Manufacturing Manager - Materials, Planning and Execution

Job Description Summary

Reporting to the Plant Leader this role will lead the Materials team to define and continuously improve material flow across an engineer-to-order Grid equipment factory operating in a Lean Manufacturing environment, spanning both in-house production and outsourced contract-manufacturer (CM) supply. The role owns inventory turns, working-capital landing, and material availability, and is accountable for the planning, procurement, material MRP setup, and analytics systems that drive them.
The successful candidate combines outstanding cross-functional leadership with hands-on technical fluency in SAP, MRP, and work automation and analysis toolsets, and partners with Operations, Finance, and Sourcing to drive operations.

Job Description

Essential Responsibilities:

• Drive a zero-tolerance environment for safety infractions.
• Lead weekly meetings and cross-functional planning sessions with engineering, production, contracts, and finance stakeholders; communicate priorities clearly across all organizational levels.
• Lead, develop, and motivate a team of buyers, planners and inventory control analysts, maintain performance management, objective setting and scorecards.
• Ensure materials/production planning, buying, and inventory control support sales, product development, customer service, and production cost-effectively.
• Plan, organize, direct and support, monitor and control the staff and functions related to planning materials, buying and inventory control.
• Continuously review and monitor departmental performance to ensure corporate objectives are being met. Review actions, risks, and shortages, and drive forecasting and material planning to protect the production schedule.
• Manage the end-to-end supply chain, including materials/consumables suppliers, logistics service providers, and contract manufacturers; develop risk mitigation strategies (dual-sourcing, safety stock optimization) to ensure supply continuity.
• Identify any performance deficiencies and problems or opportunities for improvement in these areas of responsibility and take initiative to solve the problems and realize the opportunities.
• Identify specific cost reduction opportunities and take action to achieve cost reductions, or improve cost effectiveness, including introducing alternative sources where appropriate.
• Work effectively in co-operation with the Production Manager to develop and maintain efficient planning and operations in production, warehousing and materials handling.
• Drive for continuous inventory improvement and implement best practice models to ensure targets are achieved.
• Champion sustainability and ESG initiatives within the supply chain, supporting environmental practices such as packaging reduction.
• Drive digital transformation of materials management processes through automation, data analytics, and system integration to improve forecast accuracy and decision-making speed.

Qualifications/Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain management, Engineering, Business Administration, or related field; master’s degree or APICS/SCMP certification preferred.
• 5+ years’ material management experience in a manufacturing setting.
• Strong logistics, supply chain, and material management skills; exposure to JIT, Kanban, MRP, and Lean manufacturing.
• Contract manufacturing / outsourced (EMS/CM) forecasting and supply management experience.
• Hands-on technical depth: SAP, Excel, VBA, Power Query, Smartsheet. Able to build, maintain, document, and troubleshoot tools and processes.
• Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional teams and setting/meeting aggressive targets.
• Self-motivated, high-energy, results-oriented; forward-thinking and proactive.
• Flexible and adaptable: Open to change and modification of tasks.
• Operational finance knowledge.
• Proven ability to drive change in a matrix environment.
• Ability to successfully motivate and maintain employee involvement while driving change.

Desired Characteristics:

• Ability to translate complex supply chain data into clear executive-level presentations and stakeholder communications.
• Experience navigating supplier negotiations in volatile commodity markets or constrained supply environments.
• Strong root-cause analysis skills applied to supply disruptions, quality escapes, and delivery failures.
• Track record of leading cross-functional supply chain improvement projects (e.g., ERP migrations, warehouse redesigns, supplier consolidation).
• Familiarity with demand sensing, predictive analytics, or AI-driven planning tools.
• Knowledge of sustainability frameworks and experience integrating ESG criteria into supplier selection.

Additional Information