Plant Quality Leader

Trane Technologies; Columbia (SC); On-site; USD 78,000 - 109,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401K match

Tuition assistance

Job summary

Trane Technologies is seeking an experienced Quality Inspector Supervisor to lead all plant inspection activities. You will oversee daily scheduling, coaching, and performance evaluations to ensure compliance with plans and quality standards.

In this role you will manage nonconforming material, drive corrective actions, and coordinate with manufacturing leadership to resolve product acceptance issues. On-site access and leadership responsibilities require strong communication and problem-solving

Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalent with extensive on-the-job experience.
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Quality Management, or related technical field preferred.
• 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.
• 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

Education

High school diploma or equivalent with extensive on-the-job experience

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Quality Management, or related technical field preferred

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

ASQ Certified Quality Auditor (CQA) or Six Sigma Green/Black Belt

Lean Manufacturing/5S basics, ISO 9001, or IATF 16949 awareness

Job description

Trane Technologies is seeking an experienced Quality Inspector Supervisor to lead all plant inspection activities. You will oversee daily scheduling, coaching, and performance evaluations to ensure compliance with plans and quality standards.

In this role you will manage nonconforming material, drive corrective actions, and coordinate with manufacturing leadership to resolve product acceptance issues. On-site access and leadership responsibilities require strong communication and problem-solving