Manage vendor relationships -- negotiate contracts, securing supply chain, ensuring optimal quality at most economical cost; mediate and quickly resolve any payables or specification issues; evaluate vendor performance, issuing scorecards and collaborating on performance improvement plans.Direct daily activities of Local Purchasing -- responsible for sourcing materials, qualifying new suppliers, implementing global contracts, reporting on Procurement metrics, and maintaining systems data.Active participant in Global projects, including raw material harmonization lead time and inventory reductions, logistics cost analysis, and implementation of new ERP system (SAP).

Managed procurement, planning, receiving, shipping and warehousing. Activities include supply chain strategy, contract negotiation, supplier qualification and evaluation, value engineering, materials and production forecasting, and tactical vendor management.Reorganized warehouse layout, secured and managed offsite raw materials and finished goods inventories, improved daily receiving and shipping procedures, increased on-time shipping percentage and accuracy. Eliminated over $800k in obsolete materials in first year.

Organized packaging procurement and inventory management for four strategic business units, leading all tactical and strategic functions.Managed portfolio of over $100M in various packaging for branded consumer products; negotiated contracts for purchase of commodity, specialty, intermediate goods and manufacturing equipment.Partnered with Suppliers and R&D to source new products, equipment and technology.Led teams through transition when four divisions of HJ Heinz merged with Del Monte, by developing job descriptions / communicating changes in assignments, and organizing the training schedule for Procurement staff.Executed vendor qualification / assessment process, and conducted regular supplier reviews to improve products, services and pricing.Coordinated value engineering projects with Quality, R&D and vendors, to achieve cost savings and improve product performance.

Implemented centralized forecasting and production planning for five manufacturing locations and nine distribution centers of this $500M company in North America.Directed Master Scheduling at the corporate level, and finite production planning at the shop-floor level, for all manufacturing sites, including 15,000 finished good sku's and 10,000 raw materials.Improved customer service levels by 20% within six months, maintaining 99.9% fill rate for over four years, contributing to sales growth averaging 30% annually.Provided ongoing capacity analysis to General Manager, recommending production site changes or capital investment as needed to maintain service levels and optimize production efficiency.Managed inventory and procurement of $5M in finished goods and intermediates from toll manufacturers in the US, Canada and Mexico, to maintain optimal service levels at lowest cost and limited exposure.Scheduled and managed new product startups and life-cycle transitions, to increase speed to market and avoid inventory obsolescence.Provided detailed budget forecasts monthly, quarterly and annually, for Sales, Finance and Manufacturing.

Contracted purchases of raw materials for five manufacturing locations; portfolio included food ingredients, chemicals and packaging, valued at approximately $100M.Achieved a minimum of $100k in cost savings annually through contract negotiation, value engineering and leveraging consortium procurement of commodities.Monitored stock levels and directed allocation from vendor-managed inventories of commodity and intermediate goods.Participated in implementation of ERP system that allowed for combined purchases of all affiliates, to leverage volume, codify historical data, and standardize procurement processes across the company.

Coordinated order processing, pricing, rebate and brokerage payments for over 2500 customers, consistently delivering service levels exceeding 99.9%.Facilitated communication among multiple manufacturing locations and among Sales, Customer Service and Manufacturing, to achieve optimal flexibility and exceed customer expectations.Provided education in continuous quality improvement (TQM) to small groups throughout the company; supervised staff of ten reports; providing support to eleven Sales personnel and numerous brokers across North America.Contributed to comprehensive computer system analysis; participated on management team that selected new mainframe system and software applications.