QA Lead

Job Description

Interested in learning more about this job Scroll down and find out what skills, experience and educational qualifications are needed.

Assist in supervision of all quality assurance functions, implementation, development, audit and maintenance of plant’s quality and food safety systems in Fresh and Aril plants during season. Also, including HACCP / FSMA to assure compliance and customer satisfaction by monitoring of quality assurance personnel, training, and maintain order in technical expertise. Provide technical support/resource for quality assurance personnel, production, and other plant departments. In the counter season, perform process checker’s duties.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

DURING SEASON- Fresh/Arils (1st shift)

Responsible for supporting the sustainment of POM Wonderful’ s FSMA Food Safety Program through continuous monitoring of preventive controls including:

Hourly chlorine and PAA checks

Ensure compliances with all quality assurance and food safety testing, including:

Finished good product testing: pH, brix, TA%, sensory, damage, moisture, debris, decay, etc.

Sanitation verification: visual inspection post sanitation, zone 1 swab collection.

In-process checks: cup seals, cup artworks, best-by-date prints.

Equipment calibration: scales, pH meters, Smart Wash, etc.

Responsible for water sample collection for 3rd party testing:

Collect water samples from various washing flumes / tanks.

Submit water samples to internal QA lab.

Responsible for glass audits for Plant 1, 2 and Aril:

Perform glass audits of Plant 1, 2 and Aril monthly during season.

Ensure that glass audit corrective actions are 100% completed within 3 days.

PC Documentation and Training:

Responsible for updating policies and procedures with new processes at the discretion of QA supervisors / managers / directors.

Responsible for document compliance and training updated policies and procedures.

Provide the up-to-date version of documents to Process Checkers.

Recordkeeping

Aril and Plant Line Check documents

Ensure that all the quality documents are turned in at the end of shift.

Ensure all the out-of-compliance quality documentation is corrected.

If the non-compliances on quality are found, retrain Process Checkers on proper documentation procedures.  

Responsible for data entry of:

Brittle plastic & glass audits

Hourly line check results

Special projects as assigned by Quality supervisor / manager

Personnel

Lead weekly Process Checker scheduling

Review employees’ time off requests.

Create weekly PC schedule based on production run and employees’ requests.

Update attendance tracker.

Responsible for monitoring employees’ performance and attendance

Ensure that the employee reports to work on time and immediately reports to supervisor / manager if the employee has not reported to work within 5 minutes after their scheduled time.

Communicate the attendance and performance issues with supervisor and assist supervisor with drafting the disciplinary action.

Responsible for real time decision making for personnel and out-of-spec quality checks.

Initiate root cause analysis for out-of-spec quality checks and communicate all issues to QA and production supervisors.

Ensure that personnel follow POM Safety Guidelines:

Conduct weekly behavior-based observations and participate in Job Hazard Analysis.

OFF SEASON- Beverage (3rd shift)

Discard or reject any product that does not meet specifications.  

Compliance with companies GMP’s. 

Notify supervisors and other personnel of production problems, and assist in identifying and correcting these problems.

Record information or test data. 

Conduct routine and non-routine analyses of in-process materials, raw materials, environmental samples, finished goods, or stability samples.

Calibrate, validate, or maintain laboratory equipment. 

Compile laboratory test data and perform appropriate analyses. 

Complete documentation needed to support testing procedures including data capture forms, equipment logbooks, or inventory forms. 

Monitor testing procedures to ensure that all tests are performed according to established item specifications, standard test methods, or protocols.

Other duties may apply when requested. 

PERCENT OF TIME COMMITMENT:

75%-Quality execution by closely monitoring quality operation, monitor and coordinate team members to ensure execution of tasks on a daily basis to avoid causing downtime.

10% –Improving Quality Operations:  through validating policies and procedures, policies adherence, identifying improvement opportunity and problem solving.

10%-Accurate Quality reporting: log accurate data for on-going tasks and report the results to quality management.

5%-Executing administrative tasks: review and reply to emails, review and post employee schedule.