For more than 80 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been building the world’s infrastructure and, in partnership with its worldwide dealer network, is driving positive and sustainable change on every continent. Caterpillar is a technology leader and the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, and industrial gas turbines.We are looking for a suitably qualified professional to fill the following position:
Supply Chain Planning Manager
Responsibilities
- Incumbent is accountable to facility leadership and governing committees to achieve corporate supply chain performance targets focused on inventory reduction, increased inventory turns and improved order-to-delivery results
- This position provides input to support business division strategy development and target setting.
- The incumbent leads and manages a division responsible for facility deployment of the Supply Chain Planning Process, which develops the Plan for Every Part and Pull Replenishment methods for a facility, coordinating and managing the structure and work plans for multiple, cross functional work teams.
- This role leads efforts which require the ability to work effectively with facility leaders and governing committees comprised of diverse, multi-functional leaders. Incumbent is responsible for leading collaboration and communications across multiple facility functions, in order to effectively deploy lean material flow plans for a facility, which may include implementing changes to factor floor layout and material presentation to the point of use.
- Incumbent works closely with the facility Supply Chain Manager to deploy strategic supply chain initiatives, and is required to take a facility-wide view of supply chain planning processes and tools. This role requires thorough knowledge and experience with the deployment of pull material strategies and related software applications.
- This role sponsors facility activities focused on delivering a Plan for Every Part for all active parts.
- Incumbent sponsors multi-functional facility teams deploying the standard process for determining Packaging and Containerization solutions as part of supply chain planning. This position governs and supports supply chain teams working with multi-functional leaders and teams, both in and outside of the facility, that may include external suppliers or third party-providers, to design and implement material packaging and containerization processes for a facility.
- Incumbent sponsors multi-functional facility teams deploying the standard processes for new product introduction, Engineering and Product Change Control. This position governs and supports supply chain teams working with Corporate NPI, Supply Chain and other multi-functional leaders and teams to drive NPI and Engineering / Product Change Control process conformance.
- This role requires advanced collaboration, communication and negotiation skills, as well as advanced business acumen to sponsor, govern and support supply chain initiatives and deployments.
- Incumbent will sponsor supply chain team efforts to achieve MQ or other similar Certifications, and governs and supports supply chain improvements required for certification.
- This position leads efforts to identify and resolve facility supply chain constraints, which requires the ability to work across cross-functional areas and collaborate and negotiate complex solutions.
- Incumbent drives communications, root cause corrective action and ultimate resolution of supply chain constraints.
- This position works with other supply chain functional areas to continuously improve material flow plans, focusing on improving inventory record accuracy, waste reduction and increased throughput efficiency, increased velocity and increased inventory turns. Incumbent may be required to work with Global Transportation and Cat Logistics Services to implement transportation and logistics solutions required to optimize the facility supply chain.
- Incumbent provides leadership, coaching, focus, motivation and encouragement to direct reports.
- Responsible for coaching, developing and mentoring resources. Incumbent is responsible for all personnel issues and performance evaluation of direct reports, including development, capability building and succession planning.
- University degree in Supply Chain / Logistics Management / Industrial Engineering with minimum of ten years of progressively responsible supply chain job experience
- Advanced knowledge and understanding of lean concepts and lean supply chain principles, specifically those applied to pull replenishment using material replenishment tools and processes, material flow, packaging and containerization, the corporate NPI process, facility product and engineering change control processes and throughput efficiency
- Advanced understanding of supply chain planning processes, analytical tools, common supply chain systems, and the ability to lead and sponsor large-scale technology transformations.
- Knowledge of 6 Sigma Project Management principles.
- Excellent leadership skills to effectively sponsor supply chain improvements making the best use of available resources, while maintaining strong people focus and fulfilling the responsibilities for leading people.
- Extremely strong collaborative, interpersonal and negotiation skills in order to drive common supply chain processes across multiple departments within a facility.
- Superior analytical and problem-solving skills, and the ability to creatively solve very complex problems.
- Thorough understanding of company policies and procedures and solid product knowledge
- Completion of required corporate leadership training
- Experience in the development and deployment of Supply Chain processes
- A background in Supply Chain, Manufacturing / Operations, Manufacturing Engineering, Inventory Management, Material Requirements Planning, Demand Management and/or Logistics is highly desired.
Responsibilities
- As a Marketing Representative, you will begin your development in a 3-month Marketing Training Class. Following the training class, you will enter rotational assignments tailored to an industry or distribution service (dealer development) career path. Rotational assignments will be focused on developing industry and product application knowledge as well as a strong understanding of the Caterpillar Dealer network.
- You will learn the following skills while working in the assigned rotational divisions (depending on assigned rep development path):
- Sales/Market Development (Industry/Parts Sales Path) - Analyze sales opportunities, review pricing practices, assist with new product information releases, and develop competitive analysis for the assigned industry. You will also be involved with the development of marketing strategies for assigned rotational workgroup/industry.
- Process Development and Implementation (Dealer Operations Path) – You will assist/lead projects related to global dealer operational excellence, working closely with Caterpillar Distribution Service Divisions.
- Service Tech Support (Industry Service Path) – You will develop a strong understanding of product application and proper maintenance practices, and be able to articulate product issues as well as proposed solutions. You will rotate through Global Product groups in order to develop a network of service engineering teams to assist with product/application questions. You will be expected to understand Caterpillar warranty/goodwill policies and apply effectively in support of field related issues.
- You will rotate through any of the above areas during your developmental phase as well as a dealer location to gain additional experience. Following completion of the rotational assignments (approx 24 months), you will move to a field based position supporting Caterpillar Dealers and customers
- A Bachelor’s degree in an accredited Marketing, Engineering preferably Mechanical, Production, Industrial, Civil disciplines.
- The incumbent should have 2 to 4 years previous working experience preferably in marketing development, sales, product support. Experience in construction and infrastructure related fields / automotive would be an advantage
- Strong communication and leadership skills
- Must be willing to travel extensively (50-70%) as well as relocate based upon business needs.
