shift, and product type
• Lead structured waste reduction projects — root cause, countermeasure, verification — on the highest-impact loss categories
• Partner with Scheduling to reduce setup-driven waste through order sequencing and run length optimization
• Maintain waste trend reporting for the General Manager on a weekly basis; flag deviations from target immediately
• Oversee color kitchen quality standards for ink mixing, draw-down approval, and press match process
• Coordinate with Design on print specification documentation and customer proof approval workflow
• Establish and maintain print quality standards consistent with customer expectations and order specifications
• Define incoming inspection standards for linerboard, medium, inks, and adhesives
• Document and escalate supplier quality issues to the General Manager with supporting data
• Maintain incoming inspection records as part of the plant's quality documentation system

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance as well as voluntary benefits such as accident insurance, hospital indemnity, and critical illness for you and your family.
• Financial protection benefits, including life insurance, disability insurance, and business travel accident insurance.
• Tax advantaged accounts such as Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA).
• Paid holidays, personal days, and vacation days to support work-life balance.
• A 401K retirement plan with a company match and annual fixed contribution
• Wellness programs with incentives and an on-site clinic available at our Rumford and Biron location.
• Competitive salaries
• Comprehensive health benefits
• Paid time off

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Education Level: No Education Listed