Experience

B&D Garage Doors and Openers

• Australia
• Wholesale Building Materials
• 1 - 100 Employee

• NSW Purchasing Manager

  • Feb 2016 - Present



Eaton

• Ireland
• Appliances, Electrical, and Electronics Manufacturing
• 700 & Above Employee

• Purchasing Team Leader

  • Apr 2012 - Feb 2016

  • Supervising 5 staff, managing an inventory value of a little over $6 million. Responsible for procurement of raw materials and products across 6 major divisions, a total of 12,000 lines, with 15 days from sales to product on-hand. • Managing day-to-day supply chain logistics. Overseeing transport and distribution, tracking shipments, air-freight and stock levels. Resolving issues, reducing loss. Managing relationships with freight companies, local and overseas vendors, retailers and channel partners, internal stakeholders at all levels – securing consensus and influencing to resolve issues and maintain optimum operational efficiency. Ensuring goods are on time. Reviewing purchase orders and cost allocations. Extrapolating data from SAP. Negotiating contracts, managing performance targets. Preparing forecasts and inventories. • Successfully negotiated with suppliers of raw materials to achieve $45,000 in cost outs in 2013. In 2014 examined seasonal and economic trends, working with product providers to reduce damage and loss rates, ordering large quantities of items and staggering the times when stock was delivered, freeing up warehousing space, halving the lead time of 6 major product lines from 8 to 4 weeks. • Sourced 2 major capital items (manufacturing equipment) for the factory at 20% under projected costs, a total saving of $120,000. • Reduced slow and obsolete stock. Improved on-time-to-requirement rates, achieving an average of 92% across 3 divisions. • Collaborated with stakeholders in purchasing, logistics and manufacturing to deliver 3 Kaizen events: removing bottlenecks from processes, measuring cycle times and in-process inventory; standardizing operations; improving transparency, efficiency, employee accountability and productivity; redesigned a line saving $26,000.



GE Appliances, a Haier company

• United States
• Manufacturing
• 700 & Above Employee

• Manager Product Introductions

  • 2005 - Mar 2012

  Having built relationships with senior sales executives in GE, was offered and accepted this position because it utilized my people skills. I also provided an unusual skill set to the Product Teams, of extrapolating data to understand profitability and reduce risk. Although enjoyable, this is not the type of role I wish to return to, preferring the challenges and complexity of procurement, and supply chain management. • Aligned GE systems and implemented an innovative web-based tool that enabled FMCG channel partners (Woolworths, Mitre10, Bunnings NZ) to receive instant electronic communication of item changes, price and new product information. • Identified and reduced quality issues, in 2010 saved $100,000 in finding and fixing defective products.• Improved bar coding issues. Simplifying packaging design and product-to-market-time from 230 days to 28, winning a major customer switch.• Established new pricing policies. Designed and implemented new product introductions (NPI’s) throughout Australia and New Zealand consumer markets.

• Purchasing Manager

  • 1996 - 2007

  Responsible for 3 staff (import clerk, warehouse manager, purchasing clerk). 3000 product lines, with 1000 of these turning over monthly, and 200 turning over 5 times per month. • Sourced 32 products, moving supply to more cost-effective partners on 23 key items, a total margin contribution of $900,000 over 4 years. Managed relationships with providers, negotiating contracts and reviewing service level agreements and terms. • Evaluated 3pl and logistic service contracts, redefining the logistics chain and saving $120,000 per annum. Provided the impetus and coaching support for 3 other GE businesses to do the same.• Engaged IS team to automate functions for improved efficiency. Initiated and developed ‘dashboard’ tools for top-tier customers. Achieved numerous accolades including ‘Supplier of the Year’ from Mitre 10. • Managed 15 improvement projects using lean and continuous improvement methodologies. Identified and resolved a range of blockages including: Reduced delivery times from 5 weeks to 22 days, a 9% saving in total purchase costs. Set up strategic sourcing models that managed the time and quality of events in the sourcing plan. Initiated and drove a b2b action in which I worked directly with the customers logistic team to resolve an excess inventory problem, turning a slow moving item into a fast moving product, a $30,000 supply issue became a $100,000 sales gain while strengthening ties with the customer. Designed and implemented a forecasting methodology to match business requirements, awarded ‘Best Practice’ for the region. Provided guidance for the set-up of a Master Distribution Center in Singapore, reducing purchasing lead times and inventory holding by $7.8 million. Over 5 years achieved $500k in cost-outs without negatively impacting valued partnership agreements. - Improved product pricing for 109 products on 7 manufacturers through renegotiation with suppliers.



James Hardie

• United States
• Wholesale Building Materials
• 700 & Above Employee

• Supply Chain Analyst

  • 1995 - 1997

  Worked in the Building Services division, focusing mainly on the supply chain operations of the Fire Fighting Enterprise business. • Diagnosed a range of costing problems across service centres and manufacturing sites, re-allocating labour and transport costs, reconciling accounts and implementing controls. Undertook cost/ price analysis to provide a clear understanding of operational expenses. Set up supplier pricing models. Worked across demand and capacity planning, building spreadsheets and identifying solutions. Assessed cycle counts, dispatch rates, goods in and lead times, determining which sites operated effectively and why. Developed best practice models that were rolled-out across the company. • Redesigned regional stocktake practices, worked across 34 sites, reducing duration from 2.5 weeks to 2 days. • Created an inventory monitoring tool that identified and reduced slow, old and obsolete inventory actions for 44 reporting areas across 93 locations. Over 18 months reduced problem stock by $1.9 million. Influenced multiple stakeholders internally and externally to enable ongoing support for new processes. • Negotiated service level agreements with 90 suppliers, moving 12 second tier providers to level 1 agreements, setting favourable terms and determining performance metrics.



IKEA

• Netherlands
• Retail
• 700 & Above Employee

• Operations Officer – Purchasing and Supply

  • 1991 - 1995

  Oversaw 4000 product lines, 20% never changed and 80% of stock was new in-store with each catalogue. Responsible for a number of projects as well as overseeing business as usual. • Managed stock levels. Improved annual stock take processes. Trained casual staff. Reduced slow moving and dead stock, saving $150,000 in capital and handling costs, freeing up warehouse capacity. Established channels of communication between sales and purchasing departments that enabled faster future identification of non-performing products. • Set up and managed supply systems and transport for the new Moorepark center, working with tight deadlines and managing competing priorities. • Quantified the sales and distribution benefits of direct to customer mail-order programs. Secured understanding and ensured compliance with consumer affairs and regulatory requirements. • Key member of a team that instigated and transitioned transport operations from road to rail, saving $200,000 annually.



Microbee Computers

• Purchasing Officer

  • 1986 - 1989

  Covered all inventory purchasing and replenishments for Gosford manufacturing site. Assited with automated BOM for new PC production. Conducted quality inspection of new materials and finished product: - Deliverde 4% reduction in material cost for new supplier sourcing. Increased cash flow by 90K per annum through outsourcing and 3rd party work on small production runds. - Achieved 3 months project start up on new PC run and 6% total cost savings through re-organising testing of product.