Color & Construction Development Associate

Autoneum is globally leading in acoustic and thermal management for light and commercial vehicles. The Company develops and produces multifunctional, lightweight and sustainable components and systems for interior floor, interior trim as well as engine bay and underbody. Customers include almost all automobile manufacturers in Europe, North & South America, Asia and Africa. The Company with its head-quarters in Winterthur, Switzerland, is listed on the SIX Swiss Ex-change (ticker symbol AUTN).

Should understand the dimensions of color and have above average color perception.

The Color and Construction Development Associate is responsible for managing color and construction approval activities of class A surface (carpet, TPO, vinyl, etc.) for vertically integrated products as well as outside purchased raw materials and part assemblies. Customer approval must be completed in a timely manner to support program timing including PPAP approvals. This position serves as the “Go To” for all color and harmony related activities and is responsible for providing the necessary progress reports to the organization on the status of construction and color approvals.

Activities will be conducted in close collaboration with other colleagues inside and outside of Autoneum such as Product Development, Program Management, Manufacturing, Product Engineering, Purchasing, Suppliers, etc.

• Interface with customers and obtain appearance, construction and color approvals for Autoneum manufactured interior materials and parts to support acquisition and program milestones and on time for PPAP approvals for tufted carpet (floor and auxiliary mat applications), dilour nonwoven carpet (floor applications), TPO flooring, etc.
• Support and oversee appearance, construction and color approvals for Tier II manufactured interior materials to meet program milestones and on time PPAP approvals of needled nonwoven carpet (trunk trims and package tray applications), PVC (heel pad, toepad, side scuff), injection molded plastics (vin plate, sim cover, mat clip/post, footrest, child tether, trunk bezels) and other miscellaneous components (i.e. cargo nets, colorants, etc.).
• Steer development team and Tier II suppliers in color and appearance direction to understand various colorants and materials and provide color and appearance directions to pre-qualify samples before submitting them to the customer.
• Coordinate the necessary color development phases with suppliers, following color submissions and providing guidance for corrective actions until approval is reached.
• Responsible for AAR approvals of all Autoneum and Tier II manufactured visual items to support on time PPAP approvals for pre-grain & post-grain on hard trim components, AAR on individual components and full part assemblies.
• Manage forms, documents, masters required for part appearance approvals (AARs, ATARs; etc. Communicate an internal & customers comments to the team, log and ship parts to the respective production plants.
• Oversee Autoneum library of masters and approved samples, provide quotations and POs for samples we master, manage mastering of our samples, store and document official masters and OEM approved samples, order, record, distribute masters to all Autoneum NA facilities and annually verify them to ensure accuracy/consistency. Responsible for preparation of masters once colors are approved and ANA is the mastering source.
• Inter‑departmental interface and technical contact between management and vendors regarding interior materials color and harmony.
• Maintain secure electronic data management and documentation system for all records of customer approved masters and approval documents for carpet and program/supplier specific assembly accessory parts.
• Perform visual and mechanical color evaluation of the approved carpet and components.
• Keeping a database of all approved colors
• Responsible for shipments of parts and samples to Autoneum plants, suppliers and the customers.
• Participate in cost reduction and benchmark activities.
• Maintain clean and organized working area in the color harmony room following the 5S principles.
• Res…