Gary Heard is a Purchasing Manager at ContiTech Power Transmission Group at Continental. He possess expertise in purchasing, supply chain management, supply chain, procurement, strategic sourcing and 29 more skills. Colleagues describe him as "When I joined ContiTech Gary had been working for the procurement team for about a year and came direct from manufacturing. His tenacity for personal development and overwhelming knowledge of manufacturing, quality and customer service best practice was and still is very impressive. Have such a detailed understanding of manufacturing and supply chain management, to provide first class customer service. Gave Gary a great platform to build upon in his new chosen profession of procurement and supply chain management. His drive to ensure he was up-to-date with CIPS and IOM standards, lead to his enrolment in the professional CIPS program and reaching full member status , also doing a Master’s Degree in business. Gary quickly became a key member of the European purchasing council and attended regular meetings in Europe. Presenting ideas and best practice to other manufacturing plants in the group, his claim demeanor and ability to explain in detail process to a multi-cultural audience is one of his greatest strengths. As mentioned previously, having a person like Gary in the supply chain team, who came from manufacturing with a strong background in customer service and quality control, was a great asset to the team, he was able to connect with vendors and work with them in reengineering their manufacturing process to reduce costs, improve delivery times and enhance their profit margins. Ensuring a true business partnership and interdependency was formed. Gary is a very rare commodity in the supply chain world; he truly understands every aspects of every link, a great asset to any forward thinking company"