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Product quality engineer skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
6 min read
Quoted experts
Dr. Heidrun Schmitzer,
Dr. Heidrun Schmitzer
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical product quality engineer skills. We ranked the top skills for product quality engineers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 10.9% of product quality engineer resumes contained product quality as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a product quality engineer needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 product quality engineer skills for your resume and career

1. Product Quality

Product quality is the basic element of a business. It means to add features in a product or service in such a way that it meets the needs and wants of the customers. Enhancing the product quality also means improve the goods from any existing defects to ensure customer satisfaction.

Here's how product quality engineers use product quality:
  • Authored and maintained technical documentation in accordance with ISO 9001 including Product Quality Specifications, Test Methods and Operating Procedures.
  • Advanced Product Quality Planning Management Tool is a quality management application that automates the 6-sigma quality initiatives of Caterpillar.

2. Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement is an ongoing process of improvement of products, services, and processes with the help of innovative ideas. It is an organized approach that helps an organization to find its weaknesses and improve them.

Here's how product quality engineers use continuous improvement:
  • Partner with Operations to perform evaluations of process quality and performance attributes to identify continuous improvement initiatives related to quality systems.
  • Evaluated suppliers and customer quality concerns using cross-functional continuous improvement teams / root cause analysis to implement temporary / permanent countermeasures.

3. Sigma

In Greek alphabets, sigma is the 18th letter that means "to sum up". In statistics, the lower case symbol of sigma is the unit of measurement for standard deviation which is used to assess the variability in a given set of data. While the upper case symbol is for summation notation means to add up all the given numbers in the data set.

Here's how product quality engineers use sigma:
  • Improved Quality Management System processes and activities geared toward Six Sigma quality efforts in conjunction with Operational Excellence.
  • Developed and facilitated Six Sigma and performance measurement training for 100+ associates.

4. Corrective Action

Here's how product quality engineers use corrective action:
  • Achieved fast turnaround and comprehensive corrective actions on returned mobile station module devices by aggressively driving debug and data gathering activities.
  • Provide routine reporting to management on observed trends in process and products quality, making recommendations for improvement and corrective action.

5. ISO

Here's how product quality engineers use iso:
  • Ensured improvement and effectiveness of Quality Management System through conducting internal ISO audits.
  • Successfully-defended ISO Compliance Audit findings; enabling company to pursue ISO:9001 certification.

6. Data Analysis

Here's how product quality engineers use data analysis:
  • Provided data analysis for tooling qualification, process qualification, and tolerance adjustment.
  • Initiated component failure investigations through data analysis and leading management product reviews.

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7. Supplier Quality

Here's how product quality engineers use supplier quality:
  • Interfaced with third party development organizations on supplier quality, component engineering and manufacturing issues through a cross-functional team.
  • Developed customer satisfaction and supplier quality processes and audit.

8. FMEA

Here's how product quality engineers use fmea:
  • Lead and coordinate Failure Mode & effect Analysis (FMEA) meeting for Electro-Mechanical product from cross functional team.
  • Created and implemented service FMEA process to ensure service kits would be robust enough to fulfill the proper requirements.

9. CAPA

Here's how product quality engineers use capa:
  • Perform Investigations for related CAPA and assess the impact and risk associated with the Non-conformance and the resulting Action.
  • Work with Manager, corporate quality to link the findings and to derive CAPA plan from Quality Perspective.

10. Product Development

Product development is the complete procedure of creating a product from concept until release of the final product. Product development has many stages after which a product is released into the market. Identifying the need, creating the opportunity, conceptualizing a product, and providing a solution, all are different stages of product development.

Here's how product quality engineers use product development:
  • Design Quality Engineer * Supported new product development activities including generation of customer, device-level and component-level specifications and requirements.
  • Worked with Product Development and Manufacturing on new product introduction(NPI) developing and implementing product qualification plans.

11. Failure Analysis

Failure Analysis is a step-by-step process of determining the reason for a particular machine or equipment failure by way of checking, identification, and examination. It means conducting a test within the system and perform a maintenance check that leads you to a conclusion. A failure analysis takes place to prevent further damages.

Here's how product quality engineers use failure analysis:
  • Established quality performance metrics and drove issues to root cause facilitating failure analysis.
  • Managed and analyzed physical failure analysis to take action on design and manufacture.

12. Quality Issues

Here's how product quality engineers use quality issues:
  • Reviewed material Reliability and Quality issues and led Material Review Board to disposition non-compliance.
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to resolve quality issues quickly and efficiently.

13. Process Control

Process control is a method pertaining to continuous production processes that uses the aid of ICS (Industrial Control Systems) for production. This method enables production to be done with a level of consistency and safety in an economically friendly manner that is impossible to achieve solely through manual control.

Here's how product quality engineers use process control:
  • Assured proper communication line between Purchasing, Quality, and Process Control were maintained during problem investigation and analysis.
  • Implemented statistical process control methods to reduce warranty related to all electrical / electronic subsystems within the vehicle.

14. Pareto Analysis

Here's how product quality engineers use pareto analysis:
  • Analyzed failure meetings results utilizing applicable Pareto charts and supplied this information in Power Point for management review and presentations.
  • Retrieve and pareto defect data, improving first-time through yield by 20%.

15. PPAP

Here's how product quality engineers use ppap:
  • Coordinated field warranty analysis and PPAP submission.
  • Managed quality containment, quality resolution, tool moves, and PPAP (Production Part Approval Process) Reviews.
top-skills

What skills help Product Quality Engineers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on product quality engineer resumes?

Dr. Heidrun Schmitzer

Professor and Chair, Xavier University

Programming languages, numerical design and simulation tools, knowledge of various measurement equipment.

What soft skills should all product quality engineers possess?

Dr. Heidrun Schmitzer

Professor and Chair, Xavier University

Communication, teamwork.

What hard/technical skills are most important for product quality engineers?

Dr. Heidrun Schmitzer

Professor and Chair, Xavier University

Depends on the engineering career, but in general, an ability to know how to use design software, measurement/testing, and analysis equipment, in addition to prototyping and fabrication tools

What product quality engineer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Dr. Galen Duree

Head of the Department of Physics and Optical Engineering and Professor, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

It again depends on what the graduate sees as their next step - graduate school or a job with a company or lab. If the next step is graduate school, the graduate should investigate what they are interested in pursuing and then where the best school is to get the experience that the graduate thinks he or she wants.

General reading about technologies or reading available articles about subjects the graduate is interested in will help generate questions they can ask potential graduate schools. This time would also be a chance to improve areas where the graduate may feel weak while an undergraduate. Many online resources can help them brush up on week background topics. Do not worry about transfer credits because that is usually not helpful in graduate school, but improve knowledge and experience in areas where the graduate feels weak. If the graduate has identified a graduate school and program to study in, the graduate school might have some recommendations about what to review. All of this will help improve success in graduate school.

If the next step is a job with a company or lab, taking courses to improve communication will help. Many technically competent or even technically brilliant people struggle with effective communication. Techniques about writing reports, making oral presentations, or communicating technical information will help improve success. The gap year also provides time to investigate technologies that the graduate wants to be involved in and the companies or labs in those areas.

Once the graduate has identified areas of interest and companies or labs that the graduate might want to work for, they can be contacted to either answer questions or point the graduate in a direction for further investigation.

In either case, a gap year can provide a chance to refine the graduate's choice for the next steps and help them prepare other skills overlooked during the undergraduate years.

What type of skills will young product quality engineers need?

John RingJohn Ring LinkedIn profile

Director Engineering Outreach, Elon University

While our universities consistently educate engineering students with hard skills and strong engineering fundamentals, tomorrow's engineers need to be strong communicators, collaborators, and critical thinkers. Our professional environments are filled with data and information, and the constraint is typically how much time individuals can dedicate to solving a problem. At Elon University, we educate tomorrow's engineers to have the hard skills necessary to analyze the information and situations, apply critical thinking techniques to determine ways to solve the issue, and then concisely and efficiently communicate with colleagues as solutions are being set in motion.

List of product quality engineer skills to add to your resume

Product quality engineer skills

The most important skills for a product quality engineer resume and required skills for a product quality engineer to have include:

  • Product Quality
  • Continuous Improvement
  • Sigma
  • Corrective Action
  • ISO
  • Data Analysis
  • Supplier Quality
  • FMEA
  • CAPA
  • Product Development
  • Failure Analysis
  • Quality Issues
  • Process Control
  • Pareto Analysis
  • PPAP
  • Lean Manufacturing
  • FDA
  • SPC
  • QMS
  • GD
  • Process Improvement
  • Quality System
  • Product Design
  • QA
  • Customer Satisfaction
  • UL
  • Quality Metrics
  • Management System
  • Engineering Support
  • Quality Standards
  • Lean Six Sigma
  • APQP
  • Statistical Analysis
  • PFMEA
  • Customer Quality
  • Medical Devices
  • Technical Support
  • DFMEA
  • R
  • Aerospace
  • Internal Audit
  • Product Launch
  • Customer Complaints
  • Process Audits
  • Regression
  • Design Engineering
  • DOE
  • MRB
  • Process Changes

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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