About our family of companies:
We are on a mission to bring learning to life! At our family of companies, Learning Resources®, Educational Insights, and hand2mind, we create a unique range of toys, educational products and supplemental curriculum trusted by teachers and loved by families alike. Voted among the Chicago Tribune’s Top Workplaces for the last four consecutive years, we are a 350-person strong, family-owned organization dedicated to helping kids succeed in school and develop a love of learning. In addition to high-quality, hands-on products like VersaTiles® and Cuisenaire® Rods, we make award-winning toys, including top sellers such as the Pretend & Play® Cash Register, the Farmer’s Market Color Sorting Set and Toy of the Year winner Botley® the Coding Robot as well as Educational Insights top sellers Kanoodle®, GeoSafari® Jr. series, and Playfoam™. We pride ourselves on being committed to our employee’s personal and professional development, a thriving culture and a diverse, creative atmosphere. Along with our culture and competitive benefits package, we offer opportunities for training and development by Harvard and UCLA professors as well as in-demand, motivating external speakers. We are looking for professionals who are truly just kids at heart! We hope you’ll come join our award-winning team today!
Team & Position Description:
We are seeking a detail-oriented and proactive Quality Analyst to join our team, specializing in the quality control of hard goods. The Quality Analyst role is a highly cross-functional role within the organization that has a broad scope of responsibilities revolving around the goal of ensuring that all products meet high-quality standards and arrives to the customer in top condition. Responsibilities for the position include developing data driven product inspection processes, maintaining quality documentation and processes, and root causing quality problems with our manufacturing partners. This position requires an independently driven person willing and able to work with others to drive change. Innovation, operating in the gray, being results & process oriented, and attention to detail will be essential in this role.
What we’re looking for (Key Performance Objectives):
- 1. Develop and Enhance the Risk Management Model
- Within the first six months, refine the internal risk management model to support a tiered inspection system, ensuring alignment with company standards. Review and improve the inspection processes to better identify and categorize risk by severity, reducing defect rates by 10% in the first year.
- 2. Expand and Utilize the Quality Dataset
- Over the next 12 months, extend the internal quality dataset to include additional data points across the family of companies. Analyze the data monthly to identify defect trends and initiate two actionable process improvements per quarter aimed at reducing overall defect risks.
- 3. Standardize Quality Documentation and Processes
- Expand upon current quality documentation and achieve standardization across all quality processes (internally and with our vendor partners) within the first six months. Ensure these guidelines are adopted across all workflows, achieving a 95% consistency rate in process adherence by year-end.
- 4. Investigate and Resolve Quality Issues
- Conduct root cause analysis and initiate CAPA process for all quality rejections within five business days of occurrence. Achieve a 100% reduction in recurring defects from implemented CAPA’s.
- 5. Serve as SME for Quality and Risk Assessment
- Act as the subject matter expert (SME) for product quality and production process risk assessments. Complete risk analyses for top 20 existing products to develop proactive mitigation plans to be implemented in collaboration with production teams within the first 180 days.
Requirements/Ideal Attributes:
- Bachelors Degree required
- 1-3 years Quality Assurance experience - hard goods experience preferred
- Proficient with Microsoft Office and Dynamics 365
- Knowledge of quality standards (ISO 9001, Six Sigma, etc.) and regulatory compliance requirements
- Detail-oriented, analytical, organized, self-motivated and ability to multi-task
- Superior verbal and written communication skills
- Strong root cause analysis, analytical, and problem-solving skills
- Ability to conduct phone calls at night as needed
Physical Demands:
- Standing – up to 50%
- Sitting – up to 50%
- Computer usage – 70%
- Ability to travel as needed – less than 5%
- Ability to lift up to 50lbs unassisted
We are a drug-free workplace and an EEO employer.
Please note: This role will be filled by our internal recruitment team, so no assistance is needed from any outside staffing agency at this time.
