Department: Quality
Function: Wiring Harness – Automotive, Home Appliances & Toy/Electric Ride-On Products
Reporting To: Quality Head / Plant Head
Location: Manufacturing Plant
Employment Type: Full-Time
1. Job Purpose
The In-Process Quality Engineer will be responsible for ensuring that wiring harnesses are manufactured as per approved drawings, samples, specifications, control plans and customer requirements.
The main objective of this position is to prevent defects during production rather than detecting them only at final inspection, control process quality, reduce rejection and rework, and ensure that only conforming material moves to the next production stage.
The engineer will work closely with Production, Quality, Stores, PPC and Contractors/Line Supervisors.
2. Key ResponsibilitiesA. Start-Up / First-Piece Approval
- Verify latest drawing, BOM, sample and work instructions before production starts.
- Check availability of approved material as per BOM.
- Approve first-piece / first-off sample before bulk production.
- Verify wire type, wire size/gauge, colour, length and marking.
- Verify terminals, connectors, seals, sleeves, tapes, clips, fuses and other components.
- Check crimping parameters and crimp quality before production.
- Ensure correct applicator/tool/jig is being used.
- Stop production if first-piece approval is not satisfactory.
B. In-Process Quality Inspection
Conduct regular patrol inspection of all running wiring harness lines.
Check critical operations including:
- Wire cutting and stripping
- Crimping
- Terminal insertion
- Connector assembly
- Wire routing
- Branch dimensions
- Taping
- Sleeving
- Heat-shrink operation
- Soldering, where applicable
- Fuse/switch/LED assembly
- Clip and accessory fitting
- Sub-assembly operations
- Electrical testing
- Visual inspection
Ensure operators follow approved process and work instructions.
3. Crimping Quality Control
The engineer must have strong control over the crimping process.
Responsible for checking:
- Crimp height
- Crimp width, wherever applicable
- Wire conductor position
- Insulation crimp
- Bell mouth
- Brush length
- Cut-off tab
- Wire strands damage/cut
- Terminal deformation
- Terminal locking
- Pull-force / pull-test results
- Correct terminal and wire combination
Maintain crimp inspection and pull-test records as per defined frequency/customer requirement.
4. Wiring Harness Dimensional & Visual Inspection
Verify:
- Overall harness length
- Branch lengths
- Connector orientation
- Wire routing
- Correct cavity/location of wires
- Tape starting and ending points
- Sleeve/heat-shrink position
- Clip and clamp position
- Labels and identification
- Workmanship and cleanliness
Ensure harness matches the approved drawing / master sample / customer specification.
5. Electrical & Functional Quality
Ensure required harnesses are tested for:
- Continuity
- Open circuit
- Short circuit
- Wrong wiring / cross wiring
- Connector pin/cavity position
- Functional operation, wherever applicable
For toy and home-appliance harnesses, additionally verify applicable:
- Switch operation
- LED operation
- Fuse installation
- Battery/power connectors
- Polarity
- Electrical sub-assemblies
No harness should move to packing/final inspection without completing the required testing.
6. Process Control
- Monitor critical process parameters at defined frequency.
- Ensure approved work instructions are available at each workstation.
- Verify that operators are following the correct process.
- Check identification and traceability of material/WIP.
- Ensure OK and rejected material are properly segregated.
- Monitor line rejection and rework.
- Identify recurring defects and immediately initiate corrective action.
- Ensure measuring instruments, gauges and testers being used are within calibration.
- Verify poka-yoke/error-proofing systems are working correctly.
7. Handling of Non-Conforming Product
If any quality problem is detected:
- STOP – Stop/hold the affected process where necessary.
- SEGREGATE – Identify and segregate suspected material.
- INFORM – Immediately inform Production Supervisor and Quality Head.
- TRACE – Identify production since the last OK inspection.
- CONTAIN – Check and contain potentially affected quantity.
- CORRECT – Ensure corrective action is implemented.
- VERIFY – Restart production only after verifying the process is OK.
- RECORD – Maintain rejection/non-conformance records.
The Quality Engineer must have the authority to hold production/material for quality reasons.
8. Rejection & Rework Reduction
- Maintain daily rejection and rework data.
- Identify Top 3 recurring defects.
- Perform basic root-cause analysis using:
- 5 Why
- Fishbone Analysis
- Pareto Analysis
- Work with Production to implement corrective and preventive actions.
- Verify effectiveness of corrective actions.
- Support continual reduction of internal PPM, rejection and rework.
9. Line Discipline & 5S
- Ensure good housekeeping and 5S at wiring harness lines.
- Ensure wires/components are stored and identified correctly.
- Prevent mixing of similar terminals, connectors and wires.
- Ensure rejected material is kept in designated rejection area.
- Ensure no unapproved material is lying at workstations.
- Encourage operators to follow quality and process discipline.
10. Contractor / Operator Quality Control
Where production is carried out through contractors:
- Ensure contractor manpower follows company quality standards.
- Conduct regular process audits irrespective of production pressure.
- Train contractor supervisors/operators regarding critical quality points.
- Do not allow defective material to proceed because of production targets.
- Escalate repeated violations to the Quality Head / Plant Head.
- Ensure quality standards remain the same for company and contractor manpower.
11. Documentation & Records
Maintain/update required quality records including:
- First-Piece Approval Report
- In-Process Inspection Report
- Crimp Inspection Report
- Pull-Test Report
- Patrol Inspection Report
- Rejection/Rework Report
- Process Audit Report
- Non-Conformance Report
- Corrective Action Report
- Traceability records
- Daily Quality Report
Records should be accurate and completed at the time of inspection, not at the end of the shift.
12. Customer & Quality-System Requirements
For automotive products, understand and follow applicable requirements of:
- IATF 16949
- ISO 9001
- Control Plan
- PFMEA
- Work Instructions
- Inspection Standards
- Traceability requirements
- Customer-specific requirements
Support the Quality Head during customer, certification and internal audits.
13. Daily Reporting
At the end of each shift/day, report:
Production Quality Summary
- Lines inspected
- Quantity inspected
- Rejection quantity
- Rework quantity
- Major defects found
- Line stoppages due to quality
- Corrective actions taken
- Pending quality issues
- Repeat problems requiring management attention
Any critical quality issue must be reported immediately and should not wait for the daily report.
14. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Performance of the In-Process Quality Engineer will be evaluated on:
KPIExpectationFirst-piece approval compliance100%In-process inspection compliance100%Crimp/pull-test compliance100%Critical defect escapeZeroWrong wiring / wrong component escapeZeroRejection & reworkContinuous reductionRepeat defectsContinuous reductionCorrective action closureOn timeQuality records100% completeCustomer complaint attributable to process escapeTarget Zero5S & process disciplineAs per company standard15. Qualification & Experience
Education: Diploma / B.Tech / BE in Electrical, Electronics, Mechanical, Automobile or equivalent technical qualification.
Preferred Experience: 2–5 years in Wiring Harness / Electrical Assembly / Automotive Components / Home Appliances.
Candidate should preferably have practical experience in:
- Wiring harness manufacturing
- Crimping
- Terminals and connectors
- Wire cutting & stripping
- Pull-force testing
- Continuity testing
- Drawing/BOM reading
- Measuring instruments
- Root-cause analysis
- Process inspection
- Quality documentation
16. Required Skills & Behaviour
The candidate should be:
- Quality-focused and disciplined
- Strong in shop-floor inspection
- Technically sound in wiring harness processes
- Able to identify defects quickly
- Confident enough to stop defective production
- Able to handle operators and contractors firmly but professionally
- Good at problem-solving and root-cause analysis
- Capable of maintaining proper records
- Able to communicate problems clearly to Production and Management
- Willing to spend the majority of working time on the shop floor rather than sitting in the quality office
- Focused on prevention rather than only inspection
17. Authority
The In-Process Quality Engineer is authorized to:
- STOP production in case of a serious quality problem.
- HOLD material/WIP suspected of being defective.
- REJECT non-conforming material.
- Demand segregation and 100% inspection where required.
- Prevent dispatch/transfer of suspected material.
- Request corrective action from Production/Contractor.
- Escalate repeated quality violations to the Quality Head / Plant Head.
Production quantity or dispatch urgency shall never be a reason to knowingly accept a quality defect.
Core Responsibility“Do not inspect quality into the product at the end. Control the process so that defects are not produced in the first place.”
The In-Process Quality Engineer is responsible for ensuring that every wiring harness leaving the production line is correct, safe, traceable and manufactured according to the approved specification.
Pay: ₹18,000.00 - ₹23,000.00 per month
Work Location: In person
