Total Quality Leader

Galloup•Wyoming, MI

7d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Kendall Group is comprised of eight divisions with 75+ locations in ten states. Combined, we serve the Electrical, Automation, Pipe, Valve, and Fitting products, Steam, Lighting, Industrial Controls, and Instrumentation Industries. The Kendall Group is a 100% employee-owned company. Kendall offers a great opportunity for a rewarding career. Our employee ownership model is the core of who we are. You will not only own part of the company, but you will own your future. At Kendall, you'll have opportunities to learn and grow while being coached and mentored along the way. We're that company where people stay! We're proud to say more than 60% of our associates have more than 5 years of tenure, and more than 40% have greater than 10 years. At Kendall, you will be valued and supported, your ideas will be heard, your voice will matter, and you'll work alongside incredible people who care about your success. Reporting to the Program Management Office Manager, the Total Quality Leader is responsible for establishing, owning, and operating The Kendall Group’s quality program. This individual contributor role defines quality failures and cost of poor-quality measures, ensures defect data is captured and attributed accurately, and provides reporting that helps leaders understand where failure costs are concentrated. The Total Quality Leader will develop dashboards, supplier quality scorecards, customer satisfaction insights, and other metrics that support data-driven decisions, Continuous Improvement priorities, and measurable operational improvement. This position partners with cross-functional teams and presents clear findings to branch operations and executive leadership to help drive accountability, resolution, and sustained quality performance.

Requirements

3 years of progressive experience in quality, continuous improvement, operational excellence, process improvement, or a related discipline
Demonstrated experience evaluating and improving business processes using Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, or other continuous improvement methodologies
Experience leading cross-functional improvement initiatives, including root-cause analysis, solution development, implementation, and measurement of results
Experience developing and utilizing performance metrics, KPIs, and process measures to identify improvement opportunities and evaluate effectiveness
Working knowledge of quality systems, standards, process mapping, auditing, and process controls
Demonstrated ability to lead projects, develop training, and influence teams across functions and levels to drive adoption and sustain improvements
Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Engineering, Quality, or a related field. Alternatively, equivalent experience or training in a related field
Working knowledge of cost of quality concepts, defect classification, root cause analysis, and customer satisfaction measurement
Comfort working with transactional data: interpreting ERP reports, validating a number, and explaining how it was derived
Ability to develop, maintain, and present quality metrics, dashboards, scorecards, and executive-level reporting
Ability to take ownership of a program and run it independently once established
Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously
Strong organizational skills and attention to detail
Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Ability to see, talk and hear
Ability to sit for 8 hours a day
Must possess and maintain a valid driver's license

Nice To Haves

Experience in a distribution, wholesale, logistics, or supply chain environment
Experience establishing a quality or measurement capability where none existed previously
Experience with cost of quality or COPQ modeling outside of a manufacturing setting
Experience with supplier quality, vendor score carding, or chargeback recovery
Experience designing voice of customer or customer satisfaction measurement programs
Lean, Six Sigma, or equivalent continuous improvement training
Familiarity with Epicor or a comparable ERP, and with reporting tools such as Power BI
Six Sigma Green Belt or higher

Responsibilities

Define and maintain the defect taxonomy, establishing what constitutes a quality failure and resolving disputes over those definitions
Define and maintain a cost of poor quality (COPQ) model appropriate to distribution rather than manufacturing
Specify how defect data is captured, reason-coded, and attributed to its origin, working with internal development resources who build and maintain the tooling
Measure and report customer satisfaction and structured customer feedback, maintained independently of cost data so the two can be compared
Produce supplier quality scorecards from defect origin data and provide them to Purchasing and vendor management
Publish a ranked view of where failure cost is concentrated, and support Continuous Improvement in prioritizing work against it
Track identified opportunities through to closure and verify whether the associated cost actually declined
Own and operate the quality program day to day once it is established, including reporting, dashboards, and the ongoing accuracy of the data
Present findings, including unfavorable findings, to branch operations and executive leadership
Perform other duties as assigned