Senior Manager Supply Chain Excellence

The Senior Manager, Supply Chain Excellence is responsible for driving end-to-end supply chain performance across multiple manufacturing facilities by developing standardized processes, leading continuous improvement initiatives, and implementing strategic solutions that improve delivery, inventory, cost, quality, and operational efficiency. This role provides leadership and guidance to plant Materials and Logistics teams while establishing best practices across planning, inventory management, transportation, warehousing, supplier performance, customer fulfillment, systems, digitalization, and automation. The Senior Manager serves as a key business partner to Operations, Purchasing, Finance, Quality, Engineering, and Commercial teams to ensure alignment of supply chain strategy with business objectives and customer expectations.

Essential Functions of the role

Supply Chain Strategy & Leadership

• Lead and support multi-plant Supply Chain and Materials teams to achieve operational, financial, and customer service objectives.
• Develop and deploy enterprise-wide supply chain standards, systems, procedures, and best business practices (BBPs).
• Establish long-term supply chain strategies aligned with annual operating plans and five-year business plans.
• Drive organizational capability development through coaching, training, and mentoring of Materials and Logistics personnel.
• Lead logistics process analysis and establish operating standards, methods, tools, and governance routines across the manufacturing network.
• Coordinate logistics resources across plants and functions to strengthen site performance, standardization, and business support capability.
• Drive regional and cross-site logistics solutions, ensuring scalable standards, resource sharing, and consistent execution.
• Promote Lean logistics principles and structured improvement methods across the organization.
• Define logistics targets, transportation strategies, operating standards, and expense-control requirements that support plant and regional objectives.
• Coordinate internal and external logistics planning, implementation, packaging design, and related operating activities.
• Support standardized material-flow planning and cross-functional launch or improvement projects from concept through implementation.
• Establish and deploy packaging standards and packaging blueprints that improve material protection, handling efficiency, space utilization, and operating consistency.
• Benchmark warehouse and material-flow practices across sites and convert proven methods into reusable standards and training content.

Materials Management & Planning

• Oversee production planning, scheduling, inventory control, warehousing, receiving, shipping, and material flow activities across multiple facilities.
• Ensure adequate material availability to support production while optimizing inventory investment and working capital.
• Monitor production schedules and material requirements to mitigate supply risks and production disruptions.
• Lead forecast reviews, budget planning, manpower planning, and capacity assessments.

Inventory & Warehouse Excellence

• Develop inventory management strategies that improve inventory accuracy, days-on-hand (DOH), and inventory productivity.
• Lead physical inventory programs, cycle counting processes, and variance analysis.
• Drive root cause analysis and corrective actions related to inventory discrepancies.
• Standardize warehouse operations and material handling processes throughout the organization.
• Lead logistics quotations, cost reviews, solution optimization, and packaging-plan evaluation to improve competitiveness and cost transparency.
• Build and maintain logistics cost-improvement plans, including regional cost-reduction initiatives and expense-control actions.
• Track implementation progress, validate results, and sustain improvements through standardized reviews and accountability.

Supplier Performance Management

• Support supplier sourcing, risk assessment, and supplier development initiatives.
• Establish supplier scorecards and performance dashboards.
• Improve supplier delivery performance and accountability through KPI management and corrective action processes.
• Partner with Corporate Purchasing to strengthen supplier relationships and mitigate supply chain risk.

Transportation & Logistics Optimization

• Develop transportation strategies focused on freight optimization, cost reduction, and service improvements.
• Establish standardized freight management, freight audit, and accrual processes.
• Lead packaging optimization and RFID-enabled packaging initiatives.
• Implement transportation management tools and processes that improve planning and execution performance.
• Establish logistics digitalization, direct-procurement, and system-integration platforms that improve execution visibility and operating capability.
• Develop and maintain logistics systems, standardized documents, work instructions, and user training materials.
• Evaluate emerging logistics technologies and coordinate pilot, rollout, user adoption, and benefit realization.
• Implement regional logistics solutions and improved operating models, then standardize successful practices for reuse across manufacturing locations.
• Perform regular business-model and process reviews to identify gaps, prioritize countermeasures, and improve logistics capability.
• Support agile problem solving and structured cross-functional improvement projects involving Operations, Purchasing, Finance, Quality, Engineering, and Commercial.

Customer Fulfillment & Service Excellence

• Ensure customer delivery requirements are consistently achieved.
• Standardize customer shipping processes, scorecards, and service performance metrics.
• Lead customer portal management, delivery performance reviews, and customer claim resolution processes.
• Drive implementation of best practices for JIT, sequenced, batch, and modular delivery operations.
• Establish and govern logistics KPIs, targets, review mechanisms, and corrective-action routines at plant and regional levels.
• Use KPI trends, operational assessments, and cost reviews to prioritize improvement resources and verify sustained results.
• Develop and manage supply chain expense controls, logistics cost targets, and cost-reduction roadmaps.
• Review logistics quotations, budgets, business cases, and investment proposals for process, technology, packaging, and automation initiatives.

Customs, Trade & Compliance

• Develop customs and trade compliance strategies including FTZ, tariff management, and global trade program governance.
• Implement standardized customs and brokerage processes.
• Ensure adherence to all regulatory, trade compliance, and customer requirements.

Digitalization & Automation

• Lead digital transformation initiatives across supply chain operations.
• Evaluate and implement AI-based supply chain solutions and operational use cases.
• Lead Warehouse Management System (WMS), MES, RFID, AGV/VGV, and automation deployments.
• Drive process automation opportunities across receiving, warehousing, production support, shipping, customs, and brokerage functions.

Systems & Process Improvement

• Lead development and enhancement of MRP, ERP, QAD, and supply chain planning systems.
• Support ERP implementations, upgrades, and contingency planning.
• Develop reporting tools, dashboards, and analytics to improve operational visibility and decision-making.
• Lead continuous improvement, Lean Manufacturing, and Kaizen initiatives focused on waste reduction and process optimization.

KPI & Performance Management

• Own and drive improvement for Production Schedule Attainment, Customer Delivery Performance, Customer Past Due, Supplier On-Time Delivery, and End-of-Production performance.
• Govern Inventory DOH, inventory value, inventory accuracy, warehouse performance, premium freight, and freight as a percentage of sales.
• Create transparent KPI reporting, assessment methods, and accountability routines that enable sustained performance improvement.

Financial Management

• Develop annual budgets and forecasts for supply chain and materials operations.
• Identify and execute cost reduction opportunities.
• Support annual profit plans and five-year business planning activities.
• Monitor labor, transportation, inventory, and operational costs to achieve financial objectives.

People, Capability & Stakeholder Management

• Build logistics capability through coaching, mentoring, training, knowledge sharing, and development of professional logistics talent.
• Provide guidance and escalation support to plant and regional logistics teams while encouraging ownership, collaboration, and disciplined execution.
• Maintain strong interpersonal, coordination, communication, and teamwork practices across internal and external stakeholders.
• Ensure assigned work is completed on time and in accordance with company values, Leadership Competency Model expectations, information-security and confidentiality requirements, professional ethics, and legal compliance.

Required Education

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Engineering, Business Administration, Operations Management, or a related field.

Required Experience

• Minimum 10 years of progressive experience in manufacturing, materials management, supply chain, logistics, or production planning.
• Automotive industry supply chain experience.
• Multi-plant manufacturing experience strongly preferred.
• Leadership experience managing supply chain and materials organizations.
• Experience implementing supply chain systems, process improvements, and operational excellence initiatives.
• Demonstrated experience in logistics planning, logistics operations management, cost optimization, packaging, and cross-functional project delivery.
• Experience establishing standards and implementing solutions across multiple plants, regions, or comparable operating units.

Technical Knowledge

• Materials planning and production control
• Inventory management and physical inventory governance
• Logistics, transportation, packaging, and warehouse operations
• Supplier performance and customer delivery management
• ERP/MRP systems, with QAD preferred
• Data analytics, dashboards, and KPI management
• Lean manufacturing, Kaizen, and continuous improvement
• Supply chain digitalization and automation

Preferred Qualifications

• APICS CSCP, CPIM, or related professional certification.
• Experience with WMS, MES, RFID, AGV/VGV, AI applications, and supply chain automation technologies.
• Advanced Power BI, dashboard development, and data analytics capabilities.