Purchasing Category Manager - Containers

The Company

With an annual volume of 35 000 TEUs (Twenty foot equivalent units) and a spend of 20M$ for container freight and an additional 10M$ for drayage, the North American Container Category is an important purchasing area at Imerys. The America Container Purchasing Manager is responsible for strategic purchasing of these activities and will be a member of the Global Container Purchasing Team. The role will include applying a top class purchasing methodology, best practices, sourcing strategy and associated KPIs management. 

The Americas Container Purchasing Manager reports to the Global Container Category Manager based in Antwerp, Belgium. 

Scope : 

 Direct management of all North and South American Container Purchasing. 

In charge of the transportation panel rationalization and supplier relationship management. Be an active member of the Global Container Purchasing Team and a back up for the Global Container Manager and team members. 

Manage quotations and liaise with internal stakeholders to provide an outstanding service to the organization in full support of the business processes.  

 Key Tasks and responsibilities:   

● Contribute in defining and implementing the Container Purchasing Strategy that best serves Imerys global needs for short and long term. 

● Deliver the planned savings for the Americas Container Category 

● Ensure to have a full and complete overview of all Imerys North and South American Container shipping activity, enabling the function to design the required strategy and to approach the market as one unified and strong shipper with the objective of cost savings 

● Identify, quantify and pursue opportunities for cost savings or other improvements and manage them on a project basis until completion and validation of the captured savings 

● Actively contribute to the alignment across the Global Container Purchasing team implementing common methodology, sharing best practises and secure continuity. 

 ● Contribute in defining a common process of performance assessment for the category and report results periodically  

● Be a supportive, but also challenging business partner and source of related knowledge for Imerys internal stakeholders, predominantly in the Supply Chain Teams, define common goals and provide and seek support for improvement projects 

● Setup a process of establishing detailed and tailor made SLA’s with the Imerys internal container shipping operations defining the applicable way of cooperation on operational level ● Be the local Imerys representative with shipping line or shipping industry bodies and maintain a supplier management process 

● Maintain a relationship with the Imerys forwarding agents and ensure the proper application of the negotiated conditions. 

●  Active participation in the Drayage negotiations of your scope. 

● Consult in logistics-related areas, such as warehousing, intermodal transport, cost-to-serve modeling, TMS, software support, etc.

● Drive on-going improvements with major providers through Supplier Relationship Management process (SRM), including periodic meetings which include problem solving, cost reduction, maintenance objectives, plant shutdown support, etc. 

● Collaborate directly with the business Supply Chain, Operations leadership, legal and teams to optimize overall logistics costs to the plants. 

●  Act as a pulse check and voice of the internal customer (site manager/operations/supply chain leaders) to the ongoing category management approach of the Transportation category. ● Develop key regional supplier relationship management (SRM) program under the umbrella of global Purchasing SRM program, ensuring integration of these programs with the Business Area priorities. 

● Manage associated regional contracts, price & service negotiations and application/control, periodic contract review (to quantify supplier performance)   

Skills and Attributes Requirements: 

●     Expertise in purchasing within the broad transportation sector in the Americas region (Ocean), with an industrial emphasis; understands transportation needs. 

● Experience in leading regional projects based on category management concepts and group purchasing approach desired. 

● Experienced negotiating with providers for ocean transportation 

● Excellent, demonstrated collaboration and relationship-building skills required; relationships will be extensive. 

● Strong communication skills towards internal and external stakeholders. 

● Team player with a global interest in container related transportation. 

● Ability to collaborate with strong, defined technical resources, engineers and leaders, as well as plant operations leader 

● Strong project management skills 

● Proven experience in planning and leading negotiations 

● Highly motivated & results focused with the ability to act with a high sense of urgency

● Ability to operate and execute effectively in a fast-paced environment with multiple priorities and challenging deadlines. 

● Thorough knowledge of the formalities and processes of the Container Shipping industry          

Education/Experience Requirements: 

 ● Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain (or related field) plus 5 year experience or 8 years demonstrated, equivalent experience  

● Knowledge of SAP is a plus. 

● Experience in leading regional projects based on category management concepts and Corporate purchasing approach desired. 

● Solid relevant experience in Supply Chain, in particular Container Shipping Business and related activities in an international business environment   

and

Only technical issues will be monitored through the below inbox:

recruiting.support@ imerys.com

PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT RESUMES OR APPLICATIONS TO THIS EMAIL, AS THEY WILL NOT BE REVIEWED. 

To ensure fairness and legal compliance in our recruitment processes, only applications received through the online application process will be considered. 

IMERYS is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer and it is our policy to not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, disability, veteran status, or any other status protected by federal, state or local laws.