Sr. Principle Supplier Technical Engineer

** Career Area:
** Supply Chain and Logistics
*
* Job Description:

**** Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc.
** When you join Caterpillar, you're joining a global team who cares not just about the work we do – but also about each other.  We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. We don't just talk about progress and innovation here – we make it happen, with our customers, where we work and live.

Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it.
** Role Definition
** Assesses the supplier quality and drives process improvement to decrease product defects and ensure products are in compliance with manufacturing specifications and standards. Provides guidance and leadership to other Supplier Technical Engineers and serves as the technical lead for the group.
** Responsibilities*
* • Ensure quality of received components by reviewing supplier provided data against drawing requirements.  
• Generating reports on supplier quality, by monitoring their defect rates and areas that can lead to potential flaws;
Guiding suppliers to reduce these defect rates.  
• Researching the potential vendors, assessing their manufacturing environment, practices, and procedures;
Conducting supplier quality control audits to ensure compliance with organizational policies and quality certifications (ISO, NADCAP).  
• Supporting suppliers in improving their performance through process enhancements, implementing process controls, and developing quality assurance plans.
** Skill Descriptors
** Effective Communications:
Understanding of effective communication concepts, tools and techniques; ability to effectively transmit, receive, and accurately interpret ideas, information, and needs through the application of appropriate communication behaviors.  Level Extensive

Experience:

• Reviews others' writing or presentations and provides feedback and coaching.  
• Adapts documents and presentations for the intended audience.  
• Demonstrates both empathy and assertiveness when communicating a need or defending a position.  
• Communicates well downward, upward, and outward.  
• Employs appropriate methods of persuasion when soliciting agreement.  
• Maintains focus on the topic blem Solving:
Knowledge of approaches, tools, techniques for recognizing, anticipating, and resolving organizational, operational or process problems; ability to apply knowledge of problem solving appropriately to diverse situations.  Level Extensive

Experience:

• Ensures capture of lessons to be learned from a problem-solving effort.  
• Organizes potential problem solvers and leads problem resolution efforts.  
• Uses varying problem-solving approaches and techniques as appropriate.  
• Contributes to standard practices for problem-solving approaches, tools, and processes.  
• Analyzes and synthesizes information and devises alternative resolution strategies.  
• Develops successful resolutions to critical or wide-impact problems.

Process Improvement:
Understanding and insight into evaluating current product quality and production methods and ability to maintains focus on the continuous improvement of processes, products and services.  Level Expert:

• Contributes to the advancement of industry standards in process excellence.  
• Establishes critical processes and their controls.  
• Leads efforts to enhance organizational process capability.  
• Develops enhancements to product and service offerings based on continuous improvement to process capabilities.  
• Sets a corporate practice of continuous improvement that supports competitive advantages.  
• Mentors individuals who show promise in the area of process control and improvement.

Product Quality Assurance:
Knowledge of product quality assurance; ability to use tools, techniques and methodologies assuring the quality of development for and manufacturing of products.  Level Extensive

Experience:

• Advises others on the strengths and weaknesses of alternative quality assurance methodologies.  
• Consults on the optimal matching of quality assurance tools to specific products or product groups.  
• Interprets QA failures,…