Alternate Terms: Order Management, Customer Service
Canned Seafood Division of Fortune 500 International Food Manufacturer
Served as Demand / Inventory Planning Manager. Accountable for finished goods inventory ($100M value), customer service performance, and forecast accuracy for entire company product line (1000 SKUs). Coordinated inventory replenishment activities among order management, plant operations, and 3PL warehousing and transportation providers. Directed movement of goods from six manufacturing facilities (two offshore) to ten distribution centers throughout the US and Canada. Forecasted sales at the SKU level. Managed two planning analysts.
Reduced finished goods inventory by $30M (23%) while improving customer service by implementing a time-series based sales forecasting system, instituting forecasting and production planning metrics, establishing / implementing policies to fully utilize integrated systems capabilities, improving inventory balance integrity, and consolidating DCs. Implemented Demand Forecasting, Inventory Planning, DRP and Deployment modules of American Software (now Logility) APS software.
Leading Canned Fruits & Vegetables Manufacturer and Distributor
Served as Director of Supply Chain Planning. Managed 21-person Department (including 7 direct reports) and $3.1M payroll. Accountable for customer service performance, demand forecasting, production planning and finished goods inventory management ($215M value) for entire division product line (2800 SKUs). Forecasted sales by SKU. Coordinated inventory replenishment activities among customer satisfaction, purchasing, plant operations, distribution centers and 3PL transportation providers. Directed movement of product from 12 internal production locations and 38 distributed manufacturers (12 offshore) to 8 DCs throughout the US.
Reduced finished goods by $33M (13%) while maintaining customer service performance. Improved SKU / DC forecast accuracy by 24%. Implemented Supply Chain Planner and Demand Fulfillment modules of i2 (now Blue Yonder) APS software, including surrounding processes and integration with JD Edwards (now Oracle) ERP software. Enhanced existing i2 (now Blue Yonder) Demand Planner implementation. Designed and implemented new allocation management process to facilitate cross-functional decision-making during periods of short supply. As a direct result, company is recognizing and deciding how to resolve short supply issues much earlier that in the past, resulting in improved customer satisfaction.
Manufacturer of Premium Chocolates
Worked with client for almost two years. Served as Interim Director of Logistics on two different occasions. Reduced Western Region transportation spend by $450K (16%) through use of pooling and alternate carriers. Managed transition to new Western Region 3PL provider, and resolved all start-up issues within 60 days of move. Developed / implemented vendor scorecard to track 3PL provider performance. Improved Eastern Region on-time delivery performance from < 60% to 90+%. Streamlined invoice audit / payment process.
Leading Supplier of Camera Bags and Accessories
Facilitated the design / start-up of a new distribution company that will serve as the sole supplier of products manufactured in China to customers located in 100+ countries throughout the world. Served as Project Manager for Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains) ERP tool implementation, and led the development and implementation of all order-to-cash and purchase-to-pay processes required to support the new business.
Leading North American Provider of In-Store Marketing Products and Services
Identified ways to improve fulfillment and merchandising operations for the 55,000+ retail stores company services every four weeks throughout the US and Canada. Areas investigated included store visit frequency and timing, field rep labor scheduling and routing, material fulfillment and compliance. Identified $5.3M in annual savings from aligning vehicle fuel economy and maintenance reimbursement policies with actuals, implementing automated mileage tracking, and reducing drive time and miles driven through improved routing.
Major Pet Food Company
Conducted a direct shipment feasibility study for two major processing plants. Compared customer order patterns with plant production at the SKU level. Found that manufacturer could more than double direct shipments through more efficient use of existing setdown space.
Custom Sheet Metal Fabricator of Precision Parts for Aerospace, Defense and Medical Equipment Industries
Identified and kicked-off implementation of a series of initiatives that will reduce past due order backlog by over $600K (90% reduction). Initiated improvements in the areas of customer and order management, manufacturing and inventory strategy, use of production scheduling and MRP tools, and strategic sourcing. Determined that raw materials could be reduced by 61% and finished goods by 91% without negatively impacting service.
Rapidly Growing Organic Meat and Poultry Producer
Led process to identify and select 3PL partner to provide cold storage warehousing and order fulfillment services for the CA market. Evaluated over 100 potential locations. Ultimately selected provider in the San Francisco Bay area. Evaluated carriers to provide TL / LTL transportation services.
Leading North American Computer Manufacturer
Led 20-member project team that initiated transformation of company’s supply chain operations. Project scope addressed all major supply chain activities including product design, demand / supply planning, channel management, procurement, order fulfillment, manufacturing, warehousing, transportation and returns / repair. Identified a portfolio of 12 improvement projects to be implemented over two years that will generate $880M in NPV.
Dried Fruit and Juice Manufacturer
Led project team that evaluated performance of company’s primary third party logistics (3PL) provider. Project focused on evaluating provider’s effectiveness in the areas of order fulfillment, customer service, transportation management, warehousing, finished goods inventory management, invoicing and accounts receivable. Also performed network analysis to determine if reducing the number of DCs would lower total delivered costs. Established that remaining with current 3PL provider in existing network would result in lowest total costs, while bringing these activities in-house would increase logistics expenses by over $1.8M annually. Identified a variety of process, policy and systems improvements that are expected to yield approximately $1M in annual savings.
Large Multinational Pharmaceutical Manufacturer
Assessed company’s European logistics operations. Performed network optimization simulation to determine the optimal number and location of DCs. Identified outbound transportation savings from implementing centralized pan-European routing and leveraging spend on a reduced number of road, sea and air providers. Identified additional improvements in the areas of warehousing, order fulfillment, manufacturing, planning, SKU rationalization and packaging optimization. Determined that company could reduce supply chain costs in excess of $25M (10%) annually.
Large Computer Storage Device Manufacturer
Conducted a comprehensive re-engineering of company’s supply chain. Processes evaluated included demand / supply planning, inventory management, procurement, manufacturing, order fulfillment, transportation, warehousing, and product lifecycle management. Led 11-member project team that developed improvements to company’s demand / supply planning and inventory management activities. Company implemented six follow-on projects, including installation of i2 (now Blue Yonder) APS software that reduced inventory levels by over 60%, and associated inventory related costs by $240M annually.
Leading Telecommunications Products Manufacturer
Re-engineered organization’s supply chain. Project focused on eight key functional areas: order fulfillment, demand planning, product installation, field service and repair, distribution, manufacturing, product / process engineering and supplier management. Mapped organization’s current performance against industry leading practices. Identified numerous “quick hit” and “long-term” supply chain improvement opportunities that generated $65M in annual savings.
Led “quick hit” implementation effort in the finished goods inventory planning area. Instituted the use of custom-developed inventory planning tools taking into account such factors as replenishment lead-time, forecast error and desired service level to determine optimal inventory levels. Increased order fill-rate from 91% to 99%, while reducing inventory levels.
Multinational Food Ingredients Manufacturer
Assessed company’s demand / supply planning, transportation, order management, procurement and manufacturing operations. Identified process, organization and IT gaps versus leading practices. Confirmed need for demand / supply planning APS software tool, and developed short list of recommended vendors.