Director of Quality and Reliability

Overview

Aprilaire is currently seeking a Director of Product Reliability & Quality. In this role you will execute product quality and reliability strategy by working cross-functionally to develop and build a high performing team and coach and mentor the organization to deliver products as reflected by the best six-sigma practices.

Responsibilities

• Building a high performance team & leading them to implement Design for Quality, Design for Reliability, Design for manufacturing using Six Sigma and robust product design principles throughout RP organization.
• Leading, staffing, coaching and developing a team of professional engineering resources is a key accountability, driving career development of the team
• Staying current on industry Best Practice and deploy as needed
• Accountability for daily workload management, developing and managing resource plans as well as the engineering and validation budgets, and prioritization of projects.
• Delivering products with quality, reliability and robustness through fundamental reliability studies and physics-of-failure approaches.
• Guiding product development team to deliver robust products through translation of customer requirement to product specifications (at component, subsystem & system level), leading to development of FMEA and test/field test plans.
• Being the final authority for validation of product approval for performance and reliability. In addition to the new product qualification, responsibility extends to design and execution of the on-going product testing platform. Responsible to conduct quality compliance & product safety for products
• Building and lead Failure Review Boards, oversee Failure Mode Analysis, Risk Management & Hazard Analysis, and Worst Case Analysis.
• Development of company’s quality & reliability metrics and programs to systematically increase reliability- Product Quality & Reliability Health assurance for all platforms
• Developing strategy & execute plan to build World Class Testing facility. Develop & execute plans to deliver UL and other code & agency requirements through RP labs to achieve accreditation by UL, ETL, CSA, etc. Lead laboratory team to achieve control and automation of laboratory equipment to maximize equipment utilization.
• Deepen key subject matter expertise on the reliability & test teams - thermodynamics, noise & vibration, sensors, embedded electronics
• Develop a strategic quality & reliability framework for entering new product categories, and ensure our high standards of quality when working with new partners & finished goods suppliers
• Engage reliability efforts with real-world insights from contractor & homeowners. Identify and test for a wide variety of in-field systems, regional requirements, and site conditions; and manage field validation of new products
• Build a comprehensive product health management program - assessing the quality performance of our portfolios & triggering early corrective action by synthesizing a variety of inputs such as returns, service parts, customer calls, sales feedback, and online reviews.
• Exhibit a bias for action - not only identifying issues with new or existing products but driving issues to closure with thoroughness and urgency
• Make our proprietary test methodologies a key competitive advantage, including anticipating trends in equipment, usage patterns, and regulatory codes.
• Work cross-functionally and engage with our senior leadership team in our organization-wide pursuit of exceptional quality. Develop the overarching quality KPIs so we can assess gaps and drive progress.
  
  

Qualifications

• BS in Materials Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineer, Physics, or a related technical field
• 7-10 years of people management experience
• Black Belt Certification preferred
• HVAC, appliance, air purity, filters, embedded controls & IoT experience preferred
• Thorough understanding and practical use of FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis), DFR (Design for Reliability), DFSS(Design for Six Sigma), and DFM (Design for Manufacturability), Awareness of FRACAS and Living FMEA is important.
• Success in planning, commissioning, operating & managing reliability and/or failure analysis labs
• Failure Review Board experience, including Root Cause and Corrective Actions
• Strong analytical skills and statistical knowledge including Design of Experiments, Statistical Process Control, Reliability Life-Time Predictions, Weibull, etc…
• Thorough understanding of quality and reliability standards and requirements for consumer, industrial and automotive markets
• Experience in materials and parts engineering
• Supplier source selection (technical basis)
• Ability to present technical information to stakeholders and to customers
• Participate in manufacturing MRB (Material Review Board) to drive root cause, implement corrective action and disposition discrepant material.
• Experience leading failure investigations and/or performing failure analysis leading to root cause and corrective action