Allison R. Email & Phone Number

Boston, MA, US

Foxborough, MA, US

Pawtucket, RI, US

• Responsible for developing the global sourcing strategy of the Games and Play-Doh categories ($700M and $300M in revenue respectively)
• Grow and manage over 10 vendor relationships in the Americas and Europe to enhance nearshoring and reduce supply disruption through RFI/RFQ processes, vendor onboarding, and vendor scorecards
• Negotiate and allocate business between multiple countries, including the United States, Mexico, Poland, Turkey, Netherlands, Vietnam, India, and China
• Evaluate relationships with Tier 2 suppliers to leverage volume purchases and ensure competitiveness between vendors
• Negotiate contracts with strategic suppliers to ensure competitive advantage is created and maintained
• Conduct RFI/RFQs to scope out new potential partners and evaluate alignment with business needs

Burbank, CA, US

• Responsible for sourcing the $150mm toy and glow category for domestic Disney theme parks
• Actively managed over 80 domestic and international suppliers to ensure all associated factories complied with Disney’s International Labor Standards
• Supported the department’s AOP goals by negotiating cost reductions and resourcing items when necessary; mitigated over $4.6mm in cost in 2015
• Delivered costing and engineering support to the product development team by evaluating quote sheets, optimizing tooling breakdowns, and offering suggestions on how to improve functionality of play patterns and features
• Traveled to Asia bi-annually visiting key factories and discussing ways for them to continuously improve their production, process, quality, and safety standards
• Reviewed audit results and worked with suppliers and factories swiftly to ensure understanding of violation corrections, ensuring no interruption of critical business needs

Pawtucket, RI, US

• Developed simultaneous products to hit timing, performance, and cost requirements; as many as 50 concurrently
• Leveraged consumer insights and vendor relationships to develop and create a whole new system and brand statement for Littlest Pet Shop
• Traveled to Hong Kong and China to work closely with the model makers and vendors of a lately added Littlest Pet Shop segment to aid in quick development and cost adherence
• Generated and maintained technical and design specification packages for items in development
• Created cost and tooling estimates based on preliminary designs; managed the cost throughout the development cycle to ensure tooling budgets and margins were maintained
• Built development schedules based on engineering complexity, reliability standards, and desired on-shelf timing

Pawtucket, RI, US

• Accustomed to a fast-paced team environment that thrives on daily interactions between cross-functional groups including quality assurance, marketing, design, operations, and legal
• Collaborated with engineering partners in the Far East to ensure functionality and safety of new projects
• Sourced and evaluated materials for an innovative new play pattern in the Spider-Man action figure line
• Established and maintained a great working relationship with an outside supplier to aid in role-play development
• Assisted in the protection of highly sensitive licensed IP material; most notably Spider-Man and Captain America
• Evaluated manufacturing and production feasibility of new product and feature designs

Itasca, Illinois, US

• Demonstrated leadership and versatility by heading product development of six main Body Glove product lines in the personal electronic accessories category
• Developed and implemented detailed project plans to achieve timelines and major milestones within budget
• Exhibited a strong ability to work under tight deadlines on multiple projects
• Acquired new business for Fellowes by introducing and demonstrating products to new customers and partners
• Defined product specifications throughout the design cycle to ensure quality and uniformity of final products
• Improved lead times for silicone cases by 10% by working with factories in Asia to identify processes to improve

Chicago, IL, US

• Brainstormed possible Happy Meal toy functions and pricing issues
• Sketched exploded view drawings to portray function, materials, and assembly of toys to engineers in Hong Kong
• Met with McDonald’s representatives to provide updates on current toy models
• Performed safety tests on toys to ensure McDonald’s strict safety regulations were met

Chicago, Illinois, US

• Evaluated riding toy engineering prototypes by using failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) and investigating Consumer Product Safety Commission standards
• Developed various potential mechanisms for cost reduction of a new product
• Communicated defects, tolerance issues, and problems with current prototypes to an engineering team in China
• Utilized SolidWorks files to document changes in design and create working prototypes with a 3-D printer