About the Company
As the Customer Launch Engineer, you will be the primary technical bridge between our manufacturing facilities and our Tier-1 Japanese battery customer. You aren't just filing paperwork; you are the guardian of the launch. You will lead the APQP (Advanced Product Quality Planning) process from prototype through SOP (Start of Production), ensuring every requirement is met to achieve seamless PPAP (Production Part Approval Process) approval. This role requires a blend of rigorous technical auditing, cross-cultural diplomacy, and the "Genba" spirit—getting your hands dirty on the shop floor to solve problems before they reach the customer.
About the Role
A short paragraph summarizing the key role responsibilities.
Responsibilities
- APQP Leadership: Drive the APQP process internally to ensure all milestones (Quality Gates) are met on time. Translate customer-specific requirements into actionable internal standards.
- PPAP: Coordinate all PPAP activities ensure a "Right First Time" submission to the customer. Deliver samples with all necessary documentation to the customer to meet their requirements.
- Customer Liaison: Act as the "Face of the Company" for the Japanese engineering and quality teams. Manage expectations, host on-site audits, and lead technical reviews. For a new ‘First of a Kind’ product there will be numerous action lists to complete for the customer often involving data collection and engineering experiments to verify questions from customer.
- Problem Resolution: Lead Root Cause Analysis (8D, 5-Why) for any non-conformances discovered during the launch phase.
- Risk Management: Proactively identify manufacturing risks and implement mitigation strategies to ensure the launch preparation runs smoothly.
- Continuous Improvement: Monitor initial production runs (Safe Launch) to stabilize the process and transition the project smoothly to the plant quality team.
Qualifications
- Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical or Chemical (or a related technical field).
- Experience: 5+ years in Launch Engineering or Quality Engineering, specifically within the Automotive sectors so that you can demonstrate experience launching products to automotive tier one companies. Ideally you will have knowledge in battery materials or processing and handling fine powders in a cleanroom environment.
- Deep experience with PFMEA and Control Plans.
- Much of your working communication will be in English but clearly knowledge of Japanese would be useful.
- Customer Experience: Proven track record of working with Japanese tier one manufacturers (e.g., Panasonic, AESC, Toyota, Honda). Understanding of Japanese business etiquette and communication styles is a massive plus.
- Mindset: A "Quality-First" mentality with the ability to remain calm under the pressure of aggressive launch timelines.
- Willingness to travel up to 30% to customer sites and manufacturing plants.
- Ability to spend significant time on the production floor (Genba).
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