Supplier Performance Manager

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This is an excellent opportunity with a market-leading business, probably the biggest company you’ve never heard of! They have grown successfully over recent years, both organically and via acquisition. They operate from over 170 locations UK wide with over 2000 employees. 

They were the first company in their sector to voluntarily support their customers during the Covid-19 pandemic. At the same time they’ve supported their staff – no-one was furloughed. They’re also very strong financially – they didn’t need to utilise the various government support schemes. They have a strong balance sheet and are focused on further growth. They expect 2020/21 to be one of their best years ever! They have a powerful vision – to provide the best environment possible for their customers. Their values actually mean something to the business, with employees living and breathing them on a daily basis - they're not just a set of words on a website or a wall.

They have identified an opportunity to improve their approach to procurement by introducing new specialist roles and conducting a full end to end review of their procurement strategy: how they buy, who they buy from, the size and scope of their supplier portfolio across key categories, developing stronger relationships with their suppliers: all the while keeping in mind what their customers really want and need. Along the way, they expect to identify and deliver significant savings!

Hence they are strengthening their procurement team to develop and deliver this strategy and need a new Indirect Procurement Manager for the key category of Operations

Potential candidates should have:

• At least 5 years in a similar procurement role – purchasing indirect goods and services in a business with a sizeable portfolio of properties –  exactly what those properties are used for is not important
• Examples  of such goods and services include technical planned preventative maintenance services (e.g. lift and boiler inspections), bulk procurement  (e.g. white goods and furniture), major services (e.g. waste collection  and pest control), high volume spares (e.g.
• A successful track record in implementing/improving a modern progressive procurement/category management strategy in a business of comparable size and complexity
• Based within reasonable commuting distance of Bristol where their head office is based, although this role is not necessarily based 5 days per week in the office – some of the time will be spent visiting suppliers (if they’re not visiting you) and also travelling around the country building relationships with people in the business. There will also be a flexible approach with scope to work from home      several days a week
• Commercial intuition to proactively identify savings opportunities and unlock the maximum possible benefit
• Ability to negotiate complex commercial agreements
• Ability to build relationships and rapport – especially with the senior operational leadership team
• A ‘customer-first mindset’ to ensure the supply requirements of the business are fully understood 
• Ability to profile and manage supply chain risks (including sole supply, sustainability, governance, reputational and suchlike)
• Extensive category management experience and ideally fully or part CIPS qualified (or equivalent qualification) with a desire to continue to develop.

This is a great opportunity with a well-established, successful company, with the chance to significantly improve how they go about procurement. Good career development opportunities are also available.

The business is encouraging diversity in every sense and therefore we welcome applications from all, as long as you have relevant experience as outlined above.  

There is a competitive salary, bonus, pension and other benefits.

To apply send your CV to matt@wilsonbrook.com or call 07517 470025 for a confidential discussion 

This is an excellent opportunity to join a well-established and category-leading manufacturer of specialist small domestic electro-mechanical and electronic devices. This category is growing at over 25% per annum! They have a great reputation and global distribution channels via Amazon and other specialist retailers. They have traded successfully through the Covid-19 lockdown. Indeed they've experienced record months recently and have brought forward investment in a number of areas within their business: IoT enabling technology, rebranding and a new website, and finally SAP implementation.

They are now embarking on a period of exciting growth under a new MD and ownership with investments being made into the business to facilitate such growth. The business has a successful history with a good track record of profitability, is highly cash generative and has a long-serving employee base.

There are several key strategies which will enable them to grow:

1. Enhance existing products – via incremental value-added enhancements requiring engineering changes and changes in the bill of materials – quite simple but can add a lot of value.

2. New Product Introduction: 1. New mechanical products & 2. IoT/app controlled/web-enabled products – so instead of having a product mounted electronic control and display the products will link via wifi to an app on the users smartphone – allowing remote control wherever the user may be

3. Raise the bar in terms of how the business operates – historically it’s been quite centralised around the previous MD and paper-based. The new MD wants to engage with and empower the workforce, getting them to think for themselves, coming forward with new ideas and at the same working smarter via better utilisation of technology and world-class manufacturing and engineering systems and standards

Having recently recruited a new Design & Development Manager they are now looking to expand the team and recruit several Product Design Engineers

Naturally, we're looking for people with experience in similar roles in a similar environment.  Ideally, degree qualified, experienced with mechanical and electrical/electronic consumer products.  Any experience with web-enabled/smart/app-controlled products would be a distinct advantage. 

In addition:

· You will need to apply strong 3D CAD skills (preferably CREO), design for manufacture and engineering principles with an appreciation for industrial design, ergonomics and aesthetics, to ensure design intent is carried all the way through from concept to manufacture. 

· You will bring energy and passion along with inquisitive and critical thinking to bridge between industrial design and engineering disciplines.

· Your opinion and perspectives are valued and encouraged within their open culture. You should be confident in your abilities and open to imparting your experiences with the wider team in the pursuit of pushing boundaries and striving for continual improvement and growth.

JOB ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
 

CONCEPT GENERATION AND PROTOTYPING

· Support front-end innovation to research, understand and define real consumer problems, challenging conventional thinking and truly ground NPD in tangible insights.

· Actively engage in ideation workshops and design sprints – bringing your design & engineering skills and experience to the forefront.

· Create inventive, appropriate, and practical technical concepts and experiences – visualising solutions through engaging mediums and effectively communicating concepts to cross-functional teams.

· Work alongside the Design, Marketing and Operations teams to rapidly define, develop and build early concept prototypes, embedding real-world manufacturability with technical and commercial feasibility for evaluation by the business.

NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

· Progress concepts through detailed design using 3D CAD and develop into well-performing, reliable, and robust solutions ready for manufacture.

· Manage prototype testing, validation, performance analysis and design justification reports.

· Develop mechanical and electromechanical systems of varying complexity, including integration and specification of PCB and electrical designs.

· Employ sound understanding of manufacturing processes and materials application with awareness of technical and cost constraints: injection, blow and rotational moulding, casting, pressing, machining, extrusion, and sheet metal fabrication.

· Own individual projects and seek to engage with wider cross-functional teams, sourcing and collaborating with suppliers to ensure designs are delivered to meet target cost and time constraints.

· Work within the Design team to bring your knowledge and specialism of technology and engineering to support colleague’s projects, whilst actively engaging other team members’ capabilities on your own projects.

IMPLEMENTATION FOR MANUFACTURE AND TESTING

· Project manage comprehensive data sets and meticulously transfer detailed designs into production, generating technical component and assembly drawings, BOMs, production specifications and reports.

· Regular liaison with technical and QA teams – UK & China.

· Review prototype and manufacturing builds – conducting tolerance analysis, DFMEA and performance criteria evaluations.

· Support QA processes and ECR’s (Engineering Change Requests) to ensure products are optimised for launch and beyond.

KEY SKILLS & ATTRIBUTES

· Degree educated or equivalent in Engineering, Industrial Design, Product Design, or Design Engineering with at least 3 years’ experience working in a Design / Engineering consultancy or consumer products or consumer electronics industry. 

· Passionate about solving real problems in meaningful and original ways.

· Ability to communicate ideas and concept propositions with the help of hand sketches, CAD layouts, 3D models and working prototypes – with demonstrable experience of 3D prototyping.

· Comprehensive user of 3D CAD; PTC Creo – with a high level of surfacing and assembly proficiency.

· Knowledge of FEA for static and/or dynamic analysis is advantageous.

· Experience of transferring products into manufacture in China and Europe. 

· Project management – ability to own and drive solo projects and engage others on your journey.

· Sensitivity to form development and good visualisation skills to communicate concepts and design intent to wider business audiences. Knowledge of Keyshot for product visualisation is beneficial.

· Robust scoping techniques to develop and audit new technologies. 

· Data-driven approach to continuous design and engineering improvement.

· Self-motivated and robust attention to detail and finish. 

· Team player with good communication skills and proactive approach.

· Desire to mentor junior members within the Design team, acting as a guiding voice for coaching and development.

DESIRABLES

· Mechatronics skillset with ability to develop early proving principle prototypes – integrating electromechanical solutions and prototype PCB design with software and firmware programming.

· Human-centred design experience using design research and ethnographic studies to discover consumer insights.

· Graphic design using 2D CAD packages - in particular, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to create product, packaging, and technical user manual artwork.

· Digital prototype design; UX and UI for user experience workflow and testing.

· Experience implementing sustainable design principles, materials, and manufacturing processes.

Reasons to join:

· The business has a successful history with exciting plans for further growth combined with significant investment being applied across the business: facilities, people, products and brand!

· Operating in high growth product categories with the introduction of new technologies

· A new culture of being innovative and proactive – with people empowered and encouraged to contribute and challenge

· Freedom and autonomy, no micro-management here

· Security of a successful, profitable, cash-rich business

· Highly successful new MD & Design & Development Manager who have worked in world class, industry-leading engineering and manufacturing businesses
 

They are based in the South East, on the South West outskirts of London, so naturally prospective candidates should live within a commutable distance.  There is flexibility over start & finish times with some potential for home working (1-2 days per week).  

To apply send your CV to Matthew Lambert who’s supporting me on this assignment via matt@wilsonbrook.com or call him on 07517 470025 for a confidential discussion

This is an excellent opportunity to grow a key product category for a leading company in this sector. They already have an excellent reputation for their product range in this category, but see significant scope for growth.  The business are long established with a loyal customer base including national house builders, local developers, general contractors, public sector organisations and home improvers - in fact, all users of building materials, however large or small.

They have traded relatively successfully through the Covid-19 crisis. Their branches were closed for a brief period until safe operating procedures were implemented enabling them to offer a click and collect/click and deliver service. They are now fully operational and benefiting from the surge taking place within the building industry – in fact 2020 could end up actually ahead of budget!

The Opportunity

Although already providing a comprehensive range of heavyside products: bricks, blocks, aggregates and landscaping products; they feel there is a big opportunity to increase the breadth and depth, in order to even better service their existing customers whilst also winning new business.

The Individual

They would like recruit someone who can operate at a higher level in an enlarged role and proactively drive growth for these product groups taking some of the workload away from the Director who currently oversees this.

Potential candidates should have 

• Specific product knowledge of bricks & blocks and other heavyside products. This is essential. This could be from working for a builders merchant, a DIY retailer, a specialist distributor or a manufacturer
• Experience in a similar role is naturally beneficial, however this is a broad, end-to-end role so we’re open to individuals who might need to develop some of the capabilities
• Can successfully operate in such an environment without the support structures of a larger corporate and can cope with the pressure of needing to achieve results
• A proactive, inquisitive approach with an entrepreneurial spirit – always looking for ways to improve the business
• Naturally strong communication skills – across all levels of the business.
• Willingness to roll sleeves up and get stuck in
• To be customer facing and enjoy doing this. Knowledge of the local customer base is an advantage, but not a prerequisite
• Fit in with and positively develop the culture within the organisation, ensuring respect for all
• A self-starter and can operate at pace – no procrastination here please!
• Energetic and creative, resilient and tenacious
• Work closely with suppliers, stores, sales teams and customers
• Can deliver the right level of information up and down the structure as required
• Be commercially and financially aware
• Living with commutable distance of the Hampshire Head Office, though there is some flexibility with remote working

Reasons to join

• The business is well-established and has a good reputation
• Well placed for growth with investment having been made over recent years
• The business is happy to invest further – both in the stores and their people
• An opportunity to really drive growth in these product categories and make the business the go-to company for such

 To apply send your CV to matt@wilsonbrook.com or call 07517 470025 for a confidential discussion