Quality Engineer

Responsible for ensuring that Hayward products meet set standards of quality, reliability, and performance, and ensure Hayward Warranty programs and system tools are executed to achieve quality and cost of quality goals.

This includes:

• Developing and implementing Quality Management System (QMS) with controls to ensure production is carried out in a manner that meets established quality standards.
• Conducting regular audits of the quality control systems to identify areas of non-compliance and implement necessary improvements.
• Ensuring compliance with local, state, and federal regulatory requirements.
• Evaluating and improving the effectiveness of the existing quality control process.
• Design, implementation, execution, and ownership of Operations:
  • Claims programs, processes, and reporting.
  • NAM Plants quality teams execution on warranty issues.
  • Problem solving analysis, and maintenance of warranty items.
• Program leadership for internal teams, including:
  • Plant Quality Teams
  • Supplier quality team.
  • Other manufacturing teams.
• Program leadership and partnership with high-value customers to:
  • Design and implement custom Warranty Claims programs.
  • Monitor compliance and address performance gaps.

This role is a critical part of Hayward’s efforts to:

• Attract and retain high-value customers by delivering and executing a customer-focused, efficient QMS and warranty program.
• Reduce annual warranty expense attributed to Operations through ongoing evaluation and management of the factors that can cause it to increase (products, processes, execution).

• Develop and manage Quality Management System
  • Manage all external registration requirements to ensure they are met.
  • Liaise with external bodies on all matters relating to registration. Maintain and improve, in line with business needs
  • Implement all relevant procedures described in the Quality Management System (QMS)
  • Ensure that all in-house systems and procedures are updated, revised and modified to meet the needs of external certification bodies
  • Update quality documentation and communicate to carry forward lessons learned from quality concerns
  • Ensure that all necessary systems and procedures are in place to satisfy all customer requirements and audits
  • Introduce new systems and procedures where appropriate
  • Train others in all aspects of the quality system and application of procedures
  • Undertake regular internal and process audits of the QMS
  • Ensure corrective actions are undertaken to address nonconformities found
  • Verify closure of non-conformities with Certification Bodies
  • Hold quarterly audit performance meetings within the business and with Certification Bodies
  • Manage the audit nonconformity database
  •  Provide detailed analysis of nonconformities
• Design and implement problem solving to eliminate warranty issues. This includes:
  • Monitoring plant warranty data collection including all supplier issues
    •  KPI tracking and holding plants accountable
  • Reviewing and leading weekly QRQ warranty meetings with cross functional team
  • Program leadership and partnership with external customers to design, implement, execute, and analyze the performance of custom programs. This includes:
    • Plan for training for external customer’s employees.
    • Produce data/analysis to evaluate external customer’s program execution and control warranty expense.
    • Leading biweekly plant warranty reviews
    • Monitoring plant warranty issues
    • Verifying plant safety gates are effective
    • Gate keeper of all corrective actions related to NAM plant warranty claims
• Develop warranty programs, policies, and solutions that are designed to:
  • Recruit, train, and manage a strong network of supplier quality engineers.
  • Analyze and address warranty issues, identifying and addressing product quality gaps.
  • Provide Plant Managers and Quality Managers with the system tools, processes, and resources required to support their warranty related issues.
  • Create problem solving techniques to assist with NAM plant teams in eliminating warranty issues.

• Design, implement, and continuously improve system tools and other resources utilized by the plant quality team. This includes:
  • Actively work with Plant Management, Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Quality, Salesforce, and other teams to design and implement business solutions and policies/programs. This includes (a) enhancements to existing quality system tools, as well as (b) design/implementation of new system tools
  • Actively work with NAM plant quality staff to identify system fixes, performance gaps, and enhancement opportunities

• Analyze Warranty Claim performance to determine how to reduce warranty expense. This includes:
  • Work with IT, AP, and others to ensure that warranty claims data is accurately reflected in reporting that is used to analyze product failures.
  • Collaborate with Engineering and Quality teams to analyze, investigate, and reduce drivers of warranty expense.

Approach:

Accomplish this through:

• · Program leadership when working with:
  • Internal partners (Plant Quality Teams, Operations Teams, Supply chain Teams, Engineering Teams, Tech Service, Sales, Marketing, IT, and others).
  • External partners (key suppliers, dealer/distributor customers, contract IT resources, etc.).
• Development and implementation of processes that prepare and empower the plant quality & warranty claims team.
• Ongoing data review/analysis to identify ways to improve the execution of programs/policies related to the warranty program.

Skills & Abilities:

• Data analysis
• Report creation
• Program and process design
• Ability to ‘manage up’ and ‘across,’ including management of external direct-buy customers and third-party contractors
• Collaboration with internal and external partners
• Audit

• Travel: Requires infrequent travel (fewer than 5% of work hours).

Education and Experience:

• Education: minimum 4-year degree, preferably in an engineering and technical related field.
• Experience: minimum 5 years of experience with a focus on managing QMS and administering warranty programs; experience managing a support function serving internal and external customers. Ideal candidate will have experience in retail/distribution as well as experience working for an original equipment manufacturer.

Physical Requirements and Work Environment:

• Must be able to sit for extended periods of time, stand, walk, talk and hear.
• The employee will generally work in an office setting or travel to other Hayward facilities.

#LI-LS1