Air Squared- Quality Engineer
What wisdom would you pass onto others trying to become better at demonstrating functional/ technical skills?
Always important to communicate. Work cross functionally, don't try to resolve issues on your own. Important to see issues first hand, visually if possible
Describe a time when you had to solve a lot of problems at the same time.
At minimum as a quality engineer I am getting 5-10 new issues everyday so I am always working on multiple issues. Toughest part is just understanding my work load and knowing how to prioritize your work as well as when to ask for help so you don't get too far behind.
Describe your most creative contribution
Building zerv on the mainline, production line. Zerv is currently being built in the hoist, needed to create plan so zerv can be built on mainline. Complex build that does not follow typical assembly process (trim then final). Needed to find a way to simulate the issues we'd face if we were to run the build down the line. Simulate the process by building on a galvanized carrier. Able to work cross functionally to develop a more robust plan. (PPO- Complex instrumentation to support field testing)
What's coming next in your technical area? What's at the leading edge?
Electrification & zero emissions
What areas are you technically skilled in?
GD&T, Continuous quality improvement, customer quality, design quality, engineering quality, lean manufacturing principles, lean six sigma, manufacturing quality control, root cause analysis, process design, process enhancements, quality engineering, quality assessments, quality assurance compliance, quality auditing, problem solving
Tell me about a time when you were uncomfortable with the information you were asked to disclose.
Group leader--> Situation: I prefer to work with peers when they make mistakes before escalating to leadership. Sole reason is that it can make the group look organized when reporting out internal controllable issues to all stakeholders. Action: Reporting out failure to complete standardized work by 2nd shift. Issues found on 1st shift that caused downtime on the build floor to correct. Results: Escalating to leadership led to a permanent corrective action (More formal 2nd shift reports taped to vehicle/ instead of being on EOS). Also, leadership is aware of the issue now and they know to look out for these types of issues going forward.
Tell me about a time you got results even though some major factor changed such as a budget cut, competitor moves, or the market change.
Group leader--> Staying even on our schedule during a pandemic.
Describe a time you were faced with a complex problem and had to get to the essence in a short time period.
Group leader--> Trim 0 . Sunroof glass for Lyriq leaking in water testing. Standardized work is not adequate, weekend work and did not have engineering support. Needed to provide verbal direction to build floor in order to correct water test failures. Able to successfully build up 3 vehicles that ended up passing water testing. Able to formally document issue and resolve issue through engineering change management.
Tell me about a time when you got results when others tried and failed.
Group leader--> When I first started working as a group leader, I inherited a group of workers that didn't have the strongest work ethic and attitude towards completing work in a timely manner. Action: Important for me to understand the different personalities of my work group so I know how to motivate them to keep my builds on progress. Lynette has certain restrictions because of her wrist, so she could not build up vehicles the same as the rest of my work force. Leaders previous to me could not get her to perform to expectations but I just don't think she was assigned the correct jobs to work. Results: Decided to have her work sub components and support the plant builds. Making sure she is following shop rules or else she will face disciplinary actions.
Describe a time when you challenged someone in a position of authority.
Group leader--> Working in operations presents many situations requiring you to be bold and speak up on group settings. Sometimes it's important to challenge authority figures in order to keep the business going to schedule. o Leadership may not completely understand the status of all the jobs in the shop. So it is important to challenge leadership on certain decisions so that you don't fall behind on your schedule. (Allocating manpower, deciding which jobs to start and when, deciding on when to place a build on hold)
Tell me about a time you had to decide between planning and acting
Group leader--> maintaining build schedule. Knowing how to allocate manpower to keep builds moving. Uncontrollable issues arise on consistent basis. Important to understand what you are working in the future so you don't make decisions that will get you by currently but slow you down in the future.
Why are you planning to leave you current role/ organization?
Growth & opportunity: GF got her dream job & always wanted an opportunity to reenter the aerospace industry to gain more experience
Why am I interested in joining Air Squared in this role?
Have worked the majority of my career in automotive and am ready to broaden my experience and knowledge in the aerospace industry
Describe a time when you facilitated a brainstorming session
Led problem solving meetings, easel board meetings, PRTS meetings, PRR meetings, supplier quality meetings
Explain what you do to keep up to date in your field or area?
NSBE, SME, GMAAN, Corporate training, social media
Tell me about a time when you had to make a decision and the information available was totally inadequate
Quality engineer--> Situation: Small block - crankshaft not rotating inside engine block. Actions: Ran containment - ensured following correct process - ensured we were using correct parts - needed to understand what parts were out of print Sorted available parts on floor and found same condition. Worked with design engineers to understand if they knew of any out of print features beforehand. I noticed the end lobe of the crankshaft was catching on engine block. Sent crankshaft to inspection. Felt along inside of engine block and noticed raised material. Comaro with similar design did not have feature. Had to use that sort criteria to contain remaining blocks. Results: clean breakpoint
Tell me about a time when you were the first to take action on something.
Quality engineer--> first line of defense for feeding issues back to stakeholders/ issue owners. Electrification 2020: - %58 more issues identified compared to 2019 - %30 more issues closed out compared to 2019
Which did you like the least and why?
Quality engineer: not having adequate information. Visual learner: Prefer to be able to look at the issue before making decisions. Can be difficult to provide direction when hearing about issues verbally
Of the positions you have held/ experiences you have had, which did you like the most and why?
Quality engineer: problem solving, working cross functionally across multiple different departments
Tell me about a time you had to motivate someone not from your country or culture
Situation: 31XX launch manager is from a different country and when we have our beginning and end of shift meetings it can be hard to understand what he is saying. Loud environment with many voices that need to be heard. Action: Changed format of the meeting. Important for me to make him feel included in the meeting so his voice and ideas can be heard but at the same time I did not want to single him out. Results: The meetings last a bit longer but all stakeholders are able to voice their concerns in alignment with the meeting's purpose. Major reduction in the amount of time spent after the meeting to wrap up topics already discussed in the meeting.
Describe a time when you communicated something and had to go back later and revise or change your original communication
Situation: Lining up builds for weekend work. It can be hard to forecast what you will have lined up for weekend work and a lot of the times builders availability on the weekend can be contingent on what they will be working. Action: Told builders they could work a certain program but when they came in I had to provide different direction so they can work a program and area they aren't familiar with (but trained in). Results: With the proper direction and instruction they were able to work in their area to keep the floor moving to schedule.
Tell me about a time you found a work problem to be significantly more complex than you initially though
Situation: Pontiac PPO issues resolution process. I had a lot of difficulty rolling out the new process to affected stakeholders. Action: The first attempt failed so I gathered information from all stakeholders that disagreed with their roll in the process and revised the process with our process engineering team. Results: We were able to successfully launch the LK0 engine in the beta val phase.
Describe a time you championed a cause that others had abandoned
Situation: Quality engineer à leading problem solving meetings with all stakeholders. Action: Prior to me getting there the meetings were not being performed. Seems that a lot of the stakeholders did not see value in these meetings and stopped going to them. Results: Able to close out issues 20% faster than the previous year.
Tell me about a time when you didn't spend as much time as you should have really looking at data and analyzing a problem
Situation: Red X project. LTA engine misfiring due to RH pistons being 180 degrees off position. Action. Took the engine down and noticed excessive wear on the piston heads, specifically the right hand piston heads. Noticed the RH arrows were facing in the same direction as the LH side. Confirmed arrows were red x by installing RH pistons rotated 180 degrees and engine ran in dyno without excessive ware. Results: Federal Mogul updated their laser etching software and shipped corrected parts. § Improve engine efficiencies by reducing miss fires. Eliminate the source of excessive wear contributing to miss fires on LTA engine at Pontiac GPS.
Tell me about a time when you worked on a difficult project with peers from other units.
Situation: Romulus needed support hot testing 500 LSY engines and Pontiac PPO allowed them to use our function testing cells. I needed to work with Romulus quality, operations, product engineering, GSC, and PPO operations. Actions: As a quality engineer it was my responsibility to log and communicate the results from the hot testing to all stakeholders as well as to follow up with any quality concerns. (28 quality issues identified during hot testing and resolved) Results: Successfully hot tested 500 engines.
Tell me about a time when you came up with some new ideas to solve an old problem
Situation: Valve springs for engine compression load testing were failing to the specifications. Compression heights were not meeting specifications. Actions: Was an old preexisting problem and the build floor would just tag the failed springs as nonconforming, however the design engineers would always give direction to quality to use as is because after 6 months in storage the springs had tendencies to relax causing them to fail slightly over the limit. Results: We were able to reduce spring waste by over 80%.
Describe how you get people in remote locations to feel part of the team.
Situation: Working in a pandemic has led our teams to have many virtual meetings. I think this is an advantage because it has allowed for us to include other outside stakeholders that normally aren't on site to be a part of certain conversations. (Can have a lot more leadership and plant involvement)
Tell me about a time when an experiment that you were managing in your department resulted in a new product launch.
T1XX improved assembly build sequence that saved GM $2-3 million at the production plant. o Issue: Door seal and upper garnish car trim interfering with one another during door assembly. Correction: Able to rearrange the production intent assembly plan so that the car trim can be installed after the door is assembled to prevent the interference condition. Results: The production plant save $2-3 million at the production plant. Saved money in plant floor layout. Saved money in additional tooling and fixtures. § Saved money in additional design costs.
Tell me about a time when you were investigating something and had to report back negative news to higher management.
When working as a quality engineer I was responsible for leading daily quality meetings with all stakeholders. In these meetings I had to report out the status of all my issues and often I would end up reporting out on bad news. Important to understand the severity/ urgency of all your issues. Important to understand all your team members (internally & cross functionally) so you can make sure issues are getting assigned to the correct owners.
Give an example of how your work habits change when you don' t know exactly what to do.
Work faster, may need to work out of process to get job done, need to prioritize: mitigate risk to understand which assignments you can afford not to complete. Typically it is easy for me to follow up on issues when I know exactly the part/ component that is failing/ non conforming. However, when testing DUs, engines, trans it's harder to diagnose the issue when an entire area or function of the unit is failing/ not operating properly. DU had a converter fail function testing and in turn led to the DU catching on fire causing a thermal event. Usually I would work with the design engineer but since the entire unit failed, I had to work with the systems engineer to help diagnose the issue and feed back to the correct issue owner.