Sr. Manufacturing Quality/LEAN Engineer (Traveling)

A collective energy and ambition. A place where you can make a real difference.

We’re a company that genuinely cares about our people, our products, our consumers and the environment.

Our unique, informal culture champions courage, determination and collaboration. Knowing we have an open and supportive team means each of us has the freedom to take responsibility and ownership. We have a shared passion to work hard, innovate and push boundaries.

United by the belief that when we strive for growth, anything is possible. While we might not be the largest company in our industry, we believe we can have the biggest impact because: Together We Have the Power to Win.

Summary Description:  

The Senior Manufacturing Quality / LEAN Engineer (Traveling) provides manufacturing quality and continuous improvement leadership for multiple product lines in China and other Southeast Asia contract manufacturing sites. This role owns quality readiness, supplier performance, and LEAN execution from early transfer builds through mass production, ensuring compliant, capable, and stable manufacturing operations.

This is a highly autonomous, hands‑on role requiring deep manufacturing quality expertise, strong cross‑functional leadership, and extensive on‑site engagement with contract manufacturers.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

Product Transfer & Launch Quality

• Lead quality execution for product transfers from China to Southeast Asia, from mold trials through mass production.
• Partner with Design and Manufacturing Engineering to review and approve tooling, fixtures, equipment, testers, and production lines.
• Support product qualification and re‑qualification activities.
• Review and validate molded parts, finished units, and production lines during engineering builds, qualifications, pilot runs, and production ramp‑up.
• Develop and maintain Product Quality Plans (PQP). Work with FTC Manufacturing Engineering and CM on process definition, line layout and ramp up and ensure completion prior to First Shipment Authorization and production approval.

Supplier & Manufacturing Quality

• Develop finished goods inspection procedures and coordinate third‑party inspections as needed.
• Ensure contract manufacturers meet Waterpik requirements for product quality, regulatory compliance, social accountability, and country‑of‑origin targets.
• Monitor supplier quality performance using PPM, SPC, capability studies, and trend analysis; drive corrective actions and continuous improvement.
• Ensure suppliers follow Waterpik quality systems, including corrective action management and ECO implementation.
• Approve Finished Good Final Inspection (FGFI).

Continuous Improvement & LEAN

• Drive reduction of quality variation using advanced quality tools, including DOE, SPC, capability analysis, FMEA, 5‑Why root cause analysis, and fault tree analysis.
• Conduct on‑site audits and assessments to evaluate and continuously improve manufacturing quality systems.
• Provide training and coaching on quality tools, measurement systems, Lean methodologies, and structured problem‑solving techniques.
• Partner with engineering and manufacturing teams to resolve fitness‑for‑use issues and nonconformances.
• Lead the Lean system across internal teams and contract manufacturers (CMs), promoting a strong Lean culture throughout the product development and realization lifecycle.
• Lead the Continuous Improvement (CI) system across teams and CMs, managing closed‑loop improvement from idea generation through action verification and Yokoten.
• Lead Lean initiatives focused on safety, labor reduction, efficiency improvement, cycle time reduction, labor burden optimization, SOP development, line balancing, and smart manufacturing practices for key production lines.
• Support new and transferred product launches through process flow development and re‑evaluation, milk‑run optimization, and WIP reduction.
• Identify, evaluate, and support automation opportunities as a Lean leader.
• Identify waste elimination and Kaizen opportunities through regular line reviews and audits.
• Plan and organize Lean and Kaizen activities, including Kaizen credit and savings exchange programs.
• Consolidate and report factory Kaizen results, including preparation of weekly AIM reports for the global Lean production management team.

Administrative and Ethical Responsibilities:

• Adapt to a rapidly changing environment with professionalism and discretion.
• Participate in special projects as assigned.
• Conduct all activities in a manner that is fair, moral, ethical, and legal.
• Conduct business activities consistent with the guiding principles and business practices in the Ethics code.

Operating Skills, Knowledge, Abilities and Travel:

• This position primarily serves our contract manufactures in Southeast Asia. Because of this there will be between 40% and 70% travel requirements. Some periods could be more and some periods could be less.
• A valid Passport is required as well as the ability to travel throughout Southeast Asia
• The ability to communicate in Thai and/or Vietnamese is desirable but not required.
• Standard quality and statistical methods, problem solving methods, process capability methods, sampling methods, fixturing/gaging principles and nondestructive testing methods.
• Requires proven ability in mechanical design evaluation, measurement method, calibration and problem-solving skills.
• Lean tools (6 sigma, Poka Yoke, FMEA etc.) and Advanced quality and statistical methods, including QFD, Designed Experimentation, Cost of Quality, SPC and control charting, Evaluation of Measurement Variation, FMEA, Risk Analysis and Fault Tree Analysis.
• Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing methods in design assessment and in measurement method definition.
• Effective communication, conflict management and team effectiveness.
• Be familiar with ISO 9001-2025, ISO 13485-2016
• Independent and self-initiative.

Training & Education Requirements:      

Degree in Engineering, Quality, the sciences or other 2 or 4-year degree in a technical field is required. 

Experience Requirements:

• 8–10 years of experience in manufacturing engineering, quality engineering, project management, or related disciplines.
• Strong background in product transfer, supplier quality, and high‑volume manufacturing.
• Experience with plastic injection molding, tooling, assembly lines, testing, and production planning.
• Demonstrated application of LEAN manufacturing principles and continuous improvement.

Traveling Requirements:

• Valid passport and ability to travel extensively throughout Southeast Asia (40–70%).
• Thai and/or Vietnamese language skills are desirable but not required.

Reporting Relationship: Reports directly to the Waterpik China Operations Manager

Supervisory Duties: No direct reports but will provide direction/guidance to CM Quality

Disclaimer

This job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employee(s) within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.

Church & Dwight is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities.

For more information on our company, our brands and our culture visit us at http://www.churchdwight.com/