Associate General Manager - Quality (Production & Customer Service) | 15-25 Years | Chennai

Key points and objectives of the position:

- Responsible for Quality Assurance processes of "New models and Series" truck & bus chassis units built from manufacturing shops (CIW, Paint, Cab Trim, Chassis & EOL/FBV) and assuring outgoing finished goods in Pre-delivery inspection. Leading & Steering powertrain related field Issue resolution & field fix management of Domestic and Exports trucks, CBU & KD Plants.

Job location: Chennai, India

Description of tasks:

Main task:

1. Quality Assurance processes in Truck & Bus chassis Production

- Definition of Quality Concepts and Quality Assurance processes with relevant QM methods and tools for DICV

- Define Quality feedback loops in Cabin (Cabin-in-white, Paint and Cab Trim) and Vehicle (Chassis, End of line and Fully build vehicle)

- Establish quality processes in PDI (Pre-delivery inspection) to assure outgoing finished goods of trucks & buses

- Focus on continuous improvement to enhance the Quality Assurance processes

2. Product Quality Assurance:

- Plan and implement Quality Inspection Gates in Cabin, Vehicle & PDI

- Plan and implement various audits - Section Product audits, In-line production audit, Cabin geometry, Teardown, Torque, etc.

- Plan and implement Finished Vehicle Quality assurance as part of End of Line QC clearance activity

- Reporting of the Quality status and escalation of critical issues for resolution

- Monitoring and support for quality issues resolution and tracking of effectiveness

- Establish process for analysis of internal and external Customer complaints.

- Enrich the plant processes to detect potential customer complaints

- Monitor for corrective action and plan/initiate for improvements

- Execution support of quality assurance activities for new project vehicles by establishing required measures (before, during & after production)

- Install review mechanism & monitor the performance of Quality KPI metrics & if needed initiate course correction

3. Issue resolution process:

- Establish process towards registering the active concerns as per defined criteria in quality concern tracking tool

- Monitor the registered issues are resolved as per defined timeline & reporting

- Lead the escalation forum & review open issues & provide guidance for team towards solution

- Follow escalation matrix for quality concerns not resolved. Constitute and manage management level meetings towards stakeholder alignment for further resolution

- Warrant the resolved concerns are not recurring by tracking "Fixed First Shot (FFS)"
a, Facilitate Field Quality Management meetings (different levels) to track the Product behavior
b, Prioritizing management intervention topic for bringing transparency on product behavior in field
c, Enabling Engineering change management implementations through cost evaluation and approval

- Identifying supplier related quality issues, fixing the accountability with the suppliers on cost of poor quality and recovering the spent and estimated warranty cost

4. Field Fix Management

- Decision making for Field issues under Safety, Compliance and Emission relevance

- Quicker and appropriate Field Fix measures for different category of concerns.

- Complying Recall Law for Domestic and Export markets

- Reviewing and continuously improving on the trouble shooting and diagnostics issues for the product failures

- Enabling service bulletin circulation for product improvements along with customer service department.

4. Participate/Support product projects:

- Support or participate "Sub-project leads of Quality Management" in all DICV product projects

- Adhere to QM deliverables relevant to Quality Assurance as per internal process guidelines for all active product projects

- Participate & contribute in PFMEA meetings for preparation & review/release control plans for Production processes

- Ensure Control plan is reviewed periodically & updated

- Participate in revenue generation for DICV by supporting KD plants for plant process setup, in co-ordination with CKD QM function.

5. Quality Management Systems:

- Support implementation of Quality Management systems

- Define and implement Process & Procedures related to QA Truck processes

6. Process and Product approval

- Support in definition of requirements, standards and methods for Process and Product release process for Production shops

- Plan and Conduct the Process and Product release at Pre-series covering all Cabin & Vehicle assembly areas.

- Ensure customer saleable vehicle is released with approved Product and process release

7. QM Staff Management

- Direct and manage the team

a. Set up of roles and responsibilities and assignments

b. Plan and control headcount and budget

c. Set targets and control achievement

d. Monitor and improve processes

- Motivate all team members to participate in competitions (CII, QCFI, etc.,) & create opportunity for team members to demonstrate their competency

- Responsible for communicating organizational requirements to team members & ensuring their approach to achieve the same through necessary health checks

- Lead & Motivate team to ensure Value for Money trucks and to make customer successful by Warranty Claim & Cost reduction for Powertrain aggregates (Truck & Bus)

a. Enabling team and deploying techniques for Early Identification & Quicker resolution of Top Warranty Cost and Claim contributors for faster resolution thro customer pain points through task force teams

b. Directing cross functional teams for implementing field solutions

c. Collaboration & Participation in Global forums with other entites of Truck - Japan, Germany, etc for field product issues resolution

CAPEX/OPEX budget management:

- Actively manage CAPEX/OPEX Budget within the approved budget

- Identify measures to manage below this budget and strategies for reduction

8. Leadership:

- Leading, motivating and guiding the QA Truck team

- Give constructive feedback to direct reportees and work on feedbacks received

- Conduct periodic skip level meeting to connect with all team members & work on gaps (if any) identified

- Ensure 5S culture is established & adhered within team

- Represent in management forums (APC, QEB, FQM etc.,) to register the challenges foreseen to mitigate upfront

- To guarantee the compliance of all group and location orientated policies (safety and environmental protection regulations, working time order, integrity code, guidelines etc.) according to current regulations/documents.

- To brief or instruct all assigned employees about the corresponding regulations.

- Represent Quality Management in meetings (Greater ops SFM, Business Continuity Steering etc.,) for ensuring uninterrupted regular operations through emphasizing & providing solutions for show stoppers related to Quality

- Lead strategic projects to enrich QM systems and enhancement of Core Business excellence

Qualification:

Education:

Graduation in Engineering with 15+ years' experience or Diploma in Mechanical Engineering with 20 + years' experience

Preferred if candidate is having CRP certification (Certified Reliability professional)

Experience:

- Relevant in Automotive OEM industry and exposure to the Commercial Vehicle industry.

- Senior Managerial level with expertise in operational Quality Assurance functions and Quality Management systems in Manufacturing organizations, with sufficient exposure to procurement/supplier management and operational functions.

- Should have experience in Project management, Customer support and Supplier management.

- Should have demonstrated leadership capabilities and managed team

Specific knowledge:

- Detailed knowledge of Quality Management systems and Quality Assurance processes, standards and tools.

- Expertise in processes and systems in the product creation process, production and testing.

- Strategic and conceptual competence, with ability to manage teams.

- Very good analytical ability and problem-solving skills with systematic approach.

- Should have good knowledge of the Indian CV Products, and Indian market and global markets.

- Should have good communication, interpersonal skills and presentation skills.

- Should have implemented key TQM principles

- Exposure to cross-cultural environment is an advantage.

- Automotive indepth product Knowledge in Engine, ATS, Clutch, Transmission, Axles & Brakes

- Understanding in Reliability Engineering

- Automotive Electrical Architecture & Vehicle Testing

- Business Analytics & Intelligence, & MS Office