Technical Manager

Position Summary

Supervise, organize, and maintain all activities related to quality assurance and manufacturing excellence for the Shuqualak Oriented Strand Board manufacturing facility to meet all production quality standards.  Organize and direct the process area teams to continuously improve manufacturing throughput, equipment uptime, and product quality for all processes at the Huber Engineered Woods Shuqualak Facility.  Assign, prioritize, and track responsibilities for the process improvement projects that improve EH&S, quality, throughput, and product costs.  Provide technical service and guidance to the plant and direct supervision to the area managers/process engineers.

Principal Duties & Responsibilities

• Provides motivation and training for employees to develop and maintain the technical and interpersonal skills to operate as high-performing teams.
• Empower employees to identify problems and develop creative and cost-efficient solutions to develop continuous improvement projects; maintain department records, including employee training, production, inventory, etc.
• Utilize a cross-functional team approach to develop and continuously improve the accuracy of Process Control Plans for all specialty and commodity products.
• Support manufacturing and process engineering in developing specific operating documents and machine settings to maintain product quality.
• Develop/maintain standardized work practices (one-point lessons) throughout the plant.
• Work closely with R&D to support all approved trials of new products and technologies.
• Ensure that the highest standards of employee, customer, and public relations are maintained relative to their area of responsibility.
• Initiates and carries out studies, then makes recommendations for changes in operating procedures and process equipment to improve efficiency and safety while working to eliminate downtime.
• Manage Manufacturing Excellence goals, projects, and objectives within budgeted timelines and expenses.
• Establish and maintain a database of critical process parameters and thoroughly document all experiments.  Measure the capability of key processes and work towards process and capability improvements.
• Secure the availability of proper materials and qualified internal and external support for projects throughout Shuqualak, the division, and through external contractors and other resources.
• Work directly with the Plant Manager, R&D, and Sales and marketing to lead tours of the facility and showcase Shuqualak’s commitment to manufacturing excellence and quality.
• Assist production with new or modified equipment and processes through training, written operating procedures, and trial runs.
• Develop and implement control plans to sustain process improvements.  Cooperate with and arrange support from other management team members as needed to achieve objectives on time.
• Lead process improvement team in training and coaching operators on principles of operation, the effect of process variables on outcomes, operational procedures, and troubleshooting.

Specialized/Technical Knowledge or Required Skills

• BS Degree is required in Wood Science, ME, IE, ChemE, EE, or a related discipline. Masters Degree preferred in Wood Products, Quality Assurance, or IE
• Five years of Wood Products experience is preferred
• Competence in statistics and statistical tools required:  SPC, Lean Sigma, etc.
• Familiarity with ISO 9000 desired
• Good written and oral communication skills
• Good interpersonal skills
• Proficient in word processing, spreadsheets, databases, statistical packages
• Proven record of continuous improvement and process optimization
• Proven record of leadership responsibilities, action-oriented and results-driven
• Six Sigma experience a plus
• Knowledge of safety, environmental, and personnel rules and regulations