Job Description Summary

The Lead Supplier Quality Engineer – Mechanical Commodities is the technical authority and quality gatekeeper for GEV PCS's mechanical supply base, covering castings, large/heavy forgings, and precision-machined shafts. The role owns product and process qualification, defines and executes hold/witness points across the manufacturing flow, and acts as the mechanical process subject matter expert (SME) for advanced inspection and dimensional control methods including ultrasonic testing (UT), magnetic particle testing (MT), radiography (X-ray), and precision shaft grinding.
Reporting to the Supplier Quality Leader, the role is accountable for executing supplier quality strategies, ensuring compliance with Power conversion quality requirements, and achieving defined supplier performance objectives

Job Description

 1. Supplier Product & Process Qualification

Lead First Article Inspection (FAI) /ISIR and PPAP-equivalent qualification of new castings, forgings, and machined shaft suppliers, aligned to APQP phase-gate requirements (i.e. APQP requirements from customer/ SSQAC / customer-specific standards / AQAP2110; 2105; ISO9001; AS9100; etc).

• Approve Control Plans, Process Flow Diagrams and FMEAs for casting, forging and machining processes, ensuring critical/significant characteristics are identified and controlled.
• Validate special process approvals (foundry melt practice, forging press/heat treatment, heat treat cycles, welding/weld repair of castings) against applicable specifications (e.g., AMS, ASTM, EN, ASME).
• Review and approve supplier PFMEA, control plans, and measurement systems analysis (MSA/Gauge R&R) prior to production release. Ensure risk identified and mitigated within supply chain processes.
• Support requalification following process, tooling, material source, or location changes (PCN/ECR review).
• Maintain and update the GEV PCS Supplier Qualification System, ensuring qualification status, records and documentation for mechanical commodity suppliers remain current, complete and audit ready.
• Lead qualification gate reviews with cross-functional teams and technical authorities (Engineering, APQP, Manufacturing, Customer Quality) at each phase of the qualification process, securing formal review and approval at PPAP Levels A, B as applicable.

2. Hold Points, Source Inspection & Process Governance

• Define, negotiate and hold intervention/hold points across the supplier's process flow (e.g., post-melt/pour, post-heat-treat, post-rough-machine, post-NDT, final dimensional/GD&T inspection).
• Conduct source inspection and witness activities at supplier premises, releasing product against agreed hold points and quality plans.
• Review non-conformances arising at hold points, disposition using MRB/concession process, and drive supplier containment and corrective action.
• • Maintain a live hold-point/witness-point tracker per supplier and per part family, escalating slippage or repeated non-conformance.

3. Subject Matter Expertise – Process & Advanced Inspection

• Act as SME for casting processes (sand, investment, centrifugal), open/closed-die forging, and precision machining/grinding of rotor and drive shafts.
• Development of Product Assurance Plan aligned to QAP (Quality Assurance Plan); SQ Flow down requirements to drive Zero defect GEV PCS Framework.
• Provide technical authority on Non-Destructive Testing methods: Ultrasonic Testing (UT), Magnetic Particle Inspection (MT), and Radiographic/X-ray inspection, including review of NDT procedures, acceptance criteria (e.g., ASTM E1444, ASTM E1032, ASTM E186/E280, EN 10228), and operator/Level II-III qualification records.
• Review and approve shaft precision grinding processes, including surface finish, roundness, taper, runout and residual stress considerations. Expertise of CNC programming & stage drawing review and approval; Understand the production inspection and operational approval programme.
• Apply strong working knowledge of GD&T (per ASME Y14.5 / ISO 1101) to interpret drawings, review supplier inspection reports/CMM data, and resolve dimensional non-conformances across all mechanical commodities.
• Provide technical guidance to suppliers on root cause analysis for casting defects (porosity, inclusions, shrinkage), forging defects (laps, seams, grain flow), and machining/grinding defects (chatter, burn, out-of-tolerance features).
• Drive Lesson learned across Supply chain. Ensure Quality Certification requirements understood by Suppliers (i.e. CTQ (Critical to Quality) ; technical package and key features from Mechanical/Chemical properties; heat graphs; Ultrasonic inspection EN10228 -test cert + personnel qualification; ICT levels mini-2.2) ; Microstructure analysis (ICT 3.1); Dimensional verification requirements (ICT 3.1) or ICT level 3.2 depending on classification society requirements flow-down from projects; Transfer of stamps; etc.
• Act as Technical Authority to review and approval the Part Submission Warrant (PSW); Manufacturing Record Book (QA006); Punch list clearances if any from Pre-FAT; FAT; SAT Etc.
• Hands-on expertise to validate the supplier surface finish results using Surface finish measuring equipment (Portable contact surface roughness tester -stylus profilometer); comparator – attribute Visual inspection; etc.

4. Supplier Onboarding & Regulatory Governance

• Drive supplier on-boarding capability audits for new mechanical commodity suppliers (castings, forgings, machining) prior to addition to the approved supplier list.
• Plan and conduct Supplier Responsibility Governance audits, verifying compliance to applicable regulatory, statutory, export control and customer-mandated quality requirements.
• Assess supplier process capability, equipment, and facility readiness during on-boarding, capturing findings and corrective actions in a formal audit report and final approval.
• Qualified Auditor – External/internal Auditing for IATF 16949; ISO9001; etc.

5. Supplier Performance & Continuous Improvement

• Conduct supplier process/quality system audits (For Naval critical projects ~AS9145-aligned or customer-specific) for mechanical commodity suppliers.
• Monitor supplier KPIs and SQDC (Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost) performance, reviewing trends with suppliers and internal stakeholders on a regular cadence.
• Own and drive supplier CAPA/8D closure for NDT, dimensional, and process-related non-conformances.
• Monitor and improve supplier capacity and capability, tracking production throughput, equipment/process capability (Cpk/PpK), and bottlenecks against programme demand, and driving supplier improvement plans to close gaps.
• Support supplier scorecards, risk assessments (heat-matrix/commodity risk reviews) and capacity/capability reviews for castings, forgings and machining suppliers.
• Drive Continuous Improvement (CI) initiatives with suppliers, targeting NDT reliability, dimensional process capability (Cpk/Ppk – only with volume commodities), SQDC performance and on-time quality delivery.

Key Performance Indicators

• On-time completion of supplier qualification (FAI/PPAP) for mechanical commodities against APQP milestones.
• Drive QAP requirements and ITP Say-Do-Ratio for Hold-point / source-inspection adherence rate and cycle time.
• Supplier NDT and dimensional non-conformance rate, trend and closure time (RCA Driven: CAPA/8D).
• Supplier on-boarding, capability and Responsibility Governance audit (SRG 2.0) completion rate and finding closure within target timelines.
• Qualification gate review/approval cycle time across PPAP Levels A, B, C and G, and currency of qualification system records.
• Supplier KPI/SQDC performance trend aligned to Global and Regional KPI including CI action closure rate.
• Contribution to overall mechanical commodity supplier risk rating (heat matrix) improvement.

General and Task Management:

• Collaborate with Engineering (Design and Manufacturing Engineers) to define process parameters and criteria to ensure supplier process capability meets product and process requirements.
• Lead the supplier approval process by assessing manufacturing/technology capabilities and Health, Safety, and Environmental risks.
• Promote the use of customer-preferred techniques for continuous improvement such as Lean, Six-Sigma, Poka-Yoke (Error Proofing), Measurement System Analysis, and Process Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (PFMEA).
• Facilitate root cause analysis and corrective actions for supplier quality issues.
• Perform on-site supplier visits for root cause analysis and verification of corrective actions.
• Collate and evaluate supplier quality data to identify process improvement opportunities within the supply chain.
• Work directly with suppliers to create corrective action plans to address process failures.
• Review supplier manufacturing processes, collaborate with suppliers on process improvement, and value enhancement opportunities.

Desired Characteristics:

• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
• Knowledge of quality systems and measurement tools and techniques.
• Strong working knowledge of AQAP2110/2105, Advanced Quality Planning (APQP), and Production Part Approval Process (PPAP).
• Lean Manufacturing knowledge.
• Understanding of engineering drawings (electrical and mechanical) and manufacturing processes.
• Ability to work in a diverse and dynamic environment.
• Ability to self-plan and prioritize.
• Negotiation skills.
• Ability to present data effectively.
• Analytical skills.
• Understanding of cost and financial impacts.
• Proficiency in Microsoft programs such as MS Project, Word, MS Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint preparation and presentation skills set at Leadership level at Supplier’s and GEV PCS leadership, and Microsoft Outlook; Power BI; etc.

Additional Information