Job Review: What You Need to Know about QA Manager Job

Ever wonder who ensures the functionality and safety of every gadget before being distributed to the market? This activity of ensuring the quality of products is the main duty of a Quality Assurance (QA) Manager. Beside that, QA Managers are also in charge of managing employees, supervising manufacturing processes, evaluating data, and establishing quality-improvement policies. Other than technical requirements and experience, there are some skills you need to have for this job. Here are some essential things you need to know about the QA manager job.

Job Overview

In the manufacturing sector, QA Managers create and protect quality standards. With QA engineers, they examine the product in detail and confirm it fits all compliance standards and has no errors before any goods are delivered to customers. Some industries in which QA managers are needed include, but not limited to, Technology, Manufacturing, Engineering, Automotive, Mining, Textile, and Pharmaceutical. In brief, QA Managers verify that products are safe to use, function properly, consistent and comply with all specifications. They must report their observations results to the entire company. If a product has a malfunction or does not meet the planned measurements, for example, this information must be communicated to the manufacturing team. On a daily basis, they communicate with departments such as customer satisfaction, product performance, production, and engineering. Below are more thorough descriptions of their job responsibilities.

Managing products and people

While QA specialists verify the products, QA managers are expected to oversee on a larger scale, including the team on a daily basis. They must ensure that everyone is productive while doing extensive product inspections. Most significantly, they must design and execute strategies to continuously enhance quality assurance testing. This may be conducted, for example, by looking for tools and software to improve the efficiency of a process. If a product line is faulty, QA managers have the power to halt production and investigate the problem further in order to minimize unnecessary cost.

Supervising the entire process

QA managers, as the team's head, are in charge of overseeing the entire quality assurance process. They are responsible for the accuracy of each work, whether it is product testing or defect reporting. Furthermore, they must stay current on all internal, external, and industry requirements.

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Analyzing data on the quality of the product

QA managers conduct statistical analysis from the manufacturing lines after supervising testing operations. They then identify any quality issues for a specific batch. When an issue occurs, they must make recommendations for quality control or manufacturing process adjustments. They also examine patterns and trends that appear from the reports over time. Following that, they will report any discrepancies that led to the complaints or debunk the situation with evidence.

Skills and Qualification

In becoming a QA manager, technical manufacturing education background is often mandatory, along with years of experience, as this job is at a managerial level. Relevant job experience is generally considered good after and may be obtained through final-year project work, work shadowing, degree sponsorship, internships, or industrial placements. Some businesses need candidates to have studied a topic related to the industry in which they operate. Material technology, food science, polymer science, process engineering, production engineering, and so on are examples of such fields. For non-technical occupations, business studies and management qualifications may be required. Membership in the Chartered Quality Institute (CQI) may be a huge advantage since it provides chances for ongoing professional development (CPD) as well as networking activities. 

Aside from these qualifications, aspiring QA managers need to establish a good control over these soft skills:

• Orientation to details to ensure precise quality assurance.

• Experience with quality management systems (QMS).

• Leadership skills, to manage cross-functional projects and teams.

• Critical thinking abilities are required to assist solve customer concerns and manufacturing challenges, as well as to design methods for increasing product quality.

• Physical endurance and strength are required because they will do hands-on duty often.

• Understanding on blueprints, technical papers, and instructions.

QA managers strive to enhance product quality and process efficiency in order to eliminate costly errors. With an expertise in quality assurance, QA managers reduce the likelihood of expensive mistakes in the market. Since they are responsible for efficiency and productivity, the quality assurance team may lack a clear direction without a QA manager. If you think you have the necessary qualifications for this job, take a look at vacancies for QA Manager and similar roles through Talentvis.

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