Quality Control Supervisor (Manufacturing)

Role Overview

The Quality Control Supervisor owns the day-to-day quality performance of a packaging manufacturing operation, from the raw materials entering the plant through to the finished pallet leaving the dock. This position leads a team of inspectors across production shifts, sets the inspection cadence for corrugating, printing, die-cutting, and finishing lines, and acts as the decision-maker when product quality is in question. The role exists to keep defects, rework, and customer returns under control while protecting the plant's certification standing and reputation with the accounts it supplies.

Key Responsibilities

• Supervise, schedule, and coach a team of quality control inspectors across multiple shifts, assigning inspection coverage so that no production line runs without quality oversight.
• Verify incoming materials — linerboard, medium, adhesives, inks, coatings, and purchased components — against specifications before release into production.
• Perform and oversee in-process checks on corrugating, printing, die-cutting, folding, and gluing equipment, including board caliper, moisture content, grammage, print registration and colour accuracy, score and slot dimensions, and bond strength.
• Carry out finished-goods testing such as edge crush, bursting strength, compression, and drop checks, and document results against customer and internal specifications.
• Lead non-conformance handling: quarantine suspect material, investigate root cause, issue corrective and preventive actions, and confirm that fixes hold through follow-up verification.
• Investigate customer complaints and returns, tracing defects back to the process, machine, or supplier responsible and reporting findings with supporting data.
• Maintain the plant's quality management system documentation — inspection records, standard operating procedures, work instructions, calibration logs, and audit files — and support internal and external audits.
• Calibrate and maintain measuring and testing instruments, arranging external calibration where required, and train operators on quality-critical checks and acceptance criteria.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Diploma or degree in Quality Management, Manufacturing, Production Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related discipline.
• A minimum of 5 years in quality control within a manufacturing environment.
• At least 2 years in a supervisory quality control position, with demonstrated responsibility for leading inspectors or a quality team.
• Background in corrugated packaging, carton manufacturing, paper converting, printing, or a comparable industry is strongly preferred.
• Practical, hands-on understanding of manufacturing quality control and inspection processes — including sampling, measurement techniques, defect classification, and corrective action workflows.
• Comfortable working on a production floor, reading technical drawings and customer specifications, and communicating quality decisions clearly to production, engineering, and commercial colleagues.