KHANISTHA  SIRIMONGKOL

Senior QA Engineer

My role is to ensure quality control of all processes, materials and finished goods.

What did you want to be when you were at school?

At that time, I wanted to be a doctor.

What did you study?

Bachelor’s degree of science, majoring in Statistics.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

I love solving problems so I enjoy the analysis of issues that the role involves. I believe that if I apply all statistical knowledge, and use clear steps to investigate the issue – thinking about the problem, making experiments and testing, analysis, and finally evaluation – I will reach the answer. Plus it will be fun because I can really investigate the detail and come up with repeatable solutions and processes that will be used in the future.

What do you do in a typical day?

I am responsible, along with my team, for the quality control of incoming raw material, finished goods and in-process material. This means I need to co-ordinate with purchasing and production to resolve quality related issues, initiate any follow up and implement any corrective and preventive actions.

I supervise and motivate the QA Inspectors to realize and meet the objectives of the QA department. It can be a very dynamic and busy workplace and I do whatever it takes to support the production of quality work. Much of my day is spent analyzing any issues that arise in product manufacture that can lead to defective products and finding solutions and improvements to prevent it recurring.

What is your bes or most enjoyable moment in your career?

Each day of my work I know I will encounter unique challenges and questions to be answered. So, I am happy when I have a new problem to solve. I am also happy to have good QA engineers to work with, who I trust to do a good job, good colleagues in other departments and a good team at BNL Thailand and the UK. We work together to make it work well and succeed. So my best moment for now is the work I do here every day.

Who inspires you?

My senior supervisor during my internship before graduating. I worked in the QA department at GS Battery, which gave me the opportunity to learn the quality systems in the automotive industry.

My senior supervisor taught me to establish the systems, study the requirements of QS9000, control the product quality and problem solving technicques to prevent defects in the process that would result in returns from end users. He was very knowledgeable and proficient at QA systems and he inspired me to work hard to be as good as him.

What are your career aspirations?

Automotive quality systems rely on statistics and their implementation; Statistics was my major when I studied and I am passionate about their use in QA. I want to work in quality control in automotive systems because of this. I am keen to develop my expertise in this area and have studied several editions of the system from QS9000, TS16949 to present IATF16949.

How do you think we can encourage women into STEM/Engineering/Manufacturing careers?

I would say being a woman and having to work in a traditionally male industry can be difficult – but it is also challenging and fun. In my job, when solving problems and implementing new processes, and it is successful, you see positive, repeatable results and that makes you feel proud every time and encourages you to go further. I think this is what needs to happen to encourage women – we need to see more women working in the industry who are successful in various ways, to feel proud and encourage them to move further, so this encourages new women into the industry by example.

Any advice for young women, or anyone, wanting to start a STEM/Engineering/Manufacturing career?

For me, I think the industry and education environments need to create an atmosphere where women can feel able to take opportunities and gain experience, including not being afraid to learn new things about what we are doing in our jobs or what we are interested in doing. This is in addition to supporting women and girls in education to develop their skills in the classroom.