Quality Control Supervisor - IL

Job Title: Quality Control Supervisor

Department: Quality

Reports to: National Manager of Quality Control

Effective Date: 11/21/2024

Company Overview

DreamFields is one of the top 5 cannabis companies in the industry through our leading #1 pre-roll brand, Jeeter. The company is very passionate about producing world-class marketing, high quality, innovative products, delivering unprecedented customer experiences, having cutting-edge operations, and curating an amazing company culture & thriving work environment. With over 1500 employees we are proud to be one of the most loved employers in the industry. The company continues to experience exponential month-over-month growth as one of the fastest-growing companies in the cannabis industry and we have begun our aggressive national expansion to all the legalized cannabis states in the USA.

Job Summary

The Quality Control Supervisor will directly support the National Manager of Quality Control at DreamFields Illinois in Hodgkins, IL, with additional indirect reporting relationships to the General Manager and Corporate Director of Operational Standards and Quality. This position will cross-functionally work with local and corporate leadership to audit, document, analyze, report, and improve quality management activities within the facility. This role serves as a liaison between the local team and corporate headquarters from the quality assurance and quality control perspectives, with the overall goals of achieving 100% customer satisfaction and driving a "right first time" manufacturing culture.

Duties/Responsibilities

• Train, supervise, and lead QC Technicians inspecting products at all stages of the manufacturing process (before, during, and after production) to ensure incoming or outgoing products achieve company and legal standards, including raw materials, work-in-process, and finished goods.
• Monitor to ensure QC staff adheres to established company processes and standards.
• Communicate performance-related feedback to the team, identifying and executing on opportunities for retraining or labor reallocation as needed.
• Oversee QC staff schedules and labor allocation, ensuring accurate timekeeping/payroll. Ensure labor resources are effectively and efficiently hired and distributed.
• Conduct QC staff performance reviews.
• Develop QC personnel by holding team meetings and providing guidance, mentorship, and a positive and collaborative work environment.
• Conduct internal audits to identify, document, and correct process deviations and/or product deficiencies, being accountable for accurate and thorough recordkeeping and follow-through.
• Conduct root cause analyses (5 Whys, Ishikawa "fishbone" diagrams, etc.) of quality issues. Identify and ensure implementation of preventative and corrective actions as needed.
• Monitor, analyze, and communicate customer feedback data. Track and review trends over time and use these trends to drive improvement initiatives.
• Monitor KPIs to ensure compliance with applicable cannabis regulations as well as DreamFields' internal specifications, policies, and procedures. Communicate and support resolution of any quality- or compliance-related issues or insights with urgency and clarity.
• Review, analyze, and derive actionable insights from quality data being reported by QC Technicians daily.
• Work with QA/QC personnel and collaborate cross-departmentally to drive nonconformance investigations and identify containment and corrective actions.
• Identify opportunities for retraining, document updates, or other continuous improvement initiatives to contribute to error reduction and process enhancements.
• Submit Deviation Requests, Nonconformance Reports, and/or Manufacturing Change Requests to corporate as needed. Ensure organized archiving and follow-through.
• Support corporate quality leadership with continuous improvement or growth initiatives, including but not limited to new SOP implementations, quality trials/experiments (product or process validation), new market expansions, or new product launches.
• Serve as a resource to new quality leaders, sharing insights and supporting the collective advancement of the national quality team.
• Oversee tests or experiments and analyze/report data necessary to drive decisions.
• Support creation or revision of QA/QC policies, procedures, or work instructions.
• Provide feedback regarding specifications of materials and products based on inspection results. Propose data-driven recommendations in line with company objectives.
• Ensure quality equipment is properly calibrated, used, and maintained in good working order.
• Monitor environmental conditions daily, liaising with maintenance to resolve out-of-spec areas.
• Foster and drive a cross-departmental sense of teamwork and shared responsibility for quality outcomes. Support the cultural change from detecting and reacting to quality issues, to a culture that emphasizes prevention of issues via "right first time" manufacturing.
  

Required Skills/Abilities

• Must be at least 21 years of age and have reliable transportation.
• Meticulous attention to detail - must be able to closely inspect product to identify defects, transcribe numerical data, and review/verify product labeling with a high degree of accuracy.
• Highly proficient with Microsoft Office - must be comfortable creating or editing spreadsheets, SOPs, work instructions, and other technical documents.
• Strong analytical skills - Comfortable with statistical process control (SPC) and other methods of data analysis and data visualization in Microsoft Excel, including but not limited to formulas, Pivot Tables, and graphs such as linear regression, histograms, Pareto charts, etc.
• Critical thinking and problem-solving skills - ability to make pertinent observations, use data to drive decision-making, propose practical solutions to manufacturing defects in a fast-paced production environment, and validate implementation of solutions.
• Strong leadership skills - capable of inspiring and motivating a diverse team.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills - must be able to professionally and effectively coach and collaborate with others and summarize and report key insights to corporate and/or local leadership as relevant.
• Strong organizational skills - able to manage physical and/or digital recordkeeping and archives.
• Adaptable - open to, and able to drive execution of, change.
• Knowledge of and ability to enforce Good Manufacturing Practices and general workplace health and safety standards - the human, environmental, and other manufacturing conditions necessary to achieve high-quality cannabis products.
  
  

Education And Experience

• HS Diploma or GED required. A college degree strongly preferred.
• Quality control or quality assurance experience in cannabis or a similarly regulated industry.
• Statistical and root cause analyses, including statistical process control (SPC), experience.
• Supervisory or management experience required. Experience leading a quality team preferred.
• Experience with the Plan-Do-Act-Check (PDAC) cycle of change management.
• Lean/six sigma or other personal quality certification (e.g. ASQ, IASSC) is preferred.
  
  

EEOC: DreamFields is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status.