THOUGHT PIECE the carling team
Brewing Quality Manager Job Description
The primary responsibility of a brewery’s quality manager is to ensure that products maintain a high level of quality. This role involves establishing quality management systems in the brewery which cover brewing, cellaring and packaging of the brewery’s products.
They must also ensure that the brewery complies with various food safety regimes, including Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), BRC Global Standards food safety certification and the Feed Materials Assurance Scheme (FEMAS).
The brewing quality manager will ensure that staff remain safe within the brewery by assessing the quality of various production line components and materials. They will liaise with various departments throughout the brewery to ensure quality standards are maintained at every level.
Brewing Quality Manager Responsibilities
The brewing quality manager works across many areas in the brewery and builds a strong relationship with many other staff members. They perform an oversight role that ensures various staff members and departments are working in a way that maintains quality within the brewery. Their key responsibilities include:
- Push the brewery to meet food and feed quality standards
They will enforce food quality standards in the brewery from the receivership of raw materials through to the packaging of the final product. The brewing quality manager will identify where quality is not of a sufficient standard and work with staff or suppliers to rectify it. - Ensure compliance with EHS, Food/Feed Integrity and GMP and VPO standards
The brewing quality manager will use a number of metrics to ensure that the food processes and source materials used by a brewery comply with food safety regulations. - Manage the quality assessment training and individual performance appraisals
They will be directly involved with many different staff, ensuring they have the skills necessary to create products of a high level of quality. The brewing quality manager will also evaluate how well staff perform these tasks - Manage relationships with this parties
The brewing quality manager will have relationships with third parties including equipment providers, raw materials suppliers and unions. They will negotiate with these parties to ensure equipment, materials and labour are capable of producing a high quality product. - Ensure continuous improvement occurs
The brewery should always be driven to improve the quality of its products. The brewery quality manager will be one of the key players who ensures this occurs. - Attend meetings with various stakeholders
They must meet with department heads and external suppliers to discuss quality issues and potential improvements on a regular basis. - Report KPI to upper management
Key performance indicators relating to quality control must be recorded and reported to upper management. The brewing quality manager must create reports to highlight the importance of any changes in quality. - Manage the quality assurance department’s budget
There will only be a certain amount of money available to spend on quality insurance. The manager must use zero-based budgeting methods to justify each expenditure. - Assesse product quality complaints
They must examine complaints about product quality to determine the cause of the quality issue. - Ensure that all products maintain compliance to food and feed safety programs
They must track overall compliance and identify which departments are responsible for issues of non-compliance. They must use external auditing programs to track various types of compliance. - Work with laboratories to organise and perform analysis of products
They must select which tests to perform and track the results. - Maintain quality assurance guidelines
To help staff maintain strict quality control, guidelines must be created and regularly updated. They must be simple for staff to use and highly effective at maintaining quality. - Test new raw materials and help brewers choose raw materials
To create a high quality beer, it is important to use very high quality raw materials. The brewing quality manager will help brewers assess the quality of the raw materials coming into the brewer and assess new types of raw materials. They will also continually assess the quality of materials being provided by suppliers. - Help organise sensory trials of products
The way a beer tastes and smells is the final testament to product quality. The brewing quality manager will organise sensory trials to help determine the quality of the final product. - Help organise complaint management
If the brewery has received subpar product from a raw materials supplier, packaging supplier or other supplier, the brewing quality manager must write, lodge and track the complaint.
Education
A brewing quality manager must have a strong background in brewing and a scientific degree in Microbiology, Chemistry or a related field. They should have a Certification as Brew Master or a diploma/degree in Brewing Sciences.
Work Experience
Their work experience should reflect:
- Experience controlling brewing processes and assessing beer quality
- Knowledge of food production and manufacturing principles
- 3-5 years’ experience in a quality control or quality assurance role in the food and beverage industry
- Ideally they should have some management experience
Skills
- Very strong written and verbal communication
- High level computer skills and experience with quality assurance software packages
- Strong attention to detail and drive to achieve continuous improvement
- Incredibly organised and able to design systematic approaches for quality improvement
- Able to work to deadlines and to prioritise workload
- Capable of managing staff
- Personable and able to get on well with staff who perform various roles in the brewery
- An excellent team player
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