Customer Reliability Engineer Jobs in Kentucky (NOW HIRING)

Who We Are:
At Winston, we believe quality is not something that gets inspected into a product after it is built. Quality is engineered into the product from the beginning and reinforced throughout the manufacturing process. We are looking for a Quality Engineering Manager who gets excited about root cause analysis, reliability improvement, product design influence, and continuous improvement.

Summary:
The Quality Engineering Manager is responsible for improving product reliability, manufacturing quality, customer satisfaction, and operational performance through engineering-based problem solving and data-driven continuous improvement. This role partners closely with the Engineering Manager and Manufacturing Operations Manager to influence product design, manufacturing processes, testing methodologies, reliability validation, warranty reduction, and quality strategy. Basically, Engineer Quality Into Everything We Do!

What Success Looks Like
Success is measured by reduced warranty costs, improved reliability, higher first pass yield, fewer customer complaints, reduced scrap and rework, and permanent elimination of root causes.

Key Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in an Engineering or related field.
• 5+ years’ of experience in Engineering or Quality Management role in a manufacturing environment.
• Critical proactive thinking skills.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to work collaboratively across departments.
• Detail-oriented mindset with a commitment to maintaining high-quality standards.
• Fundamental understanding of electrical, mechanical, and process engineering disciplines, which are directly related to the food service industry, recommended.

Responsibilities:

Quality Leadership & Strategy
• Champion product quality,
reliability, safety, regulatory compliance, and
customer satisfaction throughout the product lifecycle.
• Serve as the organization's technical leader for quality engineering, driving a culture focused on prevention rather than detection.
• Continually improve Winston's Quality Management System (QMS) to ensure quality excellence in both customer experience and manufacturing operations.
• Partner closely with the Engineering Manager and Manufacturing Operations Manager to align quality objectives with business goals and operational priorities.

Product Quality & Reliability Engineering
• Influence product design decisions to improve reliability, manufacturability, serviceability, and overall product performance.
• Participate in product development, design reviews, risk assessments, validation testing, and New Product Introduction (NPI) activities to ensure quality is engineered into products from concept through launch.
• Champion Design for Quality principles and ensure lessons learned from manufacturing, warranty, and customer feedback are incorporated into future product designs.
• Lead investigations into product failures and field performance issues to drive continuous improvement.

Root Cause Analysis & Continuous Improvement
• Lead cross-functional root cause investigations related to warranty claims, customer complaints, manufacturing defects, supplier issues, and product reliability concerns.
• Champion structured problem-solving methodologies including 8D, A3, 5 Why, Fishbone Analysis, FMEA, and other quality engineering tools.
• Drive the Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA) system, including action tracking, verification of effectiveness, and prevention of recurrence.
• Ensure corrective actions address systemic root causes rather than symptoms.
• Facilitate cross-functional improvement teams to solve complex quality and reliability challenges.
Quality Analytics & Business Intelligence
• Lead analysis of warranty, manufacturing, supplier, service, and customer quality data.
• Identify trends, recurring issues, and emerging risks through data analysis and statistical methods.
• Develop dashboards, KPIs, and reporting systems that provide actionable insights to leadership teams.
• Utilize quality metrics to prioritize improvement efforts and measure effectiveness of corrective actions.
• Drive reduction of Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ), warranty expense, scrap, rework, and customer quality escapes.

Manufacturing Process Quality
• Learn and understand all
manufacturing processes to ensure products
are built to the highest quality standards.
• Partner with Manufacturing Operations to improve process capability, reduce variation, and eliminate sources of defects.
• Lead development and implementation of Control Plans, process controls, inspection strategies, and error-proofing solutions within each production area.
• Evaluate and improve testing methodologies to increase defect detection while reducing non-value-added inspection activities.
• Drive improvements in First Pass Yield (FPY), throughput, and overall manufacturing quality performance.
• Support continuous improvement and Lean Manufacturing initiatives throughout the organization.

New Product Introduction (NPI)
• Serve as the quality subject matter expert for the NPI process.
• Ensure quality requirements, validation plans, control strategies, and risk assessments are incorporated into all new product launches.
• Partner with Engineering to successfully transition products from development into manufacturing while minimizing quality risks.

Customer & Supplier Quality
• Support customer quality needs, including periodic travel to customer sites, field investigations, and manufacturing partners as required.
• Partner with suppliers to improve quality performance, process capability, and corrective action effectiveness.
• Lead supplier quality investigations and improvement initiatives when required.
• Support customer issue resolution efforts by providing technical expertise and root cause analysis.

Team Leadership & Development
• Lead, coach, and develop Quality Engineers, Inspectors, and Technicians.
• Support training and development of manufacturing team members, supervisors, and managers on quality systems, problem solving, and quality engineering principles.
• Promote quality ownership throughout the organization by building technical problem-solving capabilities across all departments.
• Foster a culture where quality is everyone's responsibility and continuous improvement is a daily expectation.

What the culture is like at Winston:
While we recognize that profits are a necessity for any business, we do not make decisions based on just increasing the bottom line. We are genuine in our appreciation for each team member’s contribution and look to make Winston a better place to work every day. With us prioritizing our culture, we love to grow from within, but still understand the need to continue to gain knowledge from outside. We are far from perfect, but we focus daily on our vision of wanting to “make money and have fun doing it.”

What are the unique demands:
Physical Demands:
• Varied Work: Mostly Sedentary with frequent sitting, walking, and/or standing. Occasional requirement to lift/carry up to 50# or to push, pull or otherwise move finished products >100#.
Travel:
• Limited Travel: Less than 25% Domestic and/or International (all transportation types required)