Category Analyst – Package Transport

About the role

Morton Salt is an iconic company with a strong heritage and a bright future. Since 1848, we have been improving lives and enhancing everyday moments—at home, at work, and virtually everywhere in between. The Category Analyst plans, sources, and negotiates transportation services for their assigned transportation category (package truck & intermodal transport) to provide the organization the lowest total cost to serve and ensures that carriers and suppliers meet KPIs, SLAs, and contractual obligations.

Success in this position is primarily measured by cost reduction/avoidance impact, successful management of suppliers, and the ability to collaborate with other departments on transportation-related projects, providing a high level of service to the company.

Responsibilities

• Procure and execute the company’s package transport business.
• Work closely with sales and marketing to respond to forecast changes, sales spikes, volumes, and trends in real time.
• Review freight bills that do not match expected costs, make corrections, approve for payment, and perform root cause analysis for discrepancies.
• Monitor and report on supplier performance and cost performance using operational and cost metrics; investigate and resolve service issues.
• Review actual costs vs. budget by performing analysis and forecasting as required.
• Develop best practice tools, templates, and processes.
• Prepare RFIs, RFPs, and RFQs; lead negotiations with providers to achieve competitive rates and mitigate price increases.
• Work with Legal and internal stakeholders to complete required contracts.
• Interface independently with internal and external customers at all levels, including senior leadership.
• Participate in or lead special projects; communicate findings/results to the logistics team, manufacturing facilities, and others as required.

Travel Required: Approximately 15% annually.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree preferred, with preference toward Business, Logistics, Supply Chain, or Operations Management, or 5 years of experience in Supply Chain, Operations, and/or Project Management, or 3 years working with transportation shipment execution and/or freight procurement.
• Experience with internet-based load management (track and trace) software.
• Familiarity with package freight transportation equipment and transportation regulatory requirements preferred.
• Experience with SAP, Warehouse Management or Transportation Management systems, Business Warehouse or similar reporting packages, databases, and analytical tools highly preferred.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to interact confidently with various levels internally and externally.
• Able to work independently as well as across functional or matrix team structures.
• Ability to influence and build consensus around proposed opportunities within and outside of Supply Chain (Transportation, Customer Supply Chain, Sales & Marketing, Finance, Operations, etc.).
• Strong analytical skills with a high level of organization, follow-through, and accuracy; ability to collect, organize, analyze, and disseminate information with attention to detail.
• Well-developed relationship-building, problem-solving, decision-making, negotiation, data extraction, and analysis skills.
• Able to prioritize and manage multiple projects simultaneously; strong track record for execution and follow-through when managing critical deadlines.