Head of procurement a.i.

Head of Procurement (Aerospace) a.i.

Principal

Some 250 professionals work in this aerospace company in the ‘the Hague’ area. In its facilities (clean rooms and an ‘industry 4.0’ production facility) engineers design, produce, assemble and test high-tech products for the international aerospace industry.

Increasing competition and commercialisation result in a very dynamic market where costs and delivery times are under great pressure.  Company is a project organisation with a matrix structure. Production of components and subassemblies is outsourced to suppliers. Future success also depends on the lean organization of the entire supply chain: suppliers, production and delivery to customers.

 

Procurement

Company outsources and procures approx. 50% of turnover, thereby striving for an agile supply chain. The majority of the suppliers are of strategic essence.

The Procurement team consists of 12 professionals, in the positions: Category Managers, Supply Chain Managers, Category Buyers and Operational Buyers. Procurement currently undergoes a change process to create more focus on supplier base strategy development and further improvement of the way of working on projects. The company uses SAP as ERP system.

 

The position

As Head of Procurement you report into the operations director.

Your main responsibilities are:

• Lead the Procurement department
• Create department objectives, implement an agile procurement organisation, develop people towards new roles, execute resource management for the short and the long term
• Optimize the various Supply Chains in terms of innovation, total cost, risk, make/buy, supplier development, delivery times, quality, etc.
• Harmonize Procurement activities and processes
• Provide high-level support to projects and tender teams: resources, suppliers, tools & processes, knowledge. E.g. resulting in advise in the development of product and service strategies
• Provide support to proposal and project reviews as core review team member
• Continuous improvement of the way of working, processes and procedures.

 

Good stakeholder management both with external suppliers and within the organization is key to success.

A major challenge in this engineering focused environment, is to create an atmosphere where procurement gets involved in projects at the earliest possible stage, way before the customer’s tender is received. In that case, supplier search, selection and contracting can take place with more accuracy and lead times for projects can be strongly reduced. To achieve this, the position of procurement needs an upgrade, which requires leadership, plus training and development of your team.

There is a strong downward pressure on cost and lead times. As these high tech products are developed at the very edge of technology, this a tedious process. Your team needs to help (possibly including tier 2 and 3) suppliers to improve their processes. Ofcourse it is important to question existing situations, yet you need to know that switching suppliers knows many hazards. Which suppliers can best handle the pressure on innovation, technological progress, quality, lead times and costs?

Finally you need to simplify the P2P processes, thereby increasing timeliness and decreasing the effort put into the operational processes.

You are expected to play an important role in make or buy decisions.

You are familiar with the QLTCS methodology.

Travelling is to a limited extent part of your role.

 

Your profile

• University level
• At least 5 years experience with management of procurement within international high tech industry
• Proven experience with change management
• Solid experience with procurement for NPD/R&D projects
• Experience with supplier development
• Strong communicator, strategic and analytic
• Strong command of English, ability to communicate in Dutch

 

Offer

• initial duration: 6 months; thereafter possibility to enter into employment contract with principal
• Start: 1 July

 

Interested?

Please send your CV, availability and  desired fee to interim@xentys.nl.

Additional information can be obtained from Maarten Smits van Oyen, tel. +31.70.2400414.