Steve Aaron Email & Phone Number

Montvale, Nj, Us

Customer-facing supply chain manager interacting and supporting the company's strategic accounts in the US and Europe. Responsible for guiding the supply chain operations in support of both internal and external strategic account objectives.

Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, Us

Lead and direct supply chain relationships with key account customers for an international consumer products company with a portfolio of coffees and teas in the U.S. market. Lead product supply and distribution activities in support of key account requirements. Objectives include maximizing sales opportunities, ensuring company meets and exceeds customers' KPI requirements, maximize on-time and in-full deliveries and minimize fines and fees associated with OTIF and supply chain execution. This is a newly created role, with latitude provided to establish processes, KPIs and overall objectives.

Mumbai, In

Manage product supply, inventory and distribution for leading international consumer products company in the US coffee & tea markets. • Manage operations, supply planning, demand planning, product supply, inventory optimization, change management, and continuous improvement for third party, globally sourced consumer products for the U.S. domestic market. • Oversee supply chain development for new product introductions, line extensions, and new innovations across external supply chain network for Eight O’ Clock Coffee, Tetley, and Good Earth Tea brands. • Develop operations forecast to support manufacturing at three plants in the U.S. and several plants overseas.• Achieved 98% OTIF metrics for all products /customers; performed reconciliation of key account chargebacks.• Reorganized supply and demand planning for all brands across multiple production facilities, resulting in service improvements and product availability for all three brands.• Supported introduction of six new product lines and multiple brand extensions; led supply chain interface with cross-functional team of marketing, finance and project management professionals working with suppliers in U.S. and overseas.• Manage business and relationships with multiple domestic and overseas suppliers and import operations.

Geneva, Ch

Recruited to manage demand, supply, and inventory for products imported for sale into the U.S. for an international tobacco company marketing and selling key cigarette brands Wave, Wings, Export ‘A’ and the global brand LD.• Led and directed a Demand Planning Manager and handled demand planning, supply planning, change management and inventory optimization team for globally sourced consumer products.• Directed import supply chain, warehousing & distribution, transportation, and customer service for U.S. operations.• Worked with U.S. Customs & FDA to ensure smooth flow of imported products from Turkey, Egypt, China, Japan, and Canada.• Managed business and relationships with five domestic 3PL warehouses, various transportation networks, and specific ocean transportation lanes; oversaw process optimization and established bonded warehouse operations.• Ensured three Customer Service Associates provided world-class customer service to external and internal customers, including new customer on-boarding, process optimization, order fulfillment, resolution of issues and returns processing.• Established best practice demand and supply planning function; reduced inventory, eliminated chronic stock shortages.

Greater Chicago Area, Il, Us

Managed the ingredient supply chain planning and optimization team upon Kraft becoming Mondelez in 2012 for one of the world's largest snack companies featuring cookies, crackers, chocolate, gum & candy, cheese & and powdered beverages.• Oversaw all aspects of supply planning, inventory optimization, replenishment strategies and vendor relations for 500+ SKUs, including agricultural ingredients, seasonings, flavors, colors, sweeteners etc. with a $100MM annual value.• Led and directed two Supply Chain Coordinators to ensure adequate supply of ingredients for U.S. snack business to support brands including Ritz, Oreo, Wheat Thins, Chips Ahoy, and Fig Newton.• Served as key member of new product development teams; supported production across a complex supplier base and manufacturing network of nine internal plants and five external manufacturing partners.• Managed planning based on SAP MM module supplemented with MS Office applications.

Chicago, Us

Added operations & supply chain management responsibilities for a Direct-to-Consumer division of Kraft Foods.• Oversaw overall product supply of offshore sourced coffee, tea, coffee makers, and kitchen accessories while retaining demand planning role for Gevalia & Tassimo E Commerce businesses with 300+ SKUs, and $250MM sales.• Managed a broad portfolio of functions including demand and import supply chain planning, external sourcing, international & small parcel transportation, productivity, E-commerce, inventory, forecasting, and new business development.• Handled contract negotiations, vendor management, budgets, and cost reduction initiatives; delivered $90M average annual productivity on transport projects (2009 to 2011).• Delivered average annual CSL of 99.4% (2008 to 2011); improved speed-to-market product introductions, reduced costs and optimized inventories across a global supply chain.• Developed supply chain and sales strategy with Amazon; tripled 2010 sales to $2.5MM; doubled 2011 sales to $5MM.

Chicago, Us

Promoted to forecast sales of super premium coffee, tea, coffee makers, kitchen accessories, and premium giveaways.• Drove supply chain demand planning through the execution of multiple forecasting techniques; created a comprehensive, business-wide forecasting function from a set of unique manual forecasting activities.• Automated Gevalia base coffee and tea and Tassimo product forecasts (225+ SKUs) via JDA Manugistics systems.• Improved forecast accuracy for sales premiums (50+ SKUs), in/out coffee (35+ SKUs) and miscellaneous items from a cumbersome process to an efficient process through Excel models in collaboration with the Marketing Analysis team.• Led the supply chain Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) process, optimizing inventory, maximizing fill rates, driving out cost, obsolescence, and out-of-stock risk while supporting new marketing initiatives and overall business planning.

Chicago, Us

Developed and implemented strategy to oversee a third-party vendor that managed warehousing and distribution.• Managed business and relationship with third-party fulfillment and warehouse operations located in Western Pennsylvania and Phoenix, Arizona for the Gevalia and Tassimo E-Commerce / direct-to-consumer businesses. • Ensured accurate and timely fulfillment of 5 million orders annually; coordinated details with transportation vendors, managed material inventories, reorganized material procurement processes, and oversaw annual warehouse inventory audit.• Managed external manufacturing for Gevalia branded tea; negotiated delivery terms; created supplier KPIs.

Chicago, Us

Managed logistics and supply chain for finished goods, coffee makers and supplies, and sales premiums.• Oversaw production planning, inventory optimization, long range procurement positioning, raw material hedging, and the supply chain consensus process; developed new processes for planning external purchases resulting in significant cost savings.

Chicago, Us

Recruited to manage all direct material planning to support production and inventory needs for several divisions.• Managed direct material commercialization programs for new products and packaging changes including direct material inventories and replenishment strategies for hundreds of direct material SKUs sourced from multiple vendors.• Provided guidance and coaching to a Supply Chain Analyst and two Supply Chain Coordinators to achieve and exceed overall goals and results, optimizing balance between availability, cost, inventory, and risk of obsolescence for all direct materials.• Supported the Maxwell House Coffee Division (Annual Sales $1B+) (2001-2004), Beverages Division ($750M+) (2003-2004) and Post Cereal Division ($1B+) (2004); brands: Kool Aid, Crystal Light, Capri Sun RTD, Raisin Bran, Alpha-Bits.

Lausanne, Ch

Promoted to manage all aspects of export logistics and fulfillment to PMI plants worldwide for an international tobacco company manufacturing and selling popular cigarette brands including Marlboro, L&M, and Parliament.• Led a seven-person team handling production scheduling and logistics for five domestic factories exporting a large volume of raw and semi-processed materials, ingredients, packaging, and equipment to 40+ licensees and affiliates worldwide.

Lausanne, Ch

Recruited and promoted to support export development in emerging markets in Europe, Russia, and Asia.• Managed international logistics and customer service staff to assure all aspects of export transactions were performed expeditiously, including order placement, manufacturing, transportation, warehousing, invoicing, and collections.

Master Of Business Administration - Mba

Master Of Arts - Ma, International Business, Logistics, And Transportation

Bachelor Of Arts - Ba, Economic Geography