Sara Ford Email and Phone Number

Belk is one of America's original department stores, family founded in 1888. As a Vendor Performance Supply Chain Analyst, I handle communications and research to help our vendors meet Belk's Vendor Business Requirements (VBR). Within Belk’s VBR are several reason codes, definitions, charges, and exemptions that all intersect to create additional revenue streams for the company. My role is to research these codes and discover opportunities to correct errors, improve processes, find additional revenue, and utilize technical writing skills to share information. In these fact-finding missions, I work closely with other departments to solve problems collaboratively. This includes gathering data, defining processes, compiling research, and creating presentations to share with other departments. An in-depth knowledge of databases, SQL queries, and Alteryx workflows are paramount to problem solving, and my knowledge in these areas has grown tremendously since I first started. One of the things I like most about Belk is the freedom to share and be part of the solution. When I realized our department was doing a lot of repetitive tasks, I sought to eliminate those by finding ways to automate our processes. For example, I helped standardize vendor communications, created standard operating procedures (SOPs) where there were none, and brought in platforms for knowledge sharing among our teammates. I automated our quality and transportation audit reporting using Alteryx Designer, and I wrote custom SQL queries for our department to find information faster when communicating with vendors. In my first year, I worked on a project to discover and collect missing revenue up to 147% of the original amounts. Currently, I’m working on updating vendor facing documentation for our Transportation department. I love these kinds of projects and the exposure to new teams. I’m excited to grow in my role and hope to move into a management position very soon!

AMACS manufactures gas and liquid separations equipment for process tower internals. As a Supply Chain Analyst, I handled a complex workload in sourcing and vendor management, procurement, data management, inventory management and production control. Working with our Director of Supply Chain, I had the opportunity to work on several change management initiatives that directly impacted the organization's bottom line. I also wrote many of our supply chain training manuals, work instructions, and quality procedures. Early in my career with AMACS, I worked on a change management initiative to move an entire working production line from the US to our sister plant in Mexico. I helped identify and monitor key stakeholders and maintain organizational change management (OCM) roadmaps. I also had direct involvement in moving machines, resources, and inventory from the US to Mexico with very few disruptions to workflow.As manager of our supplier database, I helped procurement partner with new suppliers and maintain accurate data. I also handled procurement for tooling and safety related supplies. I recently completed a project to centralize our expense purchasing an overall 15% savings. With my dual title of Master Data Coordinator, I was responsible for new part creation and maintaining part integrity. This meant managing records like Country of Origin, NAFTA codes, HTS codes and Schedule B Codes for international shipping. This also included managing inventory levels to evaluate opportunities for change and cost reduction. My work in production control included creating and distributing our weekly Priority Dispatch Report and Production Capacity Report to communicate jobs behind schedule and minimize overtime. I also provided solutions for production variances in material and labor costs.

Rawson is a distributor of instrumentation, valve and industrial control products under the ERIKS North America umbrella of companies. At the headquarters in Houston, I handled procurement for our sister company, Industrial Controls Distributors. I also supported our sales team through strategic purchasing of HVAC and industrial products from key suppliers like Burns Engineering, Graphic Controls, and ABB Rotameters. During our software conversion in 2012, I worked with multiple departments on master data projects aimed at creating a smoother transition to the new software. Some of these projects included writing and editing company procedures for the materials group as well as training Regal Brown employees for their conversion to our new software. I was also put in charge of several data cleansing projects by our director of operations. During this time, our company also made the switch from decentralized purchasing to centralized purchasing.In 2017, my duties extended to rebuilding and managing inventory from over 800 suppliers. Our department had doubled in size in that time as well as our reach in product lines and sales-support opportunities. My managers were extremely supportive in listening to my ideas on how to improve the buyer's process. Together, we implemented solutions to increase efficiency and productivity, and eliminate redundancy in the workflow.