Supplier Manager
Role Summary
The Supplier Manager is responsible for owning and strengthening supplier performance, capability, capacity, quality, cost competitiveness, delivery reliability, and compliance across assigned commodity categories. The role leads supplier-management activities from supplier identification and onboarding through qualification, performance improvement, risk mitigation, and long-term relationship management.
Working closely with Procurement, Quality, Engineering, Manufacturing, Product Development, and Category Management teams, this position ensures suppliers support operational, quality, cost, sustainability, and supply-continuity objectives. Preference will be given to candidates from a Global MNC in the motors manufacturing industry, with motors commodity experience and exposure to PPAP, Lean, and Six Sigma.
Key Responsibilities
Supplier Management and Performance Ownership
- Own supplier performance for assigned commodities across quality, delivery, cost, capacity, technical capability, responsiveness, and compliance; establish supplier scorecards, KPIs, performance expectations, review mechanisms, and structured improvement plans.
- Build strong relationships with strategic, critical, and high-risk suppliers; act as the primary escalation point for supplier performance, quality, capacity, delivery, and compliance issues.
- Partner with Procurement and Category Management on sourcing strategies, supplier segmentation, supplier selection, localization, globalization, supplier rationalization, and supplier performance recovery.
Supplier Qualification and Onboarding
- Lead supplier onboarding, qualification, capability development, and approval activities for new and existing suppliers, including assessment of manufacturing capability, process controls, capacity, quality systems, certifications, and readiness.
- Conduct supplier assessments, audits, capability evaluations, and PPAP reviews to support new supplier approvals and onboarding.
- Support supplier readiness for new-product introductions, Product Development Lifecycle activities, localization projects, strategic sourcing initiatives, first-article sample reviews, process validation, and approval documentation.
Supplier Quality and Process Excellence
- Lead supplier-quality improvement initiatives to improve product quality, reduce defects, improve delivery performance, strengthen process capability, and reduce the cost of poor quality.
- Drive structured root-cause analysis, corrective and preventive actions, closure of supplier non-conformances, and resolution of recurring quality, manufacturing-process, capacity, and delivery issues.
- Well versed in Production Part Approval Process (PPAP). Apply Lean, Six Sigma, or similar continuous-improvement methodologies to drive supplier process improvement, waste reduction, variation reduction, and measurable performance improvement.
Supplier Risk and Supply Continuity
- Identify, assess, and mitigate supplier risks related to quality, delivery, capacity, financial stability, regulatory compliance, business continuity, and supply-chain resilience.
- Support contingency planning, dual sourcing, supplier-capacity development, and recovery activities for critical suppliers.
- Maintain visibility of supplier-risk and performance trends and provide supplier capability, risk, quality, capacity, and process-readiness input to internal stakeholders.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, Business, Manufacturing, or a related discipline.
- Minimum 10 years of experience in supplier management, supplier development, supplier quality, procurement, strategic sourcing, manufacturing, or a related field.
- Demonstrated experience managing supplier performance across quality, delivery, cost, capacity, and compliance measures.
- Experience leading supplier assessments, audits, capability evaluations, qualification activities, onboarding, and improvement projects.
- Strong communication, negotiation, stakeholder-management, supplier-relationship-management, Production Part Approval Process (PPAP), corrective-action, supplier-risk-management, and continuous-improvement skills; ability to travel to supplier locations as required.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience working in a Global MNC within the motors manufacturing industry, including direct experience managing motors commodities, motor components, electrical components, mechanical parts, assemblies, or related supplier categories.
- Strong experience in Production Part Approval Process (PPAP), supplier process validation, first-article approval, supplier onboarding, and manufacturing-process controls.
- Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt certification, or demonstrated application of Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, 8D, CAPA, ISO standards, supplier quality systems, and regulatory/customer compliance requirements.
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