Customer Quality Engineer

The Customer Quality Engineer communicates with customers on quality-related issues and coordinates with regional Quality Teams to efficiently and effectively resolve concerns and to drive continual improvements to proactively avoid issues from arising. This is a technical role.

Impact for the Role

As the Customer Quality Engineer you will have a significant impact on maintaining and improving customer satisfaction on our major programs. You will ensure that Quality is recognized as an order-winning proposition by our customers, with early engagement to ensure that their requirements are fully understood, our manufacturing partner capabilities are aligned, and our execution is optimized. Post sale, you will coordinate with the customers on any quality issues, acting as the subject matter expert supporting Program Managers and coordinating with Quality Team members in the regions where parts are being manufactured to ensure quick resolution of problems without unnecessary back and forth with delays resulting from time differences across our regional offices.

What You Will Be Doing

You will report to the Head of Global Quality and will assist from time to time with various duties as needed and assigned.

• Review customers’ quality requirements, whether formalized through supplier quality manuals, for instance, or by interviews with customers. Integrate these requirements into MISUMI Americas Quality Management System
• Support APQP and PPAP activities as required by customers, including the implementation of optimized measurement plans for mechanical parts
• Ensure analytical and manufacturing techniques are consistent from manufacturing partner to manufacturing partner and meet agreed customer specifications through alignment with regional Supplier Quality Engineers
• Provide subject matter expertise to program managers to both solve problems but also to develop the structured problem solving capabilities within the Program Management team and other MISUMI Americas functional groups
• Act as the bridge between customers and regional Quality Teams
• Identify opportunities for improvement in MISUMI Americas Quality Management System and manufacturing partner network, based on observations and involvement with customers
• Implement performance indicators which tell MISUMI Americas how well we are doing with customer quality
• Ensure customer-initiated supplier corrective action requests (SCARs) are responded to correctly, completely and in a timely manner
• Establish a compelling story for MISUMI Americas Quality to be an order-winning proposition not merely an order-qualifying one
• Serve as a customer advocate for quality issues, but tactfully pushing back when customer demands are unreasonable
• All employees are expected to maintain and contribute to the QMS.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in a technical subject (Masters preferred)
• Fluency in English (Chinese language fluency is a preferred additional skill)
• Minimum of 3 years Quality Engineering or Program Management experience in mechanical part manufacturing
• Experience working in a global organization and influencing colleagues in different timezones
• Fully conversant in GD&T principles
• Strong Understanding of Injection Molding, 3D printing, or Sheet Metal preferred
• Strong understanding of quality principles and manufacturing processes (metrology expertise is preferred)
• Strong foundational mindset in risk identification and mitigation
• Data-driven, detail-oriented, and pragmatic
• Structured problem solving with a multi-strategy approach
• Six Sigma certification preferred
• Ability to evaluate customer requirements and standards and convert them into executables
• Understanding of ISO9001:2015 requirements
• Understanding of other QMS standard requirements e.g. ISO13485, ISO13485, IATF16949 (preferred)
• Must have strong verbal and written communication skills and possess the ability to interact effectively at all levels in an organization, internal or external

Desired Traits

You’re Collaborative – It is expected that you will partner with various functional groups within MISUMI Americas, in all regions, as well as collaborating with customers and manufacturing partners

• Excellent collaboration skills and the ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks
• Ability to build strong trust-based relationships internally and externally
• Subject Matter Expert for resolving quality issues identified by customers
• Ability to influence without having direct authority

You will serve as an Advocate – In the role, you will solicit and listen to customer requirements and concerns, and take an active role in avoiding problems wherever possible, but resolving them when they do occur. 

• Strong in identifying customer requirements
• Adept at shifting priorities while maintaining a strong sense of urgency
• Good listener who’s comfortable with ambiguity, asking questions, and providing clarity
• Strong customer service skills with demonstrated service mentality
• Build and maintain credibility with customers and within MISUMI Americas

You’re Passionate and Empathetic - You have a passionate commitment to people and deep empathy for how supporting individuals leads to a stronger company culture.

• Exhibit a high level of initiative and integrity 
• Empathetic to the needs of customers, manufacturing partners, and MISUMI Americas. Able to balance the different perspectives
• Able to make decisions without all the available information and being able to course correct when new information becomes available
• Learn from situations and drive improvements as a result of thorough lessons learned analysis
• Able to exercise good judgment within broadly defined practices and policies and work in a self-directed manner

Physical Demands

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee routinely is required to sit; walk; talk and hear; use hands to keyboard, fingers, handle, and feel; stoop, kneel, crouch, twist, crawl, reach, and stretch.

Travel: Ability to travel up to 50% annually in the US and/or other regions globally