Complex Quality Manager

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� Description

• • Shape the future of packaging quality across three high-speed plants as Sonoco’s Complex Quality Manager, owning every test, every spec, and every customer smile from Newport, TN to Low Moor, VA.
• • Be the single point of contact for Fortune-500 customers—when a Kraft linerboard spec drifts or a military PPAP deadline looms, you are the calm expert who coordinates cross-functional SWAT teams, root-cause analyses, and permanent corrective actions that protect millions in revenue.
• • Architect and maintain the integrated Quality Management System for a multi-site complex that runs 24/7; write test methods, digitize records, and build dashboards that give operators, supervisors, and the Regional VP the same real-time view of conformance and cost of poor quality.
• • Own the Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) cycle from concept to full-rate production; lead PFMEAs, control plans, MSA studies, and PPAP packages that satisfy both civilian and defense customers without slowing the line.
• • Spend at least 50 % of your week on the production floor—coating lines, paper machines, corrugators, converting—coaching teams to reduce variation, lock in standard work, and turn “find-it, fix-it” moments into repeatable best practices across A, B, and C crews.
• • Drive Sonoco Performance System (SPS) kaizen events that attack waste in trim, fiber moisture, glue consumption, and chemical usage; translate savings into hard dollars and carbon-reduction wins that feed our Better Packaging. Better Life. purpose.
• • Serve as a voting member of the Newport plant leadership team; lead daily safety hour, mentor frontline champions, and champion employee-engagement initiatives that keep our 125-year-old culture vibrant and inclusive.
• • Partner with Sales, R&D, and Procurement to translate customer complaints and market trends into new specifications, cost-saving material substitutions, and next-generation barrier coatings that differentiate Sonoco in the 5.2 billion global portfolio.
• • Manage quality audits (internal, customer, third-party ISO 9001, AS9100, BRC, and military) with zero non-conformances; close findings ahead of schedule and use audit insights to hard-wire preventive controls.
• • Develop a multi-generational talent pipeline: create training matrices, conduct capability assessments, and deliver shift-level workshops so every operator can run SPC charts, interpret spectrophotometer data, and stop the line with confidence.
• • Leverage Minitab, SAP QM, Power BI, and IoT sensors to predict defects before they occur; build digital twins of critical processes and feed results to corporate engineering for scale-up across 300 global operations.
• • Champion sustainability by reducing fiber waste, optimizing recycled content, and validating biodegradable coatings—helping Sonoco stay on Barron’s 100 Most Sustainable Companies list year after year.
• • Enjoy visibility all the way to the C-suite: present monthly quality metrics, cost-of-poor-quality trends, and customer NPS scores to the Regional VP and VP of Global Quality, influencing capital allocation and technology roadmaps.
• • Relish the Appalachian lifestyle—Newport offers Smoky Mountain views, low cost of living, and easy drives to Knoxville or Asheville—while leading a complex that ships to 85 nations and keeps 20,000 Sonoco teammates employed worldwide.