Strategic Sourcing Manager

Brooks Utility Products is America’s oldest electric utility manufacturing company.  2023 marked our 150th year in business. Founded as EJ Brooks & Company, the business eventually incorporated Meter Devices Company and Ekstrom Industries to build the most comprehensive electric utility product line portfolio available. Today, we are the leading utility manufacturer of seals, locking equipment, adapters, meter sockets, meter-base testing equipment, test switches, and utility enclosures. Our product line focuses on utility safety, security, and productivity. In 2022, Brooks became a part of the Madison Industries family, joining companies such as Holmatro, Task Force Tips, Reelcraft, Tyden Brooks, Big Ass Fans, Broan/Nutone, and Seakeeper.  Along with the entire Madison family of companies, we are on a mission to make the world safer, healthier, and more productive. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Use strategic principles in the procurement process to optimize the value of sourcing and supplier management.

• Lead the management of inventory levels to achieve on-time delivery and working capital targets of the business.  Leverage data from historical trends, current backlog, and forecasted volumes to develop and implement optimal inventory.

• Simplify procurement processes using 80/20 and Lean tools including ABC inventory analysis, Kanban, VMI, etc.  Reduce transaction volume and complexity through continuous improvement efforts.

• Simplify and optimize supply base.  Develop strategic supplier partners with best-in-class quality, cost, OTD and payment terms.  Seek out partners that can offer additional value-add services such as engineering and design support.  Build redundancy in supply base for high-risk components.

• Manage supplier relationships, develop partnership agreements, develop supplier scorecard system to track and measure performance.

• Develop and track critical KPI’s by commodity and product class including cost, lead time, quality, OTD, inventory value on hand, and DSI.

• Develop and manage cost reduction projects to optimize cost performance.
• Assist in make vs. buy analysis on current in-house manufacturing processes and develop strategy to outsource non-core operations.
• Proactively identify trends in slow-moving products/parts and execute plans to reconfigure/repurpose or scrap to minimize unfavorable P&L impact.
• Participate hands on in continuous improvement exercises across the company. 
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualification and Competencies:

• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain, business, finance, engineering, or related fields.
• Minimum of 3-5 years’ experience as a sourcing specialist and/or buyer with related experience within a business-to-business and/or manufacturing environment.
• Proven track record supplier/commodity management experience in areas such as supplier selection, cost management, negotiation, inventory management and risk management.
• Lean, Six Sigma, Continuous Improvement experience.
• Strong financial acumen
• Troubleshooting/problem solving/critical thinking skills.
• International sourcing experience
• Willingness to “roll up your sleeves” and be in the details with your team and peers

Travel:  Expected10-20%

401(K), Company Matching, Medical, Dental, Vision, Education Assistance, Paid Parental Leave, Vacation, PTO, STD, LTD, and more!