Principal
Our client is owned by a “family office”and its board members. It has appr. 350 employees, three locations in the US, one in the UK and one in Germany. The main location is in Central Limburg and has approximately 200 employees.
The company is active in the coating and processing of aluminum, particularly for the construction and recreational industries. In Europe it has built up a strong position in these market segments, and the focus is currently on expanding sales in the US.
According to the CPO, it is a “tremendously beautiful company with the ambition to conquer the world. Takeovers are expected.
Function
You will report to the driven director of purchasing. He leads a team with 2 category managers, an operational buyer and an employee who is mainly concerned with “hedging” the procurement of aluminum. Both category management positions need to be filled.
The total spend is appr. € 135 mio, of which some 80% falls in Central Limburg. The director himself picks up procurement of the main categories: aluminum and energy. These account for appr. 75% of procurement turnover.
All other purchasing is divided into 4 categories:
- Engineering/Opex – maintenance and smaller purchases of production equipment, a spend of approx. €6 mio.
- Capex – large investments in means of production, a highly variable spend
- Commodities – paints, films, packaging, chemicals, a spend of about €20 mio.
- Indirects – including consumables, IT, facilities, HR, supplies with a spend of approximately €5 mio.
Depending on your background and experience, you will be assigned 2 of these 4 categories.
There is limited use of contracts, rather cooperation with suppliers is based on a set of relevant and good arrangements. There is little overhead.
Many categories have not yet been touched and offer great potential for improvement. For example, a tender for transportation is currently underway where a 17% savings will be achieved.
You will be expected to work in a planned and structured manner and internally to take the lead to get your projects going. The focus is on TCO reduction, cost avoidance and especially on pragmatic and intelligent purchasing. Purchasing outside M-Limburg will also have to be picked up, so this is a new challenge.
In case of acquisitions, you will be involved in the due diligence process.
If performing well, you can advance internally. If performing very well, you can also do so within the group of about 30 companies owned by the family office.
International travel will be limited in the position.
Your profile
- Analytical, sharp, you ask the questions others don’t ask
- You have a solid background in strategic purchasing within a manufacturing environment
- Strong negotiator, strong communicator
- Planned and structured
- You are fluent in both Dutch and English
- You are available full-time, possibly 4 days/week
Offer
- The company works with the Metalektro collective bargaining agreement. This position partly goes along with that, but also partly falls outside it
- Salary up to approx. €100K/year gross, depending on your background and experience
- A bonus of up to 1 month’s salary is currently under internal discussion
- 30 leave days/year (FT basis)
- Mobility: w/w allowance up to 60 km.
- Pension runs with PME. The employer pays 40% of the pension premium
- Working from home 1-2 days/week is possible.
