Supplier Quality Engineer II - Apparel

Job Description :

Come be DISRUPTIVE with us! At Milwaukee Tool, our most valued resource is our dedicated team of employees - employees who work with a passion to be the best and an unparalleled pride in their work and in the Milwaukee brand.

We know that the only way to sustain growth and success is to value the growth and success of each person within the organization, that is why we invest in an individual's growth and development from day one.

All our teams touch every step of the process, that is why our Quality teams are some of the key contributors to our continuous innovations.

The fast-paced, agile environment continuously delivers disruptive technologies by providing every team with the resources needed to excel and working directly with End Users to understand how to deliver heavy-duty products with high performance.

We create Best-in-class products by leveraging advanced analysis tools, extensive testing regimes, state-of-the-art manufacturing processes and cross-functional agility.

The Supplier Quality Engineer- Apparel provides quality support on cross-functional R&D and Operations projects, including New Product Development, Product Support, and Value Engineering.

The primary duty of this position is to provide supplier selection support, development, and management of Milwaukee Tool's key apparel suppliers.

The Supplier Quality Engineer will work closely with Sourcing, Marketing and Product Development personnel to communicate quality plans and strategies for key suppliers based on quality performance, cost objectives, process controls, design / product requirements.

The position will support on-site supplier process assessments / audits to assure compliance to product requirements and process documentation.

This position will develop action plans and monitor the implementation of changes and improvements while also coaching suppliers in the utilization of best practices in manufacturing techniques.

Duties And Responsibilities

Basic knowledge and experience with textile mills, textile materials, after treatments (i.e., anti -microbial), cut and sew facilities, color dyeing / matching, textile, and apparel measurements (material, color, and garments) and labeling / heat transfer adhesion.

Execute apparel & textile test procedures to validate product specifications and ensure Quality and Reliability readiness.

Coordinate quality planning activities such as auditing, inspection, and control plans that drive user needs through product specifications and into manufacturing processes.

Understand the supplier's current capabilities and communicate to cross functional team.

Work with global operations, materials development, marketing, engineering, and quality teams to develop QC mitigation strategies.

Collaborate with North American, European, Middle Eastern, and Asian based manufacturing and supplier representatives to ensure operational readiness of new product launches.

Support the product design process including benchmarking and testing of concepts & prototypes.

Collaborate with Design and Marketing to translate customer needs into product requirements and specifications.

Participate in the evaluation and selection of suppliers.

Able to call, lead and conduct global, cross functional team meetings with the following participants : new product development, internal / external operations / suppliers, quality, and supply chain.

Provide technical guidance to the supplier and PRC supplier quality team.

Implement supplier quality improvements for new and existing products.

Education and Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree in either Quality, Textile Engineering, Manufacturing or Mechanical Engineering plus two (2) to three (3) years of related work experience in a fabric / apparel Quality or material development role.

Experience in cutting & sewing industry including mills, basic knits & wovens, fabric development, testing and color matching.

Research and development with textile manufacturing including knits, wovens, elastics, and apparel trims.

Ability to work in a cross functional team and matrix management environment.

Demonstrated technical aptitude with strong written and verbal communication skills.

Demonstrated ability to lead a group or team, provide guidance and influence decision making.

Knowledge of Quality Management Systems to create, track, and document non-conformance records (NCMR), Supplier Corrective Actions (SCAR (Supplier Corrective Action Request)), and use of problem-solving analysis (8D) including containments actions, root cause analysis and improvement actions.

Basic knowledge of Supplier Management through the process of supplier selection, supplier auditing, supplier evaluations, supplier scorecards, supplier development, supplier improvement, and working through supplier exiting Strategies, when necessary.

Travel required up to 25% domestically and internationally, sometimes on short notice.