Opportunity Highlights

The company is seeking a candidate with a strong Strategic Sourcing background to assume the Director of Purchasing for Non-Metals position available at their Corporate HQ.  The right candidate will have the required market insight into the cost drivers of the rubber industry, a background with sourcing globally, relevant commodity experience, and the intangibles to grow into a leadership role within the group.

Location

Midwest

Company Information

Our client is a global manufacturer for the industrial and automotive industries.  The company sells its products directly to automotive and industrial original equipment manufacturers through a network of 150,000 distributors, jobbers and dealers worldwide.

Responsibilities

• Provide direction to accomplish strategic sourcing alternatives, vendor selection, price negotiation and supplier performance measurements to meet the needs of the organization.
• Develop effective sourcing alternatives for new products including development of low-cost country suppliers.
• Track raw materials trends and plan effectively to protect profitability of operations.
• Lead continuous improvement efforts for material cost and sourcing activities.
• Implement effective systems and processes to provide value throughout the supply chain and support lean manufacturing initiatives.
• Build and develop a capable purchasing team to manage suppliers globally and support manufacturing and distribution activities in all regions.
• Identify and develop a robust supply base to provide materials with competitive cost and quality for all locations and support for geographic expansions.
• Work closely with manufacturing and technical management to provide best-value solutions for raw materials and outsourced products.

Essential Qualifications/Requirements

• International sourcing experience required. Experience with sourcing in non-U.S. locations especially Asia, Europe or Mexico.
• Prior experience managing a corporate purchasing department
• Outstanding negotiation and leadership skills and previous experience with one or more of the following commodities: EPDM, HNBR, SBR, NBR, carbon black, glass cord, hose wire, polymers, monomers and yarn.
• Change Agent; brings focus, purpose and agility to motivate others to adapt quickly to changing business needs.
• Proven ability to raise the performance bar – create, promote and sustain a high performance culture that reinforces accountability.
• Takes the initiative to look for and take advantage of opportunities and willing to take independent actions and calculated risks.
• Strong team player; proactively able to step in to support other team members as needed and share knowledge to allow cross training of all functions, builds collaborative relationships.
• Works well under pressure, effectively handles conflict and demonstrates flexibility in work style to accommodate changing priorities and fixed deadlines.
• Track record of sourcing success for new products and development of new suppliers.
• Successful implementation of lean supply chain concepts.
• Demonstrates an understanding of the broader organization, and how their role and/or function fit into the strategic plan and overall direction of the company.
• Creates alignment so everyone within organization understands the strategy and how their contribution furthers organizational success.
• Decisions reinforce the business plan and strategy by building a disciplined, consistent approach with measurements of success.
• Demonstrated ability to pull together management reporting, interpret data and provide meaningful information to both a financial and non-financial audience.
• Self-motivated, capable of seeking quality solutions and continuously focusing on process improvements, while keeping the needs of the business in the forefront.

Desired Qualifications

• BS/BA Degree in Supply Chain Management, Finance, Business with at least 12 years of experience in roles with progressive growth in a multinational organization.
• Experience with enterprise ERP systems – Oracle preferred.
• Prefer CPM or APICS certification.

About the Author:

Mr. Flannery has many years of executive search, supply chain consulting experience, supply chain strategy, and process improvement. He has managed consulting projects for several Fortune 500 clients on three continents, including: Raytheon, IBM, Union Bank of California, H.J. Heinz, ConAgra, Eaton, Nestle, and Lucent Technologies. Mr. Flannery holds a Bachelor of Arts in Finance from the University of Northern Iowa and a Masters of Business Administration in Strategy from Indiana University.

All entries by Jeff Flannery