Customer Supply Chain Manager
Summary
A customer supply chain manager is a professional who acts as a liaison between a company's supply chain operations and its customers. This role focuses on building strong customer relationships by ensuring product availability, timely delivery, and customer satisfaction while managing a company's supply chain performance from the customer's perspective. Key responsibilities include managing customer relationships, optimizing supply chain processes, analyzing performance, and proactively addressing any potential issues to meet customer expectations.
Detailed Description
- Customer relationship management: serving as the primary point of contact for customers regarding their supply chain needs, managing expectations, and building strong, long‑term relationships.
- Performance and risk management: monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs), reporting on results, and proactively identifying and mitigating risks to ensure customer satisfaction and prevent disruptions.
- Data analysis and forecasting: using data to analyze performance, understand demand patterns, and inform decisions to improve the supply chain's overall effectiveness.
- Strategic planning: developing strategies to meet client needs and ensuring the client's business objectives are met through the use of company services.
- Sustainable cost reduction: achieving cost savings through genuine efficiency improvements rather than simply squeezing supplier margins.
Knowledge/Skills/Competencies
- Communication & collaboration: essential for effective liaison with customers and internal departments, and ability to work across Sales, Logistics, and Planning teams to ensure alignment.
- Analytical skills: strong ability to apply analysis and judgment to assess performance against key measures, determine priorities, and draw actionable insights from data, including critical thinking and advanced problem‑solving capabilities.
- Data analysis & systems proficiency: strong knowledge of data analysis and ability to use mathematical concepts such as probability and statistical inference. Technical proficiency includes advanced Excel skills, familiarity with business systems (ERP, MRP), experience with data analysis tools (Kinaxis, Excel), supply chain software (e.g., Oracle), and experience with databases such as Kinaxis.
- Problem solving: capable of addressing challenges, identifying root causes of failures, and finding effective solutions to ensure customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
- Organizational management: strong organizational and time‑management skills.
- Technical communication: extensive ability to utilize computer systems and applications to gather required information and compile it into a customer‑presentable format.
- Industry experience: prior experience in the manufacturing industry is required.
- Language: fluent English proficiency.
Typical Experience
Three to four years of relevant experience.
Typical Education
Bachelor's degree in related field, or consideration of an equivalent combination of education and experience.