Global Category manager Mechanical & Hydraulics

Principal

Company develops and manufactures complex, engineer-to-order equipment for offshore wind, geothermal, oil & gas, leisure and civil purposes. Within this family owned company some 2.500 employees work at the homebase in the Rotterdam area and in international production facilities in Czechia and China. Total turnover is appr. € 350 mio./yr. Project value is usually between € 20 and € 70 mio. Some 8-15 projects are in process simultaneously. Strong global position in its niche.
The focus within the company is gradually shifting from engineering to supply chain (procurement) and standardization, e.g. bringing technological development in the supply market into the organization.

Procurement

The department is headed by the Global Supply chain manager, who reports into the CTO.
He has 5 direct reports and some 55 staff in total. His direct reports are:

• Supply chain manager Newbuild Base material
• Supply chain manager Newbuild Other categories
• Supply chain manager Service
• Supply chain manager Czechia
• Supply chain manager China

The Supply chain manager ‘Newbuild Other categories’, manages a team of 15:

• 4 category managers
  • Category manager E&I
  • Category manager Gearboxes
  • Category manager HVAC
  • Category manager Mechanical & Hydraulics (vacancy)
• 8 Category buyers
• 3 Supply chain project leads (linking pin between project and SC dept.).

The Supply chain department is a multicultural environment, where colleagues have many different nationalities.

Tasks

The Supply chain manager ‘newbuild other categories‘ is looking for a Category manager. You will focus on procurement of steel wire ropes, slip rings and to a lesser extent other mechanical, hydraulics parts and subassemblies. A total spend of appr. € 20 mio./yr.
In this role you closely work together with your category buyers. Other major stakeholders are engineering, operations (at all sites), project managers and senior management.
You are involved in the entire pre-award phase of the projects you work on. Once a project is awarded you are escalation channel for issues that arise and you manage the relationships with the suppliers. In the words of the Global supply chain manager, you “bring more intelligence into the way of working” when it comes to all aspects of procurement, especially in the sourcing, selection and contracting of suppliers. You will need to get involved in projects at the earliest possible stage to be able to steer the outcome in terms of design and spec, to be able to create and execute a procurement strategy, organize supplier selection in a professional manner, prevent excessive costs and delays, etc. Together with engineering you also create a basis for ever further standardization of designs.

You service all production sites and take an active role in the discussion to (partly) outsource activities, e.g. parts of engineering. When designs for a new project are released by engineering you pose sharp questions, with the aim to standardize and/or to create room for modifications in order to invite additional suppliers to quote. There is a multiple vendor policy in place for each subcategory, yet there is a firm supplier base with which exists a long and loyal relationship. Your approach leads to the introduction of innovating ideas from- and knowledge by (new) suppliers.

Your work is based on your strategic, yet action oriented plan (it fits on 1 A4) for which you have obtained approval from the board. You assure that it is executed well and report frequently on progress.
You lead the knowledge area, which further consists of engineers.
The supplier market for your category needs to become familiar to you as you will be required to bring their know-how into projects.
Considering the importance of your role and the strong involvement of the board and especially the CTO, in procurement, you need to be able to communicate well at all levels.
The role will require that you travel max. 20% of your time.

Your profile

• Technical or supply chain bachelor degree
• Strategic procurement background in a project driven production and engineering environment
• Good knowledge of the theory of procurement
• Strong communicator, hands on
• Very good command of English (Dutch not required)
• EU passport or valid work permit for NL

Offer

Gross fixed salary up to € 89K/yr, depending on knowledge and experience (in the position € 95K is the max.); discretionary bonus, depending on company and personal performance plus sales forecast; 29 vacation days; commuting allowance of € 0,21/km (max 75 km one way); pension based on ‘beschikbaar premiestelsel’, personal contribution of 3,6% .

Interested?

Please send your CV and concise motivation letter to cv@xentys.nl or apply by means of the form below.
Additional information can be obtained from Maarten Smits van Oyen, tel. 070-2400414.