North American Rail, Truck & Facilities Category Manager

We are looking for a motivated, dedicated and talented North American Rail, Truck & Facilities Category Manager to join our team located in Charlotte, NC.

Auriga Polymers is a wholly owned subsidiary of one of the world's largest polyester producer, Indorama Ventures PLC.

The North American Rail, Truck & Facilities Category Manager will report to the Vice President of Indirect Procurement and Logistics.

Description :

The North America Rail, Truck & Facilities Category Manager is responsible for the strategic management of all rail and truck operations and facilities management in the North America region.

He / she will be responsible for the strategic management of rail, truck and facilities spend categories to drive value delivery, including savings, innovation, quality, sustainability, speed, and risk management.

This individual is tasked with developing and executing comprehensive category strategies, managing supplier relationships, and leveraging market insights to achieve competitive advantage and cost savings.

The manager collaborates closely with cross-regional, cross-functional, and cross-segment teams to understand business needs, identify opportunities for improvement, and implement procurement initiatives.

Responsibilities / Job Requirements :

• Develops and executes category strategies, driving value through data-driven initiatives on demand mgmt., strategic sourcing, innovation, and process efficiencies for all aspects inbound / outbound freight to and from plants, tollers, terminals, warehouses and transload yards.
• Conducts thorough market research and analysis to understand industry trends, supplier landscapes, and emerging opportunities and risks.

Understanding Manufacturing and Business needs and the supplier capabilities. Know the market, the relative importance of cost, demand, and growth rates of the business, etc.

Builds strong relationships with key suppliers, conducts negotiations, manages contracts, and evaluates supplier performance to ensure mutual success.

Provides expertise on functional and cross functional teams, special projects, etc. and utilizes knowledge to work directly with functional groups to obtain resolution.

Works closely with Manager, Supply Chain Delivery to identify recurring service failures to key customers and escalates with the carrier.

Partners with business to understand requirements and ensure that category strategies align with broader organizational objectives and support business needs.

Guide the development of strategies and tactics for management of facilities infrastructure improvements to optimize distribution operations, creating efficiencies and lowering costs.

Ensure quality and regulatory compliance procedures and processes are in place.

Drives alignment with fellow Category Managers to achieve value synergies across regions and segments and share best practices.

Initiates, organizes, and leads improvement efforts regarding rail, truck, and facilities operational processes.

Leads tender events and award recommendations, working out price agreements and frame contracts. Direct the development of logistics procurement strategies that optimize the company’s ability to provide outstanding service to customers at the most effective overall cost.

Optimize overall freight network, building strong relationships with strategic rail, truck, and intermodal carriers. Develop and execute a low cost / high service strategy in accordance with the overall supply chain strategic plan.

• Drafts, reviews, and finalizes contract creation.
• Maintains initiatives in PMO tracking tool and reports initiative progress and procurement KPIs to CPO on a biweekly basis.
• Identifies and mitigates risks within category, including supply chain disruptions, price volatility, and compliance.
• Evaluates new digital tools (e.g. e-auction) and supports implementation plan where applicable.
• Influences leadership decisions toward right outcomes, accounting for perspectives in category management.
• Drives and improves the performance of strategic activities within Procurement organization. Develops short term and long-term strategies to improve service, lower costs, and enabling growth, through a deep knowledge of trends in the warehouse, terminals, transload yards, rail, and trucking transportation sector.
• Develops and executes strategies, driving value through initiatives on demand management, strategic sourcing, process efficiencies and innovation.

Develop, and implement strategies to identify and institutionalize best practices to improve all aspects of the planning, logistics network and asset management services to ensure the company has a service and cost advantage versus our competition.

Promote and champion new ideas and best practices. Introduce and champion Best Practices of top performing Supply Chain organizations.

• Develop, monitor, report and meet department budgets and additional inbound raw material freight as agreed to, with sourcing management.
• Work with the respective site operations on demurrage and storage charges with a view to mitigating or averting these costs;

includes sample vetting of monthly invoices prior to submission to Accounts Payable.

Works with IT Support or Service-Provider to correct I / T systems issues identified by Supply Chain, Logistics Operations etc.

to optimize & improve efficiencies through automation.

Functional Competencies

• Strategic planning and implementation : Develops and implements procurement strategies specific to rail, truck, and facilities (warehouse, terminals & transload yards) category.
• Savings initiative leadership : Adept in conducting strategic sourcing, leading projects, and challenging status quo.
• Category data analysis : Proficient in conducting in-depth analyses to inform data-driven decision-making.
• Market interventions leadership : Able to lead market screenings, tenders, and concept competitions.
• Supplier and market analysis : Understands market dynamics, cost structures, and supply market trends.
• Negotiation strategy : Develop effective negotiation strategies and implement them to secure favorable terms.
• Awarding : Highly capable of preparing award scenarios and recommendations, price agreements, & frame contracts.
• Contract creation : Skilled in drafting & reviewing contracts.
• Performance tracking : Assesses internal capabilities and performance based on established benchmarks and targets.
• Supplier development and collaboration : Fosters collaboration and mutual success with key suppliers.
• Digital tools evaluation : Sufficient knowledge in digital tools and capable of effectively implementing in practice.

Professional Competencies

• Influential decision-making : Ability to convey strong business cases to decision-makers; considers diverse views.
• Strategic thinking development : Ability to shift focus beyond transactional activities and into strategic value.
• Stakeholder collaboration : Ability to work effectively with both internal and external stakeholders where relevant.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Finance, Supply Chain, or other equivalent field, MBA / advanced degree will be a plus.
• Certifications such as CPSM, CTPRP, CISA, CISSP are highly regarded.

Work Experience

• 10+ years of total working experience in procurement.
• 5+ years in category management role, preferably in the same or similar category applied for and within large companies (USD 250 million+ in procurement spend).
• Proven track record in identifying and implementing initiatives with significant impact on total procurement value, leveraging various value creation tools and strategies.
• Proven track record in collaborating with category managers across regions and business segments to co-create value.
• Proven track record in managing diverse supplier bases, improving supplier performance, and driving innovation.
• Experience in driving strategic decisions based on comprehensive market analysis and identification of trends.
• Experience in negotiating, managing, and administering complex contracts with key suppliers.
• Experience in integrating digital tools with procurement processes.
• Experience in issue-resolution, with proven track record of identifying root causes and resolving issues.
• Experience with workflow management tools, and ERP systems (e.g. SAP), and Microsoft office applications, including managing large databases.

To be considered for employment in this position you must be eligible to work in the United States without company sponsorship now or in the future.

We are an equal opportunity employer.

Drug tests are required unless prohibited by state law.

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