Eric Downing Email and Phone Number

- Globally sourcing fruit, vegetables, sweetener, pectin and tree nut categories. - Developed and maintained strategic supplier relationships to ensure the highest quality ingredients are being supplied and costs remain competitive relative to the ever changing market(s). - Maintained subject matter expertise within categories to identify and communicate opportunities for cost improvement, innovation, and increased efficiency with internal departments, suppliers and customers.

- Globally managed fruit, vegetables and tree nut categories. - Developed and maintained strategic supplier relationships to ensure the highest quality ingredients are being supplied and costs remain competitive relative to the ever changing market(s). - Maintained subject matter expertise within categories to identify and communicate opportunities for cost improvement, innovation, and increased efficiency with internal departments, suppliers and customers

- Manage asset recovery, waste and recycling services, parcel shipments, lab supply and used equipment categories.- Maintained high quality supplier relationships to ensure the best quality of goods and services along with skillfully negotiated pricing, which has lead to bottom line savings.- Increased knowledge quickly to understanding multiple food manufacturing processes and became highly knowledgeable of equipment and operations.- Communicated effectively with operators to Senior Vice Presidents to ensure that the management of projects from the plans to the execution are completed and evaluated for lessons-learned to guarantee continuous improvement.- Managed companywide waste stream mapping initiatives and made recommendations for improvements along with sharing companywide best practices. - Supervised a summer intern, developed work schedule, mentored and trained along with gave constructive feedback on their work performance.

- Identify opportunities for consignment of spare parts and developed a supply agreement which has resulted in a reduction in inventory by approximately $2 million over a four month time period.- Analyze appropriate stocking levels for purchased materials and evaluate min/max levels to eliminate unnecessary purchasing of dead stock.- Lead a global sell back of idle stock of $1.4 million along with scrapped $624,000 of obsolete spare parts that could not be sold back.- Developed and managed global spare parts forecasting model resulted in reducing spare parts min/max levels based on usage by $210,000.- Initiated new supplier relationships and negotiated lower costs for parts generating savings of $300,000.- Designed a supply risk analysis for key suppliers. - Tracked key spare parts and indirect materials to ensure adequate supply.- Monitor new capital equipment for spare parts getting detailed bill of materials from the vendors and managing a lean inventory level for newly established global plants.

- Developed an innovative IT solution for generating structured prototype engine bill of material costs per unit.- Created a structured engine subsystem folder that stores prototype part piece cost and tooling detail worksheets.- Refined negotiation skills working with vendors compromising on best price for purchase and tooling orders.- Point of contact for purchase orders updates to management ensuring component orders were released on time.- Represented prototype purchasing in the Forward Model Engine Program Build meetings.- Fulfilled requirements of position becoming certified in “Real World Negotiations” to be able to purchase materials. - Initiated the development and launch of the prototype purchasing Team Connect e-room.