QUALITY MANAGER
Wire & Fencing Manufacturing Plant
Reports to: Plant Manager
Reports to this position: Quality Controllers, Lab Technicians, Water Treatment Operator
PURPOSE OF THE JOB
- Manage quality across the full product range, from incoming raw material to finished product on the despatch floor
- Take technical responsibility for wire drawing and galvanising quality
- Control the quality of incoming raw material and consumables
- Oversee the effluent treatment plant and keep the plant compliant with its discharge licence
- Lead the department from the floor, not from behind a desk
MAIN DUTIES
Raw material and consumable quality
- Approve or reject incoming wire rod against chemistry, mechanical and surface specifications
- Verify supplier cast and test certificates against actual test results
- Control quality of zinc, flux and galvanising chemicals
- Manage die and lubricant quality and their effect on drawn wire — die wear, coating pickup, surface finish
- Assess supplier performance and manage non-conforming supplier material
- Approve new suppliers and new consumable trials before they go into production
Wire drawing
- Control drawn wire to spec: diameter, tolerance, tensile, elongation, torsion, wrap and surface finish
- Investigate wire breakages, brittleness, scoring and coating pickup — root cause, not symptoms
- Link drawing faults back to rod quality, die condition, lubrication or machine setup
- Advise production where drawing practice is damaging wire properties
Galvanising
- Take technical responsibility for coating quality
- Oversee bath chemistry, bath temperature, immersion time and line speed control
- Ensure coating mass, thickness, adhesion and uniformity are tested and within spec
- Ensure pre-treatment (degreasing, pickling, rinsing, fluxing) is properly controlled
- Investigate coating failures — bare spots, dross, flaking, white rust
- Monitor zinc consumption and yield
Finished product quality — across all product lines
- Set the quality standard, inspection points and acceptance criteria for every product line listed above
- Ensure each line is inspected against its own spec: mesh aperture and squareness, barb spacing and grip, weld strength and weld integrity, wire tension, aperture consistency, coating condition after forming, dimensional tolerances, straightness, and finish
- Ensure product marking, labelling, coil and bundle mass, and packaging meet customer and standard requirements
- Verify that formed and welded product has not lost coating integrity in the process
- Approve first-off samples on every product changeover
- Sign off finished stock before it is released for despatch
Effluent and compliance
- Oversee the effluent treatment plant and the operator running it
- Ensure discharge stays within the water use licence and municipal by-law limits
- Ensure sampling, records and statutory returns are done on time
- Ensure hazardous waste (spent acid, zinc sludge, dross, ash) is stored, manifested and disposed of legally
- Escalate compliance risks to the Plant Manager early, not after the fact
Quality management system
- Own and maintain the ISO 9001 system
- Keep the quality manual, procedures and control plans current across all product lines
- Run internal audits and drive corrective actions to proper closure
- Host external audits — certification body, SABS, customers, environmental inspectors
- Report quality KPIs at management review
Leading the department
- Spend the working day where the work is — on the floor, in the lab, at the lines. This is a management job, but it is not an office job
- Be first on the scene when a quality problem stops production
- Supervise, train, develop and discipline QC staff, lab technicians and the water treatment operator
- Deploy inspectors across the product lines according to risk and production priority
- Keep the lab equipped, calibrated and running to standard
- Manage calibration of all test and measuring equipment
- Manage the department budget
Customers and suppliers
- Investigate customer complaints and issue formal 8D reports
- Approve test certificates and certificates of conformance
- Support sales on technical and specification queries
- Handle customer and third-party product inspections
Improvement
- Drive down scrap, rework and rejection rates across all lines
- Lead root cause investigations (5 Why, Ishikawa, 8D)
- Apply SPC to key process variables
- Bring forward improvement projects with real savings attached
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
- National Diploma or BTech/BEng in Metallurgy or Materials Science — not negotiable
- 5–8 years in metals manufacturing
- At least 3 years managing a quality department
- Solid galvanising background — must understand bath and coating control, not just read reports about it
- Strong wire drawing background — rod, dies, lubrication and their effect on wire properties
- Experience across a range of wire-formed and fencing products, not just one line
- Experience overseeing industrial effluent treatment in a galvanising or similar environment
- Has implemented and maintained ISO 9001 and been through external certification audits
- Trained internal auditor (ISO 9001 lead auditor an advantage)
- Knows the relevant SANS standards for wire, wire products, fencing and zinc coatings
- Familiar with the National Water Act and municipal discharge requirements
- ISO 14001 exposure an advantage
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR IN THE PERSON
- Understands wire metallurgy properly — drawing, annealing, failure modes
- Knows galvanising well enough to walk up to a line and see what is wrong
- Able to hold a standard across fifteen different product lines without letting the small ones drift
- Works with data, not opinions
- Technically strong enough to hold their own with the production managers, and to overrule them when the product is wrong
- Will not fold when production pressure pushes for a shortcut
- Can lead and develop a team, and hold people accountable
- Computer literate — MS Office, ERP
- Writes clearly enough for customer reports and statutory submissions
Work Location: In person
