Supplier Quality and Development Engineer; Metal Fabrication

Hitachi Energy is seeking a HUB Europe Supplier Quality and Development Engineer (SQE) for their transformer business unit. The person will be responsible for the preventive supplier quality assurance and delivery performance improvement activities in the category of Metal Fabrication on HUB level. The role will involve qualifying and auditing the suppliers, monitoring the performance and initiating the performance improvement activities for the strategic suppliers and working closely with the category managers to contribute to the sourcing strategy from quality perspective. The person will also be responsible for resolving the critical quality issues of the suppliers within the category and leading the critical parts/materials approval process standardization at HUB level following APQP methodology. The SQE will be reporting to the HUB Europe Supply Quality and Development Manager.

Your responsibilities

• Evaluate the qualification assessment forms and align on corrective action plan with the suppliers and follow-up the resolution.
• Plan and conduct the required supplier on-site audits including assessment reporting, corrective action plan alignment with the suppliers. Verify the effective closure of corrective action plan items by the supplier side.
• Participate in the supplier sustainability audits and verify the closure of corrective action plan items by the supplier within defined resolution date.
• Lead the production part approval process for the new supplier parts/materials including the coordination of trial parts and first article inspection activities with the factory quality.
• Lead the non-conformity resolution process with the suppliers in case of the escalated technical issues from the factories and ensure the effective root-cause analysis and the countermeasure implementation by the suppliers.
• Monitor and consolidate the supplier delivery and quality KPI’s, the critical non-conformities escalated from the factories. Identify the top concern suppliers within the region or specific category. Conduct Supplier Performance Evaluations (SPE) for the identified suppliers by the category management. Closely collaborate with the Category teams.
• Implement PG/PGTR supply quality procedures within the assigned responsibility area. Develop/issue the specific supplier and part/material quality procedures for the related category. Ensure the appropriate utilization of the SBM tools within the BU/HUB organizations and the local units.
• Complete special quality and continuous improvement projects such as Advanced Product Quality Planning, Lean Six Sigma, supplier manuals, etc. in line with the yearly HUB SQ targets.

Your background

• 5+ years of relevant quality assurance, manufacturing, or supplier quality management experience in production environment.
• Strong understanding of quality and continuous improvement methodologies (e.g. 8D, DMAIC, 5Why, A3, Poka-Yoke) and have practical hands-on technical problem solving experience.
• Proven experience with the process audits, APQP/PPAP, P-FMEA, Process Control Plan and Statistical Process Control.
• Experience in production processes or quality activities in the field of Metal Fabrication, such as welding, painting, plating (as well as other experience in similar industries).
• Lean Six Sigma education and certification is preferred. Familiarity with ISO-9001, ISO 5817, ISO 3834, ISO 15614, ISO 15609, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 standards and external auditor certification is an asset.
• Strong organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills (including leading remote meetings and workshops) and ability to create a collaborative environment for accomplishing project objectives.
• Self-motivated, perseverant when working with suppliers and various cross-functional teams.
• Willingness to travel up to 50% globally. Fluency in English both written and spoken.

Nice to have

• IWE certificate
• PT certificate and experience
• LT experience
• FROSIO certificate or equivalent
• Experience in distribution transformer tanks and parts welded.