QA Specialist: Supplier Quality & Process Improvement

Abbott Laboratories; Saint Paul (MN); On-site; USD 61,000 - 123,000; Full time

Job summary

Abbott is seeking a Quality Assurance Specialist for the Vascular division, based in St. Paul, MN. This is an onsite role focused on supplier quality, materials testing, and corrective actions.

The role emphasizes driving improvements, evaluating suppliers, defining acceptance criteria, and maintaining quality systems. A bachelor’s degree and 2 years of related experience are required, with a strong working knowledge of quality processes and supplier interactions.

Qualifications

• 2 years related work experience with a good understanding of specified functional area.
• Working technical knowledge and application of concepts, practices and procedures.
• General understanding of business unit/group function.
• Will perform this job in a quality system environment.
• Failure to adequately perform tasks can result in noncompliance with governmental regulations.
• Exercises judgment within defined procedures and practices to determine appropriate action.
• Has a broad knowledge of technical alternatives and an understanding of their impact on the systems environment.

Responsibilities

• Drives improvement and corrective action in the quality of components sourced from outside suppliers.
• Provides technical support in the selection of suppliers.
• Develops acceptance criteria for materials.
• Monitors supplier performance to drive supplier corrective action, manufacturing yield issues and field failures.
• Assess potential new suppliers for technical, quality and manufacturing capabilities.
• Provides technical support for the introduction of components from a new supplier.
• Generates and maintains incoming inspection procedures.
• Trains inspectors to these procedures.
• Develops and/or sources inspection tools and equipment.
• Assists in generating component specifications.
• Generate test protocols, monitor testing, issue qualification test reports and approve components for use in products.
• Provide input to Design Engineering on new component technology and assist in component selection with quality and reliability analysis.
• Analyzes incoming material defects.
• Communicates issues to suppliers.
• Reviews new design specifications and provides input from component quality and manufacturability perspective.
• Investigates field failures related to supplier materials.
• Develop corrective action plan where necessary. Dispositions and drives corrective action as necessary.
• May supervise inspectors.
• Cultivates a wide range of internal networks and begins to develop an extensive external network of resources to facilitate completion of tasks.
• May lead a project team of moderate scope.
• Provides guidance to less experienced staff. Acts as a mentor to lower level individual contributors.
• Influence exerted at peer level and occasionally at first levels of management.
• Plans, organizes, and prioritizes own daily work routine to meet established schedule.
• Exercises authority and judgment within defined limits to determine appropriate action.
• Failure to achieve results or erroneous decisions or recommendations may cause delays in program schedules and may result in the allocation of additional resources.

Education

Bachelors Degree in a related field

Job description

Abbott is seeking a Quality Assurance Specialist for the Vascular division, based in St. Paul, MN. This is an onsite role focused on supplier quality, materials testing, and corrective actions.

The role emphasizes driving improvements, evaluating suppliers, defining acceptance criteria, and maintaining quality systems. A bachelor’s degree and 2 years of related experience are required, with a strong working knowledge of quality processes and supplier interactions.