Expand your Experience and Build Your Career at a Rapidly Growing, Specialty Vehicle Manufacturer Undergoing an Exciting, New Product Ramp-Up

If you combine strong quality engineering experience with leadership skills and the ability to work with external customers and internal stakeholders at all levels of the organization, the role of Quality Engineer with Utilimaster offers you several compelling opportunities. You will:

• Support diverse operations at a manufacturing campus with two product lines -- and one is ramping up significantly to meet customer demand for trucks that make eCommerce shopping, grocery, and pharmaceutical at-home deliveries a reality.
• Join a talented team of quality leaders, engineers, and auditors supporting all aspects of Quality, including developing and implementing processes, driving improvement, monitoring and responding to issues, training/mentoring, and more. 
• Work closely with the Quality Manager on a corporate initiative to implement improvements to quality systems.
• Support production of innovative products, including the game-changing Velocity delivery van.
• Showcase your potential to advance -- we are proactive about succession planning and hire with an eye to the future.

Utilimaster moves ahead of the competition when commercial trucks and upfit services require precision, planning, peerless people, and the perfect vehicle. Our vehicles deliver for well-respected global brands in the package delivery, ecommerce, food and beverage, linen and laundry, grocery and pharmaceutical markets. Utilimaster is a top-tier go-to-market brand of The Shyft Group (NASDAQ: SHYF), North America’s leader in specialty vehicle manufacturing, assembly, and upfit for the commercial, retail, and service specialty vehicle markets. The Shyft Group rebranded in 2020 to reflect a new focus on high-growth end markets to help ensure long-term profitable growth.

Pictured: The Charlotte facility will manufacture the Velocity, a highly productive, fuel-efficient delivery vehicle. Among other differentiators, the Velocity offers big-truck interior space without requiring a commercial driver's license -- thus expanding the pool of potential drivers for fleet operators. You will see these vehicles on the road and be able to tell friends and family, "I support the team that builds those."

To meet the basic qualification for this role, you will have a bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Industrial or Manufacturing Engineering or similar field. In addition, to be a good fit for the Quality Engineer opportunity, you will have:

• 5-7 years of quality engineering experience in a manufacturing environment. Quick question for you - click here
• Proven leadership and business skills
• Complete understanding of the engineering principles
• Good judgment with the ability to make timely and sound decisions 
• Ability to work with all levels of management 
• Strong organizational, problem-solving, and analytical skills 
• Proven ability to handle multiple projects and meet deadlines 
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to develop and maintain a professional working relationship with all levels of the organization
• Excellent written and verbal communication and presentation skills 
• Automotive industry experience preferred  Quick question for you - click here

As an essential business, we have strong protocols in place protecting our employees and safeguarding their health, across all of our campus operations. We'll expect you to be in the plant Monday through Friday. In addition, you should expect to work extra hours, particularly as we ramp up the new operations. This could include evenings and/or weekends.

Reporting to the Quality Manager, as Quality Engineer, you will work cross-functionally with the Production team, and leaders throughout the plant, providing problem-solving assistance and corrective action resolution, and managing program documentation. You will work to establish quality system registration requirements, procedures and objectives. Additionally, you will monitor key measurement data for trend analysis and to inform suggestions for improvements. 

Initially, you may invest a good deal of time supporting the ramp-up of operations to produce Velocity vehicles in one plant or existing products in another. Throughout the build, from components to post-paint finishing to wind tunnel testing, you will monitor, problem-solve and support production quality. We have quality programs in place, but you will also help identify and address any gaps and, working closely with your manager, help improve existing and implement new quality systems. 

More specifically, you will:

• Implement and direct continuous improvement activity
• Understand quality-related documents: 
  • Build Books, Deviations, PFMEA, Flowcharting, Statistical Methods, PPAP, 8D, etc.
• Analyze data for use in root cause analysis
• Support corporate goals and objectives as directed
• Develop a system to implement and assist in maintaining operator instructions and visual aides
• Develop a system to implement and assist in maintaining in-process control sheets
• Monitor in-process data for follow-up requirements
• Lead and assist others with internal containment activity
• Create and publish PSR activity for CART meetings
• Know and understand external and internal PPM for your programs
• Meet your stated objectives and goals on time
• Act as lead for the Quality department in the absence of the department manager unless otherwise assigned
• Performs all other duties and/or meetings as assigned by the Quality Manager

In the area of internal and external relationships, you will:

• Maintain professional relationships within and outside of the plant to promote corporate goals
• Assist internal and external customers in resolving problems and constraints with a high sense of urgency
• Present a professional atmosphere while working with customers
• Assist with mentoring quality employees and providing quality systems mentoring to the overall organization
• Attend and actively participate in regular staff meetings with the Quality Manager 
• Be a productive and professional representative of the quality department

Note: This description is intended to give you a general overview of the position and is not an exhaustive listing of duties and responsibilities.

Pictured: Utilimaster's success depends on the hard work and craftsmanship of our many talented employees.

Interesting work
This is an intriguing role from the standpoint that you could monitor quality for two operations -- one is established while the other is ramping up almost as if it were a new startup. There will be improvements in both operations, and you will provide direction and also get hands-on in supporting the Quality and Production teams.

High visibility
Ramping-up the Velocity vehicle build operation is a key initiative for our corporation, and you will collaborate with corporate leaders as well as the campus team. You will serve as a conduit to corporate HR and other executives on new company-wide projects, policy formation, and more.

Professional development
Once you have proven yourself in this role, you could pursue advancement within Quality or in other areas. The company believes that leaders should always be grooming their own replacement, and we'll look to you to take the same approach with your team.

Stability and growth
The Shyft Group is financially sound and will continue to be an aggressive market disrupter through strategic acquisitions, relevant product innovations, and aggressive growth models that serve strong and growing end markets. Be assured, our accelerated growth trajectory will create opportunities for strong performers.

Focused transformation
Utilimaster, alongside The Shyft Group’s family of well-respected brands, continues to be a leader in every segment in which they compete. The Shyft name represents speed, efficiency, agility, and a high-intensity approach, which corresponds with the company’s pivot in market focus and the forward momentum garnered in the work truck, specialty service, and delivery vehicle markets.

Driven to deliver
Ever evolving and advancing, The Shyft Group is driven to make an impactful difference in how effectively goods, people, and services are delivered in today's and tomorrow's marketplace. Through our unmatched industry knowledge, engineering expertise, and manufacturing reach, we continue to deliver job-enhancing, efficiency-driving, ever-reliable products and services made for the road ahead.

Excellent compensation
In addition to a competitive salary and bonus, we offer medical, dental, vision, and prescription insurance plans; a health savings account; a flexible savings account; wellness credits; a wellness program; a 401(k) plan with a corporate match; an employee stock purchase program and more.

To excel in this role you will be versatile and flexible, and able to pivot quickly to effectively manage constantly changing priorities. Against this backdrop, you will need to maintain a commitment to excellence and uphold high standards. We'll look to you to leverage your engineering knowledge and influencing skills in identifying and solving issues, helping people understand and respond to issues/challenges. You will be busy, and there will be some long hours. You should be able to remain calm when stress levels run high, and also help others keep a level head.

In addition, in order to be an outstanding Quality Engineer, you will:

• Bring an innovative approach to help create systems, processes and best practices
• Achieve goals independently but also promote teamwork
• Share your quality knowledge, coaching and mentoring others 
• Work effectively with all levels and titles throughout the organization
• Share your passion for quality with employees and leaders