Question:

Committed and dynamic Quality Management Professional with demonstrable, sustained success in supplier quality performance management in APAC. Data driven decision maker, experienced in establishing and delivering against global operational Quality KPI’s. Possesses a professional and personable attitude, comfortable working at all levels of business, in teams or independently.

Core Competencies

• Quality Auditing • Project / Program Management • Six Sigma • Training and execution• Continuous improvement • Process Reengineering• Vendor management • Risk Analysis.

Career Highlights

• Worked over 11 years with Blackberry Canada and Singapore handling multiple roles since the beginning of its first Smartphone launch to its multiple product line and later deputed to Asia for setting up and implementing various service partners across the region.
• Experienced in supplier selection, qualification and set up of the quality systems by streamlining processes in APAC region, building from scratch.
• Established new supplier quality and service quality system and managed 20 plus sites with multiple products.
• Acted as a single point of contact for Quality in the region and key decision maker for the successful expansion of the partner footprint from in line with BlackBerry growth in the APAC region.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

BLACKBERRY SINGAPORE LTD                                                                                                    Jul 2014 – Aug 2016

Service Quality Manager APAC                                                                                

Accountable for all aspects of the Quality Performance Management of all front-end Walk-in Service centres (WSC) and back-end high volume repair centers related to BlackBerry handset repairs. Led a team of 3 quality technicians/engineers initially, and subsequently upon outsourcing, managed the quality team of 8 vendors across APAC. Reports to Quality Director, Service Quality in Canada.

Held ownership and managed regional partner quality performance, driving accountability for improvement.

• Successfully managed the global qualification and on boarding of all APAC WSC Repair Service providers and approximately 200+ stores in APAC region. Achieved customer satisfaction rating from score 7 to score 3 within a year. Retained existing customers by improving scales in the region. Reduced waiting time for repairs and cost of repair, resulting in savings more than a million in 2 year’s time.
• Created and executed supplier Auditing requirements and risk assessment matrix for audit prioritizations to detect failures in the earlier stages of the process.
• Defined, implemented and reviewed KPI’s and Score cards of repair partners, and performed weekly reviews which addressed the quality issues and reduced scrap and saved cost.
• Created on boarding and qualification requirements of new repair partners, ensuring partners were assessed against standardized criteria globally and improve customer satisfaction.
• Developed all company and departmental checklists and templates for use in QMS and product specific audits to make sure there was a repair solution for all the products sold in the region.
• Managed and mentored the cross regional teams of Quality Engineers and developed high level quality strategies for the team.
• NPI planning and management and associated site qualifications to date for all new model launches at all APAC sites.
• Guided Supplier sites various cross functional teams with focus on continuous improvement on scorecard performance by driving positive engagements with vendors to meet and exceed OEM requirements.
• Delivered best in class repair process controls through the application of proactive quality management techniques and best practice sharing and aligning regional quality goals with the strategic direction of the organization.
• Managed material quality issues at partner sites, managing each case life cycle from validation and approval to claim disposition and supplier corrective action.
• Created a Systematic Problem-solving culture at BlackBerry and Outsourced partner sites by mentoring and driving on cost saving projects and Operational Excellence.

AVANTEK  PVT LTD                                                                                                        Singapore, Nov 2013- Jun 2014

Quality Consultant                                                                                                         

Educate, enable and enforce the organizations policies and processes and provide management with an independent review/assessment on the compliance.

• Deployed policies, processes, methodologies, system/tools and measurement pertaining to the quality management policy.
• Re- Engineered and streamlined the processes to remove the non-value-added steps ensuring Organizational productivity.
• Lead Internal Quality Audits and represented the organization during external Audits.
• Deployed, administered and maintained quality system.

BLACKBERRY SINGAPORE LTD

Quality Specialist APAC                                                                                                                                Nov 2009 – Oct 2013

Responsible for the management of BlackBerry’s overall supplier selection and audit program in APAC.

• Managed, developed and executed audit and qualification program, for all of BlackBerry’s partners in APAC. Qualified and recertified 10+ suppliers and partners in BlackBerry’s supply chain network globally. Reduced the repair time and improved quality of service and customer satisfaction.
• Qualified sites as capable to provide products and services to BlackBerry specified requirements. Supported vendor sites to achieve goals at a consistent level of performance in quality, efficiency and customer satisfaction.
• Identified and drove to closure any cited non-conformities through 8D corrective and preventive action requests reducing cost of rework and scrap.
• Continuously improved the supplier site audit processes to meet the KPI’s and business needs.
• Identified, developed and reported on QMS metrics. Imparted support and expertise in the integration of QMS into the way BlackBerry does business.
• Lead high impact process and continuous improvement projects, process reengineering projects, in support of BlackBerry business initiatives.
• Trained and mentored BlackBerry compliance staff to apply best practice audit principles, quality tools, methodologies, procedures and techniques.
• Delivered best in class repair process controls through the application of proactive quality management techniques and best practice sharing.

BLACKBERRY CANADA

Documentation Specialist                                                                                                    Aug 2007 – Nov 2009

Responsible for the Document control system and maintaining BlackBerry certifications related to quality.

• Developed, implemented, maintained and continually assessed quality assurance function and quality management system for applicable business operations activities to meet BlackBerry standards and external customer requirements.
• Performed Root Cause Analysis for the customer complaints from major customers in North America (AT&T, Rogers, Vodafone) which helped in improving quality of BlackBerry products.
• Developed a document control system for procedures, work instructions and forms. Controlled the release of process maps, procedures and work instructions for different organizations within BlackBerry.
• Developed and implemented appropriate quality training (Quality tools and methodologies, database usage, ICAR, OSCAR, capability analysis)
• Formulated and administered policies and standard operating procedures (SOPs) relating to the quality assurance function and the quality management system.
• Conducted internal audits at Blackberry manufacturing locations and coordinated with different departments during ISO third party Audits.

Answer:

CE 2.1: Project Introduction

Name of the Project               : Quality Assurance in BlackBerry Smartphone

Geographical Location          : Canada

Project Duration                     : Dec 2006 – Oct 2009

Organization                           : BlackBerry Canada

Position in the Project            : Quality Specialist

CE 2.2: Project Background

CE 2.2.1: Characteristics of the Project

I was promoted to the role of Quality Specialist during my work in this project at BlackBerry Canada. During this time, BlackBerry Canada was involved for the production and manifesting of the innovating products, wireless solution in the field of communication and mobile products. I was working in the factory where the BlackBerry Smart phones were designed, developed and manufactured. I was working in the Quality Assurance department for ensuring the quality of the products being manufactured at BlackBerry Canada.

CE 2.2.2: Objectives developed for project

I was involved in this project with the significant aim of ensuring the quality and reduce the number of defects from the manufacturing process of the innovating solutions and wireless products. I had further demonstrated the work in various objectives for effective completion of the work responsibilities. The following are the detailed objectives that I had developed in this project:

• To maintain the quality of the smart phones being manufactured at the BlackBerry Canada;
• To ensure the proper process being followed for the new production introduction at the market;
• To manage and outsource the partners for the manufacturing of the BlackBerry mobile phones;
• To check the quality of the manufactured products and process being followed at the manufacturing process;

CE 2.2.3: My area of work

I had the major work in the quality assurance department for reviewing and verifying the Jigs and fixtures are that are designed by the design team based on the quality and the engineering teams input. I was responsible for making sure that the jigs were working as per the requirement and was not putting additional pressure or causing any cosmetic issues on the smart phone. In addition to that, I was responsible for the quality of the product and provide on time feedback for corrections.

CE 2.2.4: Project Group

Team member associated with the project are illustrated in the section below:

Figure 1: Organizational Structure of the Project

CE 2.2.5: My responsibilities throughout the project

In this project, I was responsible for maintaining the quality of new BlackBerry smart phones. As a Quality Engineer I had the responsibility for the NPI (New product introduction) runs till the mass production of the product at the BlackBerry waterloo company. During my work I had observed that the stoppage or delay of production results in significant wastage of time and resources during the manufacturing process. During my time of work, I had ensured the proper placement of the lens on the LCD of the BlackBerry phones. I had ensured proper quality assurance measures and precautions for handling the quality during the manufacturing process.

CE 2.3: Distinctive Activity

CE 2.3.1: Comprehending the Theory of the project

The stage for the new product introduction involves with the identification of various innovative ideas for wireless products for BlackBerry Canada.  I was working with the design and Manufacturing Engineering team to work on the risks and quality issues and solve the issues before the product is schedule to run on high volume. During this project only a few hundreds of innovative devices are manufactured. Therefore, I had checked the assembled process and ensured the quality of the products being developed in the plan for checking the assembly process followed in the manufacturing process. In addition to that, I had conducted validation process in the BlackBerry factory.

CE 2.3.2: Engineering Knowledge and Skills applied in the project

I had redesigned the manufacturing and inspection process being followed at the BlackBerry factory. I had trained the operators for using the revised and advanced inspection process. I had deigned the process with the parts being inspected under the flow hood. In t were addition to that I had used trays for carrying the lens that were to be tested in the quality assurance process. I had further kept the trays beside the flow hood for operating the assembly and proper pickings of the lenses for inspection. I had further used the antistatic overlays for protecting the lens from dust particles and foreign particles. In addition to that, for eliminating the dust and static particles, I had introduces desktop air ionizer. In the desktop air ionizer, I had utilized high voltage for ionizing the electrically charges air molecules. Design of experiments (DOE) was carried out with different pressure setting and the time the force to be applied for the glue to be activated fully. To avoid the variation by manual process the pneumatic fixture was introduced for this operation and the force was set to 10N for 5 seconds. Using the pneumatic fixture the holding time and the pressure could be controlled.

CE 2.3.3: Accomplishment and Task Performed

I had followed detailed study and conducted various experiment for ensuring the proper quality and standard of the manufacturing process being followed at the blackberry. Moreover, I had studied various process and documents for identifying the flow of process being followed.

CE 2.3.4: Identified Issues and Their Solutions

Issue: In the new product introduction stage the manufacturing engineering team had identified that the dust can easily get trapped in-between the lens and the LCD. In the trial runs the dust or foreign particle under the lens was one of the highest defects contributing to almost 8% of the rejects and this needed to be fixed before the mass production. In this project I had faced significant issue while developing the appropriate solution for eliminating the dust issue.

Solution: For mitigating the solution, I spend many hours on the manufacturing lines to understand where in the process the dust was getting trapped. In the initial process, I had inspected the raw materials and found that the parts from the supplier had no issues as the lens comes with an overlay underneath and over the lens. After I concluded that the issue was not with the raw material I had to study where in the manufacturing process the dust was getting trapped. I worked through the manufacturing process flow and found there was an inspection stage to inspect the lens for any scratches or contamination. Through the inspection I was able to remove the front and back overlay for inspection. I had used assembly line for this process. I had then transformed the lens with the application of Kanban System for inspection. Through this was able to fulfill the inspection criteria of BlackBerry and identified the source of foreign particles on the lenses. With all these measures and redesigning the line and updating the work instructions the dust issue was completely solved.

CE 2.3.5: Plan for producing creative and innovative work

When a few batches of devices were run on trial I figured a major issue of the lens being lifted up. This issue was not identified initially as the issue only started to show up after a few hours or days of built in some cases. I had to relook on the process and the materials that could contribute to this issue. The lens assembly itself has four gaskets and the adhesive on the lens. Upon further trial runs and study I came to a conclusion that the issue was with the adhesive. As per the process a manual fixture was used to press the lens on the assembly over the LCD but the force that was applied was not able to activate the glue completely. It was also noticed that as it was a manual operation the time and the force was applied also varied from operator to operator.

CE 2.3.6: Collaborative work

I was assigned in this project as Quality Specialist for ensuring the quality of the smart phone manufacturing process at BlackBerry Canada. I had initiated various meetings and group discussion for discussing the issues and sharing the information.

CE 2.4: Project Review

CE 2.4.1: Project Overview

In this project, I was successful in ensuring the quality of the products and various smart phone elements used in the BlackBerry. Through the successful completion of the project, I was successful in Removing the lens for clearing the dust and placing the new lens. In addition to that, I had reduced the cost for manufacturing and the raw materials required for the manufacturing process. Apart from that, I had eliminate the reuse of gasket and adhesive for improving the quality of the finished products.

CE 2.4.2: My contribution to work

For further checks the devices were send for reliability tests and the issue was confirmed as solved. This was also introduced at all our outsourcing manufacturing sites. I had ensured that all the changes in the process was documented and implemented at all the outsourcing manufacturing sites. Apart from that, I had effectively managed and determined the process for ensuring the quality of the production of smart phones.