Quality Assurance Specialist

Nippon Paint Automotive Americas, Inc.; Lansing (IL); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

11 paid holidays

401(k) match

Tuition reimbursement

Career growth

Job summary

Nippon Paint Automotive Americas, Inc. is seeking a Quality Assurance professional to support our QA program, ensuring prevention of quality issues through standardized processes and procedures.

You will perform customer complaint investigations, determine root causes, and implement sustainable countermeasures to protect product quality across NPAA’s operations and customer base. The role emphasizes cross-functional collaboration with technical and operations teams to resolve scale-up issues,

Qualifications

• Bachelor degree preferably in a technical field or minimum of 4 years or equivalent experience.
• Experience in ISO Quality systems.
• Desirable: Exposure to Lean Manufacturing.

Responsibilities

• Participate in the development of product and process specifications.
• Create and implement inspection and testing criteria or procedures for quality control.
• Coordinate the selection and implementation of quality control equipment such as inspection gauges.
• Review and update standard operating procedures or quality assurance manuals.
• Document the key risks and controls and the assessment of adequacy.
• Create, implement and maintain comprehensive processes to improve clarity and consistency.
• Assist in scale up study, review and verification of new technology and equipment to predict and prevent quality issues prior to first production batch.
• Identify critical points in the operations process and specify sampling procedures to be used at these points.
• Conduct experiments to identify abnormal quality of products including raw materials and determine root cause of the problems.
• Research identified discrepancies to determine the root cause and provide recommendation on how to mitigate the risk.
• Work with technical and operations to resolve and prevent new product scale up issues.
• Investigate customer issues related to quality concerns for all aspects of NPAA including paint, process, containers or delivery.
• Determine short term immediate countermeasures and containment activity to get customer back to running their production line, prevent outflow of off quality, contain off quality materials within NPAA facilities and external warehouses.
• Create RCA/investigation reports for internal and external customers.
• Analyze customer complaints for patterns and trends and summarize trends to make corrective action recommendations.
• Monitor performance of quality control systems to ensure effectiveness and efficiency.
• Report and track any significant deviations from quality standards, identify and implement corrective actions for continuous improvement.

Skills

Root cause analysis

Quality control

Documentation

Education

Bachelor's degree in a technical field

4+ years of equivalent experience

Job description

At NPAA, We Believe Our Employees Are Our Greatest Strength. We Are Proud To Offer a Generous And Competitive Rewards Package, Including

• Compensation- annual merit increases, and an annual incentive bonus plan.
• Time Off & Holidays – 11 paid holidays each year, plus paid time off to support work-life balance.
• Health & Retirement – comprehensive health and welfare plans, along with a 401(k) program featuring an exceptional company match.
• Career Growth & Recognition – tuition reimbursement, employee recognition programs, and opportunities to grow within the organization.
• Culture & Community – as part of the NPAA family, you’ll enjoy company events throughout the year celebrating and appreciating our employees’ hard work and dedication.

Job Summary

Conducts activities to support the Quality Assurance program designed to ensure prevention of quality issues through standardization and maintenance of processes and procedures. Perform customer complaint investigations, determine root cause and implement sustainable countermeasures.

Position Responsibilities

• Participate in the development of product and process specifications
• Create and implement inspection and testing criteria or procedures for quality control
• Coordinate the selection and implementation of quality control equipment such as inspection gauges
• Review and update standard operating procedures or quality assurance manuals
• Document the key risks and controls and the assessment of adequacy
• Create, implement and maintain comprehensive processes to improve clarity and consistency
• Assist in scale up study, review and verification of new technology and equipment to predict and prevent quality issues prior to first production batch.
• Identify critical points in the operations process and specify sampling procedures to be used at these points
• Conduct experiments to identify abnormal quality of products including raw materials and determine root cause of the problems
• Research identified discrepancies to determine the root cause and provide recommendation on how to mitigate the risk
• Work with technical and operations to resolve and prevent new product scale up issues
• Investigate customer issues related to quality concerns for all aspects of NPAA including paint, process, containers or delivery
• Determine short term immediate countermeasures and containment activity to:
  • Get customer back to running their production line
  • Prevent the outflow of off quality to other customers
  • Contain off quality materials within NPAA facility and external warehouses
• Create RCA/investigation reports for internal and external customers
• Analyze customer’s complaints for patterns and trends and summarize trends to make corrective action recommendations
• Monitor performance of quality control systems to ensure effectiveness and efficiency
• Report and track any significant deviations from quality standards, identify and implement corrective actions for continuous improvement / PDCA projects
• Produce reports regarding nonconformance of products or processes, root cause analysis, or quality trends
• Participate in root cause analysis of off quality batches at NPAA
• Participate in meetings with customers or suppliers as representative of NPAA Quality Department
• Travel to customers or suppliers as quality representative, as necessary

Qualification Requirements

• Bachelor Degree preferably in a Technical Field or minimum of 4 years or equivalent experience
• Experience in ISO Quality systems
• Desirable: Exposure to Lean Manufacturing