Field Customer Quality Engineer

The Field Customer Quality Engineer acts as the primary technical bridge between our rubber manufacturing facility and our customers. This role is responsible for managing customer quality complaints, leading root-cause investigations, and driving corrective actions (NCRs/8D) at the plant level to ensure zero-defect delivery. The ideal candidate will have deep technical knowledge of rubber compounding, moulding, and extrusion processes, combined with exceptional customer-facing communication skills.

Customer Liaison & Complaint Management

Primary Contact: Serve as the first point of contact for customer quality issues, product returns, and technical escalations.

On-Site Investigations: Travel to customer facilities to investigate product failures, assess application environments, and collect defect data.

Containment Actions: Coordinate immediate containment activities at customer sites and sorting operations at the plant to prevent further defective material leakage.
Problem Solving & Root Cause Analysis

NCR & 8D Management: Lead cross-functional plant teams to investigate customer complaints, issues, and Non-Conformance Reports (NCRs) using standard methodologies (8D, 5-Why, Ishikawa).

Defect Analysis: Analyze returned rubber parts for failure modes such as bonding failures, flash defects, compression set issues, compound degradation, or dimensional variations.

Corrective Actions: Implement robust corrective and preventive actions (CAPA) within the production plant to eliminate the root causes of customer issues.
Quality Documentation & Reporting

Customer Portals: Update and maintain customer quality portals with 8D reports, sorting updates, and action plans.

PPAP & APQP: Support Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) and coordinate the submission of Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) documentation for new or modified rubber parts.

Quality Metrics: Track and report on key customer quality metrics, including Customer PPM (Parts Per Million), Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ), and response time performance.
Continuous Improvement & Auditing

Process Alignment: Review customer quality manuals and specifications to ensure internal manufacturing controls (Control Plans, FMEAs) are fully aligned.

Internal Feedback: Feed customer field performance data back into the production, engineering, and compounding teams to drive continuous improvement.

Education & Experience

Diploma or related qualification: Quality and Engineering (Mechanical, Materials, Chemical, or Industrial) or a related technical discipline.

Industry Experience: 3 to 5+ years of experience in a customer-facing quality engineering role, specifically within a rubber molding, extrusion, or compounding plant.

Sector Knowledge: Experience with automotive (IATF 16949), industrial, quality standards is highly preferred.

Technical Skills

Rubber: Strong understanding of rubber polymers, curing characteristics, bonding processes (rubber-to-metal/plastic), and rubber testing methods.

Quality Tools: Proficiency in Core Tools (APQP, PPAP, FMEA, SPC, MSA) and problem-solving frameworks (8D, Six Sigma).

Blueprints: Ability to read engineering drawings, GD&T (Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing), and interpret customer specifications.
Soft Skills & Travel

Communication: Excellent negotiation, conflict resolution, and technical presentation skills.

Travel: Willingness to travel frequently to customer sites on short notice.

R30K

Elisha Anderson
Empire St, Casseldale, Springs 8
2191 Johannesburg