Quality Control Supervisor

Quality Control (QC) Supervisor Classification: Full-Time Location: Houston, TX, 77049 Position Summary Sunrise is seeking an experienced Quality Control (QC) Supervisor to lead and strengthen quality control activities within our plastic manufacturing and material-handling operations. This position is responsible for ensuring incoming materials, in-process materials, finished products, and customer shipments meet established quality specifications.

The QC Supervisor will provide hands-on leadership to the QC function while working closely with Receiving, Shipping, Production, Pack House, Sales, and Operations. The supervisor will establish consistent sampling and inspection practices, improve material traceability, investigate quality concerns, and ensure problems are identified and addressed before material reaches the customer.

This position requires someone who understands plastic materials, can recognize contamination and material inconsistencies, and is comfortable working directly on the production floor.

Key Responsibilities

Quality Control Leadership Supervise and coordinate daily QC activities and priorities. Provide clear direction, training, and accountability for employees performing QC-related duties. Establish and enforce QC procedures across Receiving, Production, Packaging, and Shipping. Ensure QC has adequate and representative samples before approving material.

Escalate significant quality concerns to Operations leadership. Serve as the primary point of contact for plant-level quality issues. Sampling & Material Inspection Establish and enforce standardized sampling procedures for boxes, gaylords, containers, loads, and other material. Ensure samples are representative of the entire container or load rather than only surface material.

Perform or oversee visual and physical inspections of plastic materials. Identify issues including: Off-color material Black specks or contamination Mixed materials/resins Foreign material Incorrect resin identification Moisture or other visible quality concerns Pellet size, appearance, or consistency issues Require additional sampling or hold material when samples are insufficient to make a reliable quality determination.

Material Identification & Traceability Verify material identification against purchase orders, receiving documentation, production records, and customer specifications. Confirm resin/material classifications such as PP, HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, POE, EVA, and other materials handled by Sunrise. Identify and immediately escalate discrepancies between physical material, labels, samples, POs, and system records.

Maintain traceability from incoming material through processing, packaging, QC approval, and shipment. Maintain an organized retain-sample program where applicable. Non-Conformance & Corrective Action Establish and maintain a formal process for documenting quality incidents and non-conforming material. Place questionable material on QC Hold when appropriate and prevent release until disposition is determined.

Investigate internal quality issues and customer complaints. Conduct root-cause investigations involving QC, Receiving, Production, Pack House, Shipping, or other departments. Develop and track corrective and preventive actions. Document discrepancies even when they are caught internally before reaching the customer. Identify recurring quality trends and recommend process improvements.

Customer Quality Support investigations of customer complaints involving contamination, off-color material, incorrect material, or other quality concerns. Compare customer complaints and photographs against retain samples, production samples, receiving samples, and shipping records. Work with Sales and Operations to determine whether the material shipped matches the customer's specifications and approved samples.

Provide documented findings to management for customer responses. Help reduce customer complaints, returns, credits, and rejected loads through stronger front-end controls. Cross-Department Accountability Work closely with Shipping and Receiving to ensure proper samples are pulled and correctly identified. Coordinate with Production and Pack House personnel regarding material quality and packaging concerns.

Communicate quality requirements clearly to departments responsible for providing samples. Reject incomplete, incorrectly identified, or inadequate samples and require resampling when necessary. Ensure quality responsibilities and handoffs between departments are clearly understood. Documentation & Reporting Maintain accurate QC records, including: Incoming material inspections Sampling records QC test/inspection results Retain samples Material holds and releases Non-conformance reports Customer complaints Corrective actions Material identification discrepancies Rejected or downgraded material Provide regular quality reports to management identifying recurring issues, responsible process areas, corrective actions, and improvement opportunities.

Supervisory Responsibilities Train employees on sampling, inspection, documentation, and material identification procedures. Monitor employee compliance with QC standards. Assign daily QC priorities based on receiving, production, and shipping schedules. Coach employees when procedures are not followed. Coordinate QC coverage to support operational requirements.

Recommend staffing, training, equipment, or process changes needed to improve quality performance.

Qualifications

Required High school diploma or GED. 3+ years of experience in quality control, plastics manufacturing, recycling, compounding, resin processing, or a related manufacturing environment. Working knowledge of plastic/resin materials and common contamination or quality issues. Experience performing inspections, sampling, or material verification.

Ability to read purchase orders, specifications, labels, production records, and shipping documentation. Strong documentation and problem-solving skills. Ability to communicate effectively with hourly employees, supervisors, management, Sales, and Operations. Ability to work independently and make sound quality decisions in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.

Preferred Previous QC supervisory or lead experience. Experience with recycled plastics, resin sorting, reprocessing, pelletizing, compounding, or related operations. Familiarity with PP, PE, HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, EVA, POE, and similar polymer materials. Experience investigating customer complaints and performing root-cause analysis.

Experience developing SOPs, inspection standards, and corrective-action processes. Familiarity with ISO 9001 or similar quality management systems is a plus. Skills & Competencies Strong leadership and accountability Attention to detail Plastic material identification Quality inspection and sampling Root-cause analysis Problem solving Documentation and recordkeeping Customer-focused decision making Cross-functional communication Organization and prioritization Ability to make and defend objective quality decisions Physical Requirements Ability to work in a manufacturing and warehouse environment.

Ability to stand and walk for extended periods. Ability to inspect material inside boxes, gaylords, containers, and other packaging. Ability to bend, reach, climb, and perform sampling activities as required. Ability to lift up to 50 pounds, with or without reasonable accommodation. Ability to wear required personal protective equipment (PPE).

Ability to work around manufacturing equipment, forklifts, trucks, dust, noise, and varying temperatures. Measures of Success Reduction in customer quality complaints and rejected material. Improved accuracy and consistency of material sampling. Reduction in material identification and labeling errors. Timely identification of non-conforming material before shipment.

Accurate QC documentation and material traceability. Timely completion of corrective actions. Improved compliance with QC procedures across departments. Effective communication and accountability between QC, Receiving, Production, Pack House, Shipping, Sales, and Operations. Authority of the QC Supervisor The QC Supervisor has the authority to place material on hold, request additional sampling, require reinspection, and recommend that material not be released for shipment when there is insufficient information or reasonable concern that the material does not meet Sunrise or customer quality requirements.

Final disposition of significantly non-conforming material will be coordinated with appropriate Sunrise Operations leadership. Equal Employment Opportunity Sunrise is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants without regard to legally protected characteristics. Reasonable accommodations will be provided to qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law.