Assistant Manager, Supply Chain Management
- Manage the supply of materials to meet the production schedule and minimum stock levels to ensure operational and production continuity.
- Monitor key materials to support work orders.
- Source for alternatives in collaboration with the New Product Development team
- Manage a team consisting of buyers, store and logistics personnel
- JIT and working with vendors who are willing to extend "safety/buffer" stock solutions, especially key materials
- Minimise inventory holding cost and minimise obsolescence to ensure the business is left with minimum liability
- Maintains strong relationships both internally and externally to ensure the supply of materials meets requirements.
- Coordinate with Sales/CS to obtain material forecast for an effective material planning strategy.
- Make use of data analytical tools to anticipate orders without customer forecast.
Key Responsibilities:
General and Task Management
- Actively contribute to the development and support of material planning processes. Benchmark against best practice and review ways to make continuous improvements
- Schedule and control the supply of materials/components to meet production requirements and minimum stock levels
- Implement all processes to agreed standards (ISO, AVL, RBA) and targets (Purchasing KPls, Inventory Turns, identifying areas of improvement).
- Plan, develop, implement and evaluate processes for material delivery from the supplier
- Day-to-day order management and management of deliveries
- Devise a Daily, Weekly or Monthly shipping plan
- Monitor and control inventory levels against agreed target levels
- Assess volume requirements against planning assumptions
- Efficient in reviewing inventory plans to meet real consumption patterns
- Understand and manage risks to minimise impact on production schedule
- Take follow-up actions concerning material shortages that affect production
- Ensure Material Requirements Planning (MRP) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is accurate and up to date, and resolve any issues as required
- Proficient with current inventory and purchasing modules. Hands-on use & cross-trained
- Support stock-take to validate inventory accuracy
- Create regular statistical reports, e.g. Material expenditures, vendor ranking.
- Analyse and present data to internal and management teams (Usage and Inventory Transaction Reports)
People Management
- Able to lead and develop purchasing and logistics staff
Relationship Management:
- Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to forecast, plan and facilitate on-time materials to the production line as and when required, avoiding disruption to production
- Work with cross-functional teams to deliver effective solutions
- Create and issue forecasts to suppliers
- Generate and communicate supplier material delivery schedules to ensure they reflect requirements and meet demands. Support PO issuing and work closely with buyers
- Develop and maintain good relationships with suppliers and ensure demand for materials is met and deliveries are made on time
- Design, develop and implement processes and work with suppliers on continuous improvement initiatives
- Support assessment and sourcing of suppliers in conjunction with members of the purchasing team (Supplier Audit, Annual Vendor Performance Evaluation)
- Support supplier & customer meetings and negotiations to ensure demand for materials is met
Skills and Attributes:
- Good communicator with the ability to form and maintain good relationships internally and externally
- Strong interpersonal, negotiation and influencing skills
- Commercial and financial awareness, with a full understanding of the impact of failure with regards to business costs, production targets and fulfilment of customer orders
- Results-oriented and organised with the ability to plan and deliver against deadlines
- Strong analytical, planning and problem-solving skills
- Project management skills
- Excellent attention to detail skills
- Assertive, self-motivated and able to work under pressure
Qualifications and Experience Levels:
- Diploma / Specialist Diploma / Degree in Engineering, Business Administration or SCM
- Experience in working with stakeholders and suppliers
- Experience in materials planning, sourcing, purchasing and managing the smooth supply of materials in line with production requirements and budget
- Experience working in a label printing / die-cutting or manufacturing environment preferred
- Competent in the use of MS Office applications
- Hands-on experience with Purchasing and Material Requirements Planning ERP systems
- Knowledge of lean techniques may be advantageous