POSITION SUMMARY:

Reporting to the Quality Assurance Manager, the Lab Supervisor is responsible for overseeing daily product quality for all shifts in the molding department, ensuring that customer specifications are met. The incumbent will be a technical resource for supervision in the molding department and ensure that all products made and shipped to our customers meet design intent for fit, form and function. The incumbent has primary responsibility to manage and supervise all QA Lab Technicians and will plan and allocate resources to product analysis performed for other departments. Responsibilities in this role extend to supporting the Quality Engineering function and proactively identifying and driving Continuous Improvement projects to increase product quality, overall manufacturing efficiency and productivity while reducing cost and waste.

EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

• Post-secondary education, preferably in food safety, quality or injection molding technology, or Quality Engineering.
• Minimum 3 years quality supervision experience preferably in a fast-paced, high volume manufacturing environment.
• Strong PC skills with an intermediate level of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook) and MRP.
• Outstanding interpersonal and people management skills.
• Strong problem-solving skills.
• Proven track record in leading people and problem resolution.
• Proven ability to deliver results.
• Ability to effectively coach, manage and support team members.
• Ability to manage significant workload including conflicting priorities.
• Ability to communicate with all levels of the organization.

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE:

• Knowledge and experience with injection molding technology and experience with food safety programs like HACCP. Knowledge of quality systems.
• Effective planning and organizational skills. Knowledge of lean manufacturing is preferred.
• Prefer food industry or injection molding industry background. ASQ Certified Quality Technician (CQT) preferred.
  Polytainers is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. Polytainers is committed to diversity and inclusivity in employment and welcomes applications from qualified individuals of diverse backgrounds. Polytainers is also committed to providing accommodations for people with disabilities. If you require an accommodation, we will work with you to meet your needs

• Manage the Quality Laboratory Technicians
• Be responsible and accountable for supervision of lab technicians, all shifts.
• Maintain lab technician job descriptions.
• Set objectives and expectations for technicians.
• Manage vacation schedules to ensure production is not adversely affected.
• Provide coaching and feedback to team members on performance and establishing Performance Improvement Plans where appropriate
• Communicate daily with auditors and team to evaluate and determine follow up actions, with factual details gathered.
• Identify vacancies and work required, discuss with Manager and HR to recruit and hire people as required.
• Ensure Lab Technicians perform daily duties as assigned.
• Provide timely feedback to auditors in a respectful, consistent, and appropriate manner
• Ensure Lab Technician training and back-up support is adequate and maintained.
• Complete necessary administrative functions for Lab Technicians, including payroll, attendance, and vacation needs.
• Achievement of Quality Performance Targets
• Participate in determining quality assurance objectives and be accountable for ensuring projects are properly planned out, executed and documented as per planned deadlines.
• Lead initiatives to recommend, develop and implement Continuous improvement projects within the QA function.
• Work with Tooling Management to analyze and report known issues and trends in tool outputs.
• Utilize Quality Engineering expertise to support the QA Engineer in solving quality and technical issues; ensuring that the Plant and its Quality Systems evolve and continuously improve as it relates to Quality and Food Safety requirements.
• Support the QA Engineer in achievement of Plant Continuous Improvement objectives and providing leadership in ensuring projects are supported with technical and troubleshooting assistance.
• Develop a thorough understanding of injection molding, thermoforming and IML technologies as well as dry offset plastic printing and shrink sleeving technologies.
• Support the Quality Engineer in working with stakeholders to ensure proper execution of all Test requirements (including sign off) for new equipment/products/processes for Molding and Printing
• The incumbent is backup for the QA Engineer
• Manage the Quality of Products
• Ensure that product quality inspection and test procedures are in place and are being properly executed to minimize defects and protect internal and external customers.
• Ensure timely and effective follow-up on customer product quality issues backed by thorough communication and reporting to stakeholders
• Support the Quality Manager and Quality Engineer by responding thoroughly to customer product quality issues within the 10 day PQI timeframe
• Conduct thorough investigations and root cause analysis of molding issues and internal problems within quality, using the Polytainers problem solving model, to effectively correct deficiencies and prevent reoccurrence. Assist auditors in investigating / troubleshooting product quality issues.
• Access daily quality reports ie. Daily PHR- Product Hold Report to determine any necessary follow up actions.
• Coordinate provision of technical information to internal customers such as Maintenance and Tooling, Molding, Printing, and Engineering, e.g. product measurements, evaluations of competitor products.
• Work with Engineering and Operations to assist in provision of technical data for external customer quality issues.
• Support external customer quality incident investigations through customer visits when requested.
• Report and Communicate
• Report on quality issues and any other issues of significance to the Quality Manager and QA Team.
• Ensure Quality Manager is kept abreast of issues being dealt with and / or items which are beyond the scope of your duties to control / correct.
• Communicate quality issues to appropriate molding department management in a timely fashion to initiate corrective actions.
• Training
• This position is responsible for establishing and implementing operational training needs of QA hourly team members.
• Responsible for training QA team members on cGMPs, food safety and quality procedures.
• Calibration
• Responsible for maintenance and calibration of QA lab testing equipment, scales and gages in the molding production facility.
• Provide feedback to external vendors responsible for calibration of equipment with regards to performance of equipment and gages to ensure equipment gets the required maintenance.
• Process vendor invoices for calibration and maintenance services completed in lab and production floor.
• Perform monthly calibration of calipers, indicators and micrometers in QA molding lab.
• Maintain a log of all equipment calibrated and maintained in QA molding lab and production floor by vendor to ensure equipment is serviced prior to due date.
• Supervisory Responsibilities
• Ensure all QA team members are trained and are performing their jobs in a safe and efficient manner
• Ensure accident/incident investigations are carried out and documented to determine root causes, corrective actions and following-up to ensure completion.
• Promote proactive identification and elimination of hazards.
• Correct unsafe acts or conditions, ensuring health & safety policies are followed.
• Regularly audit the shop floor and molding QA lab to ensure compliance with policies and procedures and ensure that inspections are appropriately documented.
• Fiscal Responsibilities
• Manage departmental spending and report deviations from budget to QA manager for approval.
• Manage quality assurance labor to meet budget. Discuss deviations with QA manager for approval.
• Manage labor allocation of molding QA technicians and QA auditors. Ensure that their time is charged to departments requesting QA lab work.