Robert Franklin Email & Phone Number

Cincinnati, Ohio, United States

• Manage $200M+ Outdoor Furniture/Dining/Case Goods categories total annual volume direct sourcing business in partnership with brand cross functional team ensuring alignment with business trends and financial goals.• Execute and advise vendor strategies to support product development and buying.• Partner with Merchandising, Design, Planning, and Quality Assurance to manage cost effective new products with adequate lead time to meet requested delivery.• Negotiate costing and MOQ’s based on targets provided by Merchant team.• Lead weekly Work Group Meetings with cross functional partners to identify risk to products/deliveries.• Track vendor performance to assign grow, maintain, or exit qualification. • International travel to Indonesia to visit production facilities.

Columbus, Ohio Area

• Managed $300M total annual volume direct sourcing business in partnership with brand cross functional team as well as overseas offices ensuring alignment with business trends and financial goals.• Responsible for maintaining seasonal IMU goal of 75% for all new Fashion products.• Increased Core IMU from 73% to 76% by working with cross functional teams to source identical materials/components.• Decreased Core replenishment styles total production lead-time from 28 to 15 weeks by placing on a speed model with all materials prepositioned thereby reacting quicker to business trends.• Partnered with factories to move 100% of Fashion styles from China to off shore countries to mitigate costing increases from China tariffs.• Lead weekly WIP meetings ensuring key timing is achieved by all cross functional partners involved in the development process.• Managed monthly Core replenishment ordering process by passing orders to vendors and maintaining raw materials levels to meet the changing needs of the business.• Secured production capacity with vendors/factories using monthly unit projections passed from Planning Team.• Provided high level of customer service to brand and brand partners by consistently building strong effective partnerships with Merchant, Design, Technical Design, and Planning/Allocation Teams.• International travel to Sri Lanka and Hong Kong to visit production facilities.

Columbus, Ohio Area

Columbus, Ohio Area

• Place all garment orders directly with factories and manage resulting liabilities with Planning team for settlement each month.• Manage production leadtimes and costing for all styles directly with factories, Hong Kong, and Sri Lanka regional offices.• Work cross functionally with Merchant, Design, Product Development, Planning, Allocation, and Raw Materials teams to execute production throughout entire product development life cycle.• Execute changes driven by Merchant team to meet changing customer and market needs.

Columbus, Ohio Area

• Manage customer accounts Christopher & Banks ($35M annual volume), Lane Bryant ($25M annual volume), and Target Corporation ($25M annual volume) in women’s ready to wear apparel categories.• Liaison between US customer offices and Hong Kong office to solve daily issues and ensure production is delivered on time.• Research trends in both new fabrics and garment silhouettes to present to customers for upcoming seasons resulting in better sales.• Increasing Target’s annual sales volume from $18M to $25M by positioning fabric and garments in both China and Indonesia to meet growing production expectations.• Increased gross margin on Lane Bryant Holiday 2010 garments from 10% to 15% by moving production from southern China to northern China resulting in better prices.

Columbus, Ohio Area

• Responsible for start up business with Christopher & Banks in all product categories resulting in $17M in sales in under a year.• Co-managed $230M annual sales volume with Director of Marketing on A&F account.• Increased product margin on A&F male knit underwear program from 2.1% to 7% in Spring 2007 by repositioning cotton styles to India production with better costing.• Interface with global production teams in Korea, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taiwan, and Indonesia to meet customer’s needs with pricing, projections, orders, and coordination of raw materials between factories and mills.• Travel internationally to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taiwan, Korea and Vietnam to work with production teams and factories to finalize orders and research manufacturing processes and new techniques for future orders.

Greater Chicago Area

• Managed sterling silver categories of inlay with genuine stone, faceted stone, opaque and cab stones, and beaded and assembled styles - $15M total annual sales volume.• Developed and merchandised key item gold plated inlay program for August 2005 market generating $389,000 in sales (38.2% of total August 2005 market sales and 100% pick up ratio).• Negotiated target FOB costs for design items and sourced new product from overseas vendors to balance assortment and maintain margin goals.• Served as liaison with other areas relative to status, issues, direction of team projects.• Attended New York City market appointments with customers to obtain product development feedback.

Greater Chicago Area

• Managed TKS Infant exceptional value priced brand for Spring/Summer 2004 ensuring that merchandise assortment was consistent to the target customer profile and lifestyle image.• Worked closely with Design team during seasonal development for line edits.• Analyzed weekly selling results and communicated what was and was not working to Brand team.• Tracked fabric, trim developments, and approvals.• Facilitated Final Spec Package Review Meeting and conveyed all changes to Sourcing.• Reviewed initial counter samples with Designer and Technical Designer for execution and style approval, and communicated any changes to Sourcing that affected cost or Bill of Materials.• Managed $42M in Outerwear sales volume during Fall 2000 and 2001 in the absence of a Buyer.• Achieved Outerwear gross margin plan of 41.36% in 2002 and beat turnover plan by 6.4% in 2000.• Assisted in the development of product by working with both import and domestic vendors to arrive at a focused assortment.• Helped to establish pricing and candidate promotional items and programs for monthly advertising. Proofed all photos and written copy, verified photography, and ensured adequate stock to cover advertised items.• Worked in tandem with Buyer, Product Development, Sourcing, and Planning to organize the presentation of new goods for the upcoming season (Line Reviews), explanation of strategies, entry/exit plans.

Columbus, Ohio Area

• Team Captain in helping to develop and implement the Island Pacific purchase order system by attending daily meetings, and assisting co-workers to become more familiar with the system.• Wrote and entered all test and bulk purchase orders within the department’s planned Open to Buy. • Tracked purchase orders from purchase order entry to delivery to stores to ensure timely delivery of goods.• Constant communication between buyer, vendor, and Distribution Center to ensure timely processing of merchandise and quality issues.• Analyzed sales from such tools as stock to sales ratios, related items sold, and color and size selling.

Dayton, Ohio Area

Bs In Business Administration, Marketing

Activities and Societies: Delta Sigma Pi

Education record