Location: Decatur, IL Salary - $75K-80K/year
Experience: 5+ Years (depending on education)
Industry: Heavy Equipment / Manufacturing
Work Environment: Combination of Manufacturing Floor and Office
Job Summary
We are seeking an experienced Manufacturing Quality Engineer to drive quality improvements, lead root cause investigations, and implement corrective actions within a manufacturing environment. This role serves as a critical liaison between machine assembly plants and component manufacturing facilities, ensuring product quality, resolving manufacturing issues, and supporting continuous improvement initiatives.
The ideal candidate will have a strong background in manufacturing quality, structured problem-solving methodologies such as 8D and Six Sigma, and experience collaborating with cross-functional engineering and production teams.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead timely emergency, interim, and permanent corrective actions for internal and customer-reported quality issues.
- Conduct Root Cause and Corrective Action (RCCA) investigations to identify and resolve manufacturing quality concerns.
- Apply structured problem-solving methodologies, including 8D, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement techniques, to drive sustainable quality improvements.
- Inspect, contain, analyze, and communicate quality issues to factory quality and manufacturing teams.
- Serve as a key liaison between machine assembly plants, component factories, Manufacturing Engineering, and Quality teams.
- Lead quality improvement projects and support End-to-End (E2E) Built-in Quality initiatives.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify process gaps, implement corrective actions, and prevent recurring defects.
- Support internal continuous improvement activities to enhance manufacturing processes and product quality.
- Analyze manufacturing quality data, identify trends, and develop actionable improvement plans using Microsoft Office 365 applications.
- Facilitate problem-solving discussions, influence stakeholders, and drive accountability for corrective action implementation.
- Maintain strong relationships with internal and external customers to ensure timely resolution of quality concerns.
- Provide coaching and technical guidance to manufacturing teams on quality standards and problem-solving best practices.
Required Qualifications
Education & Experience:
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related technical field with 5+ years of relevant experience preferred.
- Associate degree with 10+ years of relevant manufacturing quality experience.
- Master's degree with 3+ years of relevant experience.
- Relevant internship experience will be considered.
Technical Skills
- Strong understanding of manufacturing operations, quality standards, and quality control processes.
- Hands-on experience applying 8D, RCCA, or similar structured root cause analysis methodologies in a manufacturing environment.
- Experience leading corrective and preventive actions for manufacturing or customer quality issues.
- Working knowledge of engineering, product design, manufacturing, and maintenance processes.
- Experience supporting quality improvement and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Strong analytical skills with proficiency in Microsoft Office 365 applications, particularly Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams.
- Ability to interpret manufacturing quality data and communicate findings effectively.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in heavy equipment, automotive, industrial machinery, or component manufacturing.
- Knowledge of Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing, and Built-in Quality principles.
- Experience with customer quality issues, supplier quality, or manufacturing quality investigations.
- Familiarity with 8D reports, CAPA, 5 Why Analysis, Fishbone Diagrams, and other quality improvement tools.
- Experience coordinating corrective actions across multiple manufacturing facilities.
- Exposure to assembly plants, component manufacturing, or production quality operations.
Required Soft Skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Strong leadership, collaboration, and stakeholder management abilities.
- Ability to influence teams and drive corrective actions without direct authority.
- Self-motivated, proactive, and comfortable working independently.
- Strong problem-solving, organizational, and analytical skills.
- Ability to build relationships with manufacturing, engineering, and customer quality teams.
- Combination of hands‑on manufacturing floor activities and office‑based analysis and reporting.
- Regular interaction with factory quality teams, Manufacturing Engineering, production personnel, and internal customers.
- Work within a small, collaborative quality team at the Decatur facility.
- Requires a hands‑on approach to quality issue investigation, containment, and corrective action implementation.