Materials Sourcing & Procurement Manager

Company Summary

FrontRow is on a mission to simplify AV communication for K-12 campuses! We develop and market AV hardware and software solutions for IP-enabled classroom audio, campus communication, and device control.

At FrontRow we design, manufacture, and sell Electronic and Electromechanical assemblies. Most assembly and item sourcing is focused in China and Taiwan. We have been significantly impacted by the continuing global supply chain challenges. FrontRow has been focusing significant resources to mitigate these issues and we are seeking to expand our investment by adding an experienced Materials Sourcing & Procurement Manager to our team.

Summary

As our MSPM you will manage the supply chain of incoming material and assemblies. Working with internal data sets and collaborating with associated data stake holders, you will develop forecasts and manage our supply base to meet those demands.

A successful candidate must understand the state of the supply chain today and must manage our Contract Manufacturer supply issues and must be prepared to act as commodity manager for critical silicon. You must understand that relying on the CM to manage materials is not effective and actively lead initiatives compensating for the broken components supply chain at the CM level.

Once the current supply chain challenges have been resolved, your focus will switch to continuous improvement of our procurement and planning processes. The establishment, use and measurement of critical performance metrics for all aspects of supply will be a major priority and included in such will be the implementation of a process to monitor BOM cost for core products.

Great attention to detail, focus on optimizing business processes, value contribution, and a continuous improvement mindset are vital for your success and advancement. Previous experience working with Asian contract manufacturers will be required as will the ability to work across multiple time zones connecting with vendor partners when they are available.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Own the complete finished goods procurement process from forecast through vendor purchase order submission to product receipt.
• Lead the sourcing efforts on identified materials shortages preventing on time delivery of product forecast. Act as commodity manager for critical silicon.
• Collaborate daily with Operations, Engineering, Customer Service and Sales to achieve On Time Delivery to our customers while achieving our corporate sales expectations
• Own the Forecast process and Inventory turns management
• Own vendor agreements and the vendor qualification process
• Act as project and commodity manager for Obsolete items working cross functionally to resolve these issues.
• Lead continuous improvement processes to reduce supplier cost and improve quality
• Other duties as assigned

Education, Experience, & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or Supply Chain Management preferred.
• High degree of technical understanding.
• Minimum of 4 years purchasing and planning experience with overseas contract manufacturers (hardware products preferred).

Skills & Characteristics

• Enthusiasm for learning the business, the people, and the strategy to deliver the most value to the organization.
• Ability to identify, understand, and mitigate risks to manufacturing operations.
• Ability to develop material demand plans based on integrating imperfect information from multiple sources.  Must be able to effectively cross-reference data from multiple sources to aid in developing the demand plans.
• Strong knowledge of electronic components finished goods procurement, and manufacturing planning.
• Robust experience extracting and managing data from ERP, CRM and PLM systems.
• Advanced knowledge of Excel is important

Interested candidates should send their resume to Director HR, Christy Martinez at csma@gofrontrow.com to whom question about the position should also be directed.