New Product Engineer

The APQP Engineer Lead provides technical leadership for Advanced Product Quality Planning activities supporting IFAB’s new-product launches, product transfers, engineering changes, and significant process changes. This role ensures that customer requirements are translated into robust, capable, repeatable manufacturing processes before production launch.

The APQP Engineer Lead is the primary technical owner of APQP, PPAP, process-risk reduction, validation, and launch-quality readiness. The role leads cross-functional teams in applying APQP tools—including process flow diagrams, PFMEAs, control plans, MSA, SPC, capability studies, and PPAP—to prevent defects and achieve successful production launches. APQP is a structured manufacturing and product-development approach intended to ensure products and processes meet customer specifications and quality requirements.qad+1

• Lead APQP activities for assigned customer programs, new-product introductions, transfers, tooling launches, and major manufacturing-process changes.
• Serve as IFAB’s technical subject-matter expert for APQP, PPAP, PFMEA, control plans, process flow, MSA, SPC, capability analysis, safe launch, containment, and corrective action.
• Establish APQP timing plans, required deliverables, gate-review criteria, launch-quality milestones, and escalation paths for each assigned program.
• Facilitate cross-functional APQP meetings with Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Maintenance, Purchasing, Supply Chain, Customer Service, and Operations.
• Translate customer drawings, specifications, customer-specific requirements, packaging requirements, and quality expectations into practical manufacturing controls and validation requirements.
• Lead development, review, and maintenance of process flow diagrams, PFMEAs, control plans, standardized work, inspection instructions, reaction plans, and error-proofing plans.
• Ensure PFMEAs and control plans accurately reflect actual manufacturing conditions across stamping, forming, welding, CNC machining, assembly, painting, and related fabrication processes.
• Lead feasibility and design-for-manufacturability reviews; identify risks related to part design, material, tooling, fixtures, equipment, welding, machining, finishing, inspection, capacity, packaging, and handling.
• Define and coordinate measurement-system analysis, inspection-gauge validation, fixture verification, first-article inspection, dimensional layouts, material/performance testing, and process-capability studies.
• Review capability and quality data; drive improvement plans where process performance does not meet customer, IFAB, or launch requirements.
• Lead preparation, internal approval, and customer submission of PPAP packages at required customer submission levels.
• Serve as the technical quality contact for assigned customers during APQP reviews, PPAP discussions, launch-quality concerns, and corrective-action activity.
• Support production trial runs, run-at-rate events, first-off/last-off inspections, pilot builds, pre-production builds, and start-of-production readiness reviews.
• Establish and lead safe-launch, early-production-containment, and heightened-inspection plans until process performance is stable and approved for normal production.
• Lead structured problem-solving for launch-related and customer-quality issues using 8D, A3, 5 Why, fishbone analysis, Pareto analysis, and corrective/preventive-action methods.
• Coordinate quality-related supplier readiness activities, including supplier APQP requirements, tooling/gauge timing, incoming-quality requirements, supplier PPAPs, and supplier corrective actions.
• Conduct or support layered process audits, process audits, product audits, and launch-readiness audits to confirm processes match approved APQP documentation.
• Mentor Quality Engineers, Quality Technicians, APQP Coordinators, and cross-functional team members in the practical application of AIAG Core Tools and customer-specific requirements.
• Improve IFAB’s APQP templates, PPAP checklists, launch dashboards, standard work, training materials, and document-control practices.
• Maintain complete, accurate, auditable, and customer-ready APQP/PPAP records in…