Job Purpose
To lead and manage the Quality Assurance function for the shirt manufacturing division, ensuring that all garments meet customer specifications, approved samples, quality standards, regulatory requirements, and company quality objectives.
The Quality Assurance Manager is responsible for establishing effective quality systems, controlling defects throughout the manufacturing process, reducing rejection and rework, driving root-cause corrective actions, and developing a strong quality culture across the factory.
Key Responsibilities
1. Quality Management System
- Develop, implement, and maintain quality assurance systems for shirt manufacturing.
- Establish quality standards, procedures, inspection criteria, and quality checkpoints.
- Ensure compliance with customer requirements, approved samples, specifications, and quality manuals.
- Review and improve quality procedures based on production performance and customer feedback.
- Maintain proper quality documentation and records.
2. Incoming Material Quality
- Establish quality standards for incoming fabrics, trims, accessories, labels, buttons, zippers, threads, and packing materials.
- Coordinate with Fabric Store, Purchase, Merchandising, and suppliers to control material quality.
- Ensure fabric inspection is carried out according to approved standards.
- Monitor fabric defects, shade variation, GSM, width, shrinkage, colorfastness, and other relevant parameters.
- Ensure defective or non-conforming materials are properly identified, segregated, and controlled.
3. Cutting Quality Control
- Ensure cut panels meet approved patterns, measurements, and specifications.
- Monitor fabric relaxation, spreading, marker accuracy, numbering, bundling, and panel matching.
- Control defects related to fabric shading, panel mismatch, incorrect cutting, and grain direction.
- Ensure proper handling of checks, stripes, plaids, and other pattern-matching requirements.
4. Sewing Quality Assurance
- Establish quality checkpoints throughout the shirt sewing process.
- Monitor critical operations such as:
- Collar preparation and attachment
- Cuff preparation and attachment
- Sleeve setting
- Placket construction
- Pocket attachment
- Front and back joining
- Side seams
- Buttonhole
- Button attaching
- Bartacking
- Hemming
- Monitor seam quality, SPI, stitch appearance, puckering, skipped stitches, open seams, uneven stitching, and other defects.
- Ensure operators understand quality requirements at each operation.
- Identify recurring defects and implement corrective actions.
5. Inline & End-Line Quality Control
- Establish effective inline and end-line inspection systems.
- Monitor defect rates and quality performance by production line.
- Analyze defect trends and identify major problem areas.
- Ensure immediate corrective action for critical and repetitive defects.
- Work closely with Production and Industrial Engineering teams to prevent quality problems rather than relying only on final inspection.
6. Final Inspection & Shipment Quality
- Ensure finished shirts are inspected according to customer requirements and approved AQL standards.
- Review final inspection results before shipment.
- Ensure measurement, workmanship, appearance, labeling, packing, and presentation meet specifications.
- Coordinate with QA/QC teams for shipment inspection preparation.
- Investigate and resolve failed final inspections before shipment.
7. Measurement & Specification Control
- Ensure garment measurements are controlled according to the approved size specification.
- Monitor critical measurements for each shirt style and size.
- Ensure correct use of approved measurement methods and tolerance limits.
- Review measurement reports and identify trends.
- Coordinate with Technical, Merchandising, Production, and Pattern teams regarding measurement deviations.
8. Defect Analysis & Corrective Action
- Conduct root-cause analysis for quality issues.
- Use tools such as:
- 5 Why Analysis
- Fishbone Analysis
- Pareto Analysis
- CAPA
- PDCA
- Develop corrective and preventive action plans.
- Monitor implementation and effectiveness of corrective actions.
- Ensure repeated defects are permanently eliminated.
9. Customer Complaints & Quality Feedback
- Review customer complaints, inspection reports, returns, and quality feedback.
- Identify root causes of customer complaints.
- Coordinate corrective actions with relevant departments.
- Track complaint trends and implement preventive measures.
- Communicate important customer quality requirements to production and QA teams.
10. New Style / New Product Quality Control
- Review quality requirements for new shirt styles before bulk production.
- Participate in pre-production meetings.
- Review approved samples, specifications, measurement charts, construction details, and workmanship standards.
- Establish critical quality checkpoints for new styles.
- Support pilot production and conduct risk assessments.
- Ensure quality standards are clearly communicated before bulk production starts.
11. Team Management
- Lead and manage QA/QC inspectors, inline quality teams, end-line inspectors, and final inspection personnel.
- Define responsibilities and performance standards for quality personnel.
- Conduct regular training and skill development programs.
- Evaluate team performance and identify training requirements.
- Ensure adequate quality manpower coverage on all production lines and shifts.
12. Supplier & Subcontractor Quality
- Monitor the quality performance of fabric, trim, accessory, and processing suppliers.
- Conduct supplier quality evaluations where required.
- Coordinate with suppliers regarding repeated quality problems.
- Support supplier corrective action and improvement activities.
- Monitor outsourced processes such as embroidery, printing, washing, or special finishing.
13. Quality Training
- Conduct regular quality awareness training for operators, supervisors, and inspectors.
- Develop training programs for common shirt defects and prevention methods.
- Train employees on customer-specific quality requirements.
- Promote a "Right First Time" quality culture.
14. Quality Data & Reporting
Prepare and review regular reports covering:
- Inline defect rate
- End-line defect rate
- DHU (Defects per Hundred Units)
- First Pass Yield (FPY)
- Rejection rate
- Rework rate
- Final inspection results
- Customer complaints
- Alteration rate
- Major defect trends
- Corrective and preventive actions
- Supplier quality performance
Key KPIs
- First Pass Yield (FPY)
- DHU / Defect Rate
- Inline rejection %
- End-line rejection %
- Final inspection pass rate
- Rework and alteration %
- Customer complaint rate
- Customer return rate
- Right First Time %
- Corrective action closure rate
- Quality cost reduction
- Reduction in recurring defects
- On-time completion of quality reports
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Textile Engineering, Garment Technology, Industrial Engineering, Quality Management, or a related field.
- Additional qualification in Quality Management is an advantage.
- Strong knowledge of woven shirt manufacturing and garment quality standards.
- Knowledge of AQL, garment inspection procedures, measurement systems, and quality management systems.
- Knowledge of ISO 9001 and Lean/continuous improvement practices is preferred.
Experience
Typical Requirement: 7–12 years of relevant experience in garment manufacturing, with at least 3–5 years in a supervisory or managerial quality role.
Experience in woven shirts, formal shirts, casual shirts, uniforms, or similar products is highly preferred.
Technical Knowledge
The candidate should have strong knowledge of:
- Shirt construction and workmanship
- Fabric and trim quality
- Fabric inspection
- Cutting quality
- Sewing quality
- Measurement and tolerance
- AQL inspection
- Inline and final inspection
- Defect classification
- Root-cause analysis
- CAPA
- Quality documentation
- Customer-specific quality requirements
- Garment testing and compliance requirements
Personal & Leadership Skills
- Strong leadership and team-management ability
- Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
- Strong attention to detail
- Good communication and coordination skills
- Ability to make decisions under production pressure
- Strong knowledge of quality standards
- Ability to work with Production, IE, PPC, Merchandising, and Technical teams
- Customer-focused approach
- Strong commitment to continuous improvement
Key Department Interfaces
The Quality Assurance Manager will work closely with:
- Production
- Industrial Engineering
- PPC
- Merchandising
- Technical / Product Development
- Cutting
- Finishing
- Fabric & Accessories Store
- Maintenance
- Purchase / Suppliers
- Compliance
- Factory Management
Overall Responsibility
The Quality Assurance Manager is accountable for ensuring that every shirt manufactured by the division meets the approved specification, workmanship standard, measurement requirements, customer expectations, and applicable quality standards.
The position must drive a prevention-based quality culture, reduce defects and rework, improve Right First Time performance, strengthen quality systems, and ensure consistent quality from incoming materials through cutting, sewing, finishing, final inspection, and shipment.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: ₹65,000.00 - ₹75,000.00 per month
Work Location: In person
