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Job Description:

Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc.

Quality Engineering Manager

Ruger Gun Division

An active hands-on manager who will develop, establish and continually improve manufacturing systems and processes through coaching and mentoring all manufacturing leaders, engineers, purchasing and team members.  Keeping an associate-focused leadership mentality centered around a kaizen improvement culture, utilizing lean thinking to drive process stability and robustness delivering 100% customer satisfaction.

Ruger Guiding Principles:

• Engage all people through Servant Leadership
• Respect and trust each other, value relationships
• Communicate openly and honestly; be direct and approachable
• Ask for Help!
• Learn and improve continuously
• Be process and results oriented
• Drive decision-making, empowerment and accountability to the lowest appropriate level
• Be proactive and respond quickly
• Decide and go

Leadership Responsibilities –

Establish and maintain short and long term quality goals for Manufacturing that include all 4 pillars of quality: Supplier, Process, Product and Customer 

• Establish a balanced scorecard tracking COPQ through the ongoing daily, monthly, quarterly and annual measures of the quality system as it relates to: 
  • Customer Returns
  • Scrap – Total System and by Process
  • Change Control Lead (process and product)
  • Deviations
  • Supplier Issues Scorecard
  • NPD Launch / PPAP
• Maintain and improve the Quality System collaborating with all Gun Division Quality Managers which delivers a measured and stable manufacturing environment.  Provide guidance to manufacturing engineers to create processes highly specific to content, sequence, timing and outcome.  The system further establishes robust plans to maintain process control, ongoing quality, while minimizing waste.
  • Collaborate with Lead Engineers (Mfg. and Product) to develop, deploy and maintain product and internal quality standards.
  • Coach, mentor and ensure all engineers are thoroughly conducting proper new part and process introduction, as well as ongoing process change integrity.
  • Ensure all new product development efforts are completed in accordance to the New Product Development Process.

• Manage New Product Development Quality through strong support of the APQP process.  Establish QE roles and responsibilities for all programs through these tools and practices.  Drive a culture of quality early in programs to support on time programs with a ZERO defect expectation.
• Develop and maintain Quality Engineering Standards in all areas of the plant.
  • Standards include early introduction requirements to daily production expectations: Process Capability, pFMEA, Process Sheets, Gage Control Plans, Gage Qualification and MSA practices in support of Process Gemba principles.
• Maintain robust measurement practices for the ongoing development, execution and evaluation of Ruger products driving a low cost high impact outcome.
  • Evaluate inspection and other equipment to meet current and future production needs
  • NDT testing equipment evaluation and needs for the business
  • Develop and maintain all Metallurgical inspection equipment
  • Gaging systems and types; CMM, Keyence, variable data and functional style gaging methods
  • Maintain a robust Quality Lab in accordance with Ruger Quality Standards – Excellence of the organization for all things quality
  • Maintain calibration of all key measurement equipment at the necessary frequency to ensure robust and accurate measurements
• Guide and assist Ruger engineers and team members in technical problem solving while mentoring through rigorous root cause analysis. 
  • Mentoring will include the development of a strong problem solving culture through multiple strategic and practical methods:  DMAIC / 5Why / Find and Fix / Symptomatic Analysis / Good Bad Comparison
• Maintain a consistent form of inspection for the following needs of the organization:
  • Incoming Inspection or supplier parts
  • Hardness inspection:  Macro and Micro
  • Non-Destructive Testing
  • Support for Engineering:  various specialized checks
• Develop and maintain a strong process for supporting purchasing through strong supplier quality engagement to prevent incoming quality issues with suppliers through outgoing quality with customers.
  • Supplier Development Support and engagement to deliver consistent parts from the supply base
  • Tracking and management of supplier issues with focus on permanent corrective actions
  • Developing strong relationships, with not only Ruger sourced suppliers, but with Ruger internal Value Streams as your key customers
• Support Manufacturing with a Process Change Request (PCR) and approval process. 
  • Manage ongoing changes to ensure actions are tracked and closed as appropriate or open concerns and issues are mitigated
  • Support the system which prevents untracked change with unintended consequences.
• Lead the Customer Service Repair Technicians for all customer returns
  • Maintain all key KPI’s for customer service which include
    • Less than 5 day average turnaround time from Dock to Ship
    • Lead and support Monthly reporting to Value Streams for Top issues
  • Coordinate all repairs with the Value Streams and drive Permanent Corrective Actions back to the source
• Coach and mentor all manufacturing team members to engage with strong servant leadership and communication to the shop-floor associates, as well as all stakeholders.
• Participate as a leader in recruitment of Key team members
• Participate in Key team member performance evaluations and development plans