Quality Supervisor - 2nd Shift

Trane Technologies•Columbia, SC

2d•Onsite

About The Position

As a world leader in creating comfortable, sustainable, and efficient climate solutions for buildings, homes and transportation, it's our responsibility to put the planet first. For us at Trane Technologies, and through our businesses including Trane® and Thermo King, sustainability is not just how we do business—it is our business. This role directly supervises all plant quality inspectors across lines or departments, planning and assigning daily work schedules to ensure inspection coverage for all production areas. The supervisor balances inspector workload based on production demand, risk level, and staffing availability, while monitoring team attendance, punctuality, overtime, and shift handoff effectiveness. They lead shift start-up meetings, provide day-to-day direction, coaching, and support to inspectors, and set clear performance expectations. This includes conducting regular one-on-one coaching, completing performance evaluations, and supporting corrective action, disciplinary steps, and recognition programs. The role also involves identifying skill gaps, coordinating cross-training, and developing backup coverage plans. Building a culture of accountability, urgency, teamwork, and quality ownership within the inspection team is a key aspect of this position. The supervisor oversees all in-process, first-piece, last-piece, and final inspection activities, ensuring inspectors follow approved plans, methods, and instructions, and that results are recorded accurately and timely. They ensure nonconforming material is properly identified, segregated, documented, and escalated, and review inspection findings daily to identify trends and opportunities for prevention. The role also coordinates inspector assignments for new launches, engineering changes, and customer-specific requirements, ensuring alignment with production schedules and customer risk. Standardization of inspection methods and judgment criteria, auditing inspector performance, and driving timely communication of defects are crucial. The supervisor serves as the primary point of contact for inspector-related quality issues, escalates significant concerns, and ensures smooth communication between shifts. They support daily production meetings and partner with manufacturing leaders to resolve conflicts. Training inspectors on defect recognition, inspection techniques, measurement methods, documentation, and escalation procedures is also a responsibility, along with maintaining training records and assessing inspector competency. The role involves updating inspectors on revised procedures and requirements, promoting standard work, tracking inspector productivity and KPIs, investigating inspection misses, and implementing corrective actions. Enforcing safety rules, PPE requirements, and good housekeeping standards are also part of the role, along with working closely with other teams to address plant quality issues.

Requirements

High school diploma or equivalent with extensive on-the-job experience
3+ years of direct manufacturing inspection experience
5+ years in a Quality Control/Assurance role within a manufacturing environment
2+ years of formal supervisory or team lead experience
Proven experience mentoring junior inspectors or leading shift handoffs

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Quality Management, or related technical field preferred
ASQ Certified Quality Auditor (CQA) or Six Sigma Green/Black Belt
Lean Manufacturing/5S basics, ISO 9001, or IATF 16949 awareness

Responsibilities

Directly supervise all plant quality inspectors across lines or departments
Plan and assign daily work schedules to ensure inspection coverage for all production areas
Balance inspector workload based on production demand, risk level, and staffing availability
Monitor team attendance, punctuality, overtime, and shift handoff effectiveness
Lead shift start-up meetings with inspectors to review priorities, quality alerts, and problem areas
Provide day-to-day direction, coaching, and support to inspectors on inspection expectations and decision-making
Set clear performance expectations for inspectors regarding accuracy, timeliness, discipline, and reporting
Conduct regular one-on-one coaching and feedback sessions with inspectors
Complete performance evaluations and document employee performance issues or achievements
Support corrective action, disciplinary steps, and recognition programs for team members as needed
Identify skill gaps and coordinate cross-training to improve team flexibility
Develop backup coverage plans for absences, vacations, and high-volume production periods
Participate in hiring, onboarding, and training new inspectors
Build a culture of accountability, urgency, teamwork, and quality ownership within the inspection team
Oversee all in-process, first-piece, last-piece, and final inspection activities in the plant
Ensure inspectors follow approved inspection plans, sampling methods, control plans, and work instructions
Verify inspection results are recorded accurately, completely, and in a timely manner
Ensure nonconforming material is properly identified, segregated, documented, and escalated
Review inspection findings daily to identify repeat issues, trends, and missed opportunities for prevention
Coordinate inspector assignments to support new launches, engineering changes, containment activity, and customer-specific requirements
Ensure inspection coverage is aligned with production schedules, critical operations, and customer risk
Standardize inspection methods and judgment criteria across all inspectors to improve consistency
Audit inspector performance on the floor to confirm compliance with procedures and standard work
Drive timely communication of defects and quality concerns to production supervision and other stakeholders
Serve as the primary point of contact for inspector-related quality issues on the production floor
Escalate significant quality concerns to quality management, engineering, production leadership, and other functions as needed
Ensure smooth communication between shifts so open issues, suspect material, and containment actions are handed off effectively
Lead response coordination when inspectors identify major nonconformances or process deviations
Support daily production meetings by providing inspection status, quality issues, and staffing updates
Partner with manufacturing leaders to resolve conflicts related to product acceptance or inspection disposition
Train inspectors on defect recognition, inspection techniques, measurement methods, documentation, and escalation procedures
Maintain training records and verify inspectors are qualified for assigned areas and tasks
Assess inspector competency through observation, layered audits, and periodic verification checks
Update inspectors on revised procedures, engineering changes, customer requirements, and quality alerts
Promote standard work and consistency in how inspections are performed and documented
Track inspector productivity, accuracy, error rates, and compliance to standard work
Monitor department KPIs related to inspection effectiveness, escapes, rework, scrap, and response time
Investigate inspection misses, documentation errors, or breakdowns in process discipline
Implement corrective actions when inspection performance does not meet expectations
Enforce safety rules, PPE requirements, and good housekeeping standards for the inspection team
Work closely with production, manufacturing engineering, supplier quality, and operations teams to address plant quality issues