Where you will work
The Lewiston, Idaho location is unique as it is Clearwater Paper’s only manufacturing location that produces both high-quality paperboard products for our Paperboard Division as well as private label tissue products for our Consumer Products Division.
The Lewiston mill is the largest of Clearwater Paper’s facilities, and boasting over 1200 talented employees. Approximately two hours away from Clearwater Paper’s headquarters in Spokane, Washington, the Lewiston paper mill is a key component in Clearwater Paper’s business strategy. This location offers employees an opportunity to learn both sides of the business while influencing key business decisions and outcomes.
Located on the border of Idaho and Washington, Lewiston provides a host of opportunities for those who love the outdoors including fishing, boating, camping, and skiing. There are several social and civic opportunities to participate in including Boys & Girls Club, Twin County United Way, Lewis Clark Partners Habitat for Humanity, and more. Clearwater Paper values involvement with the community and the partnerships created as a result. Lewiston is in close proximity to the University of Idaho, Washington State University, and Lewis-Clark State College, as well as several strong K-12 school districts.
What you will do
The Quality Manager is responsible for leading a team of Quality Technicians and Analysts across the manufacturing footprint. Reporting to the Mill Manager, this role is responsible for developing and maintaining the quality management system inclusive of 3rd party audit management while delivering consistency across the site's portfolio.
Quality Systems and Assurance
- Lead development, execution, and maintenance of quality management system(s) - QMS - inclusive of documentation and reporting across the manufacturing footprint delivering consistent products with a commitment to meeting and exceeding customer expectations.
- Collaborate with the commercial leadership team to understand and anticipate customer needs and to proactively identify and resolve customer concerns.
- Interface with production across the manufacturing footprint to provide expectations and guidance in product specifications and quality standards to ensure consistency in product quality.
- Identify gaps in quality management systems, products, and processes; serve as primary contact for issue identification in non-conforming materials and lead recall process.
Technical Support and Compliance
- Maintain reporting and monitoring processes for raw material quality to ensure consistency from suppliers; liaison with procurement to identify risks, provide feedback, and lead supplier quality reviews and audits.
- The primary point of contact for audits, customer site/product audits, and internal site audits; proactively lead external audit reparation across the site while ensuring reporting, issue resolution, and best practice sharing.
- Develop internal audit cadence and lead internal audits; develop organizational quality capabilities through best practice sharing from internal and external audits.
- Primary point of contact for quality inspection checks and internal quality responses/escalations. Provide support and guidance for new item product quality, and customer approval requirements, and escalate internal quality concerns/responses.
- Ensure all required quality certifications and product safety regulatory requirements remain current in reporting, documentation practice, and process.
Continuous Improvement
- Collaborate with manufacturing, marketing, and sales to identify opportunities to meet and exceed market expectations and participate in trial testing; identify opportunities for product improvement; develop and execute transition plans between technical process engineers to lead trial planning.
- Identify opportunities to improve overall fiscal performance through process and/or product improvements while meeting and exceeding quality standards.
- Proactively engage with manufacturing operations for opportunities to continuously improve productivity, product quality, and process efficiencies
- Lead and participate in continuous improvement opportunities and projects.
Leadership
- Ensures the plant is achieving prescribed quality standards by setting clear direction and priorities, and by providing directional guidance to other departments.
- Coordinate with all departments to plan and implement recipe and product changes that meet customer requirements timely and efficient.
- Provide leadership to mill or plant employees enabling the transfer of technology and knowledge in the area of quality; is seen as an expert in the field; is approachable and willing to help at all levels.
- Foster an operating environment that encourages employee engagement through demonstration and modeling of Clearwater Paper’s Core Values
- Lead and develop direct reports through coaching and development plans; identify and develop successors; monitor progress against goals and development plans.
- Drive a culture of technical collaboration throughout quality and operations teams.
Key Competencies and Attributes
- Actively seeks and allocates appropriate decision-making authority or task responsibility to appropriate individuals based on their abilities, availability, motivation, and development needs; considers potential positive and negative impact, business unit priorities, organizational values, and the opportunity to enhance others’ knowledge and skills.
- Identifies barriers that impact customer service and retention; communicates concerns and recommendations to others.
- Uses an understanding of customer needs and the organization’s customer service practices to set priorities, make decisions, and take actions that create customer satisfaction and prevent service issues from occurring.
- Creates relevant options for addressing problems and opportunities that will achieve desired outcomes.
- Systematically evaluates business opportunities, targeting those with the greatest potential for producing positive business results.
What you will need:
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering or science; Chemical or Mechanical engineering preferred.
- 5-7 years of progressive experience in quality, preferably in paper industry
- 5 years of experience in developing and leading teams; virtual experience desired but not required.
- Experience in working with multiple quality systems including ISO, GMP, and SQF
- Experience with Parcview and other visual statistical data tools required.
- Certifications in ISO, GMP, SQF, as practitioner and auditor strongly preferred.
- Strong background in leveraging multiple data sets and inputs to drive decision making.
- Highly adept at performing in a fast-paced environment; communicating and collaborating with multiple stakeholders.
- Confident and proficient in navigating in an automated environment with proficiency in MS Office Suite- highly skilled in MS Excel with multiple business intelligence databases.
- Commitment to ongoing personal and professional development through continuing education, certifications, and coaching and developing others.
- Able to work in a high-speed manufacturing environment, sustained exposure to high-frequency noises, multiple hours standing, walking on concrete surfaces.
- Personal Protective Equipment is required in the mill environment.
- Dirt, noise, odor, and temperature extremes.
- Climbing stairs, ladders, and scaffolding
- Work environment includes exposure to compressed air, steam, lubrication oil, dust, and hydraulic fluid.
- Extreme eye fatigue associated with continuous computer work.
- Travel approximately 25% domestic.
Clearwater Paper does not offer sponsorship for employment-based visa status (including, but not limited to, H-1B visa status and other employment-based nonimmigrant visas) for this position. Accordingly, all applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis and will not require Clearwater Paper's sponsorship to continue to work legally in the United States.
Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities
The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)