Sr. Supplier Engineer ( Electronics )

Primary Function:

In this role, a Sr. Supplier Engineer is responsible for ensuring suppliers meet ISI requirements for quality, service, delivery, and cost. Drive suppliers to continuously improve business and manufacturing processes. Evaluate and select suppliers. Guide Engineering in choosing suppliers for new products and provide DFM input to new designs to support NPI projects. Executes detailed projects with suppliers to ensure excellence across quality, cost, capacity, risk management, and sub-supplier management.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Drive PCBA manufacturing qualification at contract manufacturers, including readiness requirements and milestone reviews. • Provide PCB/PCBA DFM feedback and escalate manufacturability risks early in product development. • Complete project/ part qualification deliverables including: Supplier pFMEA, Process Validations (IQ/OQ/PQ), Inspection Reports, Gage R&R, and Process Capability Analysis • Develop and implement manufacturing technologies and process improvements to enhance quality, reliability, throughput, and cost. • Work with suppliers to execute cost reductions, capacity improvements, and risk mitigation • Select the right process and supplier for the part, considering long term fit and total ownership cost • Manage supplier changes including manufacturing process changes, production optimization, facility changes, new equipment qualification, and new line validations • Drive changes to ISI requirements as necessary by initiating and managing changes to specifications and drawings through the engineering change order process • Own and drive to closure supplier variances from symptom through root cause analysis to corrective action, including careful CAPA documentation • Effectively prioritize and advance multiple concurrent projects and tasks • Clearly communicate project status to key stakeholders • Build, own, and relentlessly pursue a vision for developing suppliers • Understand proper level of documentation detail for tracking of actions and justification of decisions • Generate key metrics for the team and suppliers, and continually drive for timely achievement of those metrics • Drive suppliers to continually improve their business and manufacturing process performance to meet Intuitive’s requirements for supplier excellence using a collection of best practices in project management, Six Sigma, Lean, SPC and negotiation. Lead these efforts without managerial guidance at several suppliers simultaneously • Implement corrective and preventive actions for supplier process by driving supplier’s investigations and root cause analysis • Provide effective and timely supply base health information and recommendation to management by creating and delivering data-driven supply base information to any level of management at ISI with little or no guidance • Prepare and deliver supplier communications as required by independently working with suppliers on scorecard creation • Work with suppliers and ISI design engineering for the new product introduction to: ◦ Create product supplier landscapes to determine launch readiness and report to management ◦ Develop supplier ramp readiness plans by judging business risk based on forecast, supplier capacity, quality performance, and process capability. ◦ DFM by engaging suppliers early in development cycle to feedback manufacturability improvements in the designs prior to production ◦ Influence and guide Design Engineering in choosing suppliers by determining selection criteria for preferred suppliers and leading the team effort to evaluate preferred suppliers • Review, analyze and close customer complaints, manufacturing variance requests, and first article inspections by judging risk analyses and justifications • Evaluate corrective and preventive actions at suppliers, looks for opportunities with suppliers to eliminate recurrence