What are the responsibilities and job description for the Quality Manager position at Drake Plastics Ltd. Co?
Quality Manager
Position Summary
The Quality Manager has overall responsibility for the effectiveness, compliance, and continuous improvement of the Quality Management System at Drake Plastics. This role provides leadership across Operational Quality, Customer Quality, and Supplier Quality, ensuring strong inspection discipline, risk-based thinking, and corrective action effectiveness in compliance with AS9100, ISO 9001, and customer requirements.
The Quality Manager ensures organizational competency in inspection interpretation, CAPA, risk management, FMEA, PPAP, and AS9102 First Article Inspection, while leveraging SAP, High QA, QT9, and related platforms for enterprise-level quality oversight.
Primary Duties & Responsibilities
QMS & Quality System Leadership
- Own, maintain, and continuously improve the AS9100 and ISO 9001 Quality Management System
- Ensure consistent and effective execution of inspection processes and result interpretation across manufacturing operations
- Establish, govern, and monitor CAPA effectiveness, risk management, and FMEA processes
- Lead Management Review and report quality performance, risks, and trends to executive leadership
- Define and monitor quality KPIs and cost-of-quality metrics using SAP, High QA, QT9, or similar systems
Customer Quality
- Serve as the primary quality interface with customers
- Manage customer complaints, escapes, concessions, and corrective actions
- Review and approve AS9102 FAI and PPAP per AS9145
- Lead systemic root cause analysis and corrective action responses
- Support customer audits, scorecards, and quality performance reviews
Supplier Quality
- Oversee supplier qualification, inspection requirements, and performance management
- Ensure supplier understanding and compliance with inspection, PPAP, and risk-based requirements
- Lead supplier corrective actions and containment
- Support supplier audits and risk-based supplier controls
Operational & Manufacturing Quality
- Lead and mentor Quality Engineers and Quality Specialists
- Ensure inspection strategies, process controls, and risk mitigations are effective for injection molding, machining, and extrusion
- Drive continuous improvement, defect reduction, and scrap reduction initiatives
- Promote a culture of quality ownership, inspection integrity, and risk awareness
Audit & Compliance
- Act as the primary interface for certification, customer, and regulatory audits
- Ensure audit readiness and timely closure of findings
- Maintain compliance with ITAR/EAR requirements for controlled technical data
- Oversee internal audits and corrective action follow-up
Qualifications & Experience
- U.S. Citizenship required due to ITAR/EAR-controlled technical data
- 7 years of progressive quality experience in manufacturing
- 3 years in a quality leadership or management role
- Deep expertise in:
- Inspection process governance and interpretation
- CAPA systems and effectiveness verification
- Risk Management and FMEA
- PPAP
- AS9102 First Article Inspection
- Strong working knowledge of AS9100 and ISO 9001
- Proficiency with SAP, High QA, QT9, or similar QMS/ERP platforms
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Quality, or related field preferred
- ASQ CQE, CQM/OE, or Six Sigma Black Belt preferred
- Strong leadership, communication, and decision-making skills