Commodity Manager

What You Will Do

• Develop, formulate, and implement commodity strategies to achieve cost savings, stability of the supply base, and alignment with company application requirements.
• Develop and lead a Resilient Supply Chain Strategy that identifies and mitigates geopolitical, economic, and market-driven risks for TURCK’s critical automation components.
• Act as a Strategic Business Partner to Engineering and R&D to ensure early supplier involvement in the product development lifecycle.
• Define and drive the strategic RFQ roadmap to ensure the supply base meets future technical and cost requirements.
• Partner with suppliers to provide the quality, price, and timely delivery required to meet Turck's requirements.
• This role will provide direct factory support for the assigned commodity.
• Vendor Management:
  • Develop, support, and maintain supplier relations.
  • Responsible for overall supplier performance in assigned commodities by measuring supplier activities, ongoing engagement, and supplier audits.
  • Effectively manage supplier selection to meet the requirements of commodity strategy, quality, service, cost, risk mitigation, and supplier capabilities.
  • Oversee the quoting process and services to meet customer demands, including supplier stocking programs, supplier forecast, on-time deliveries, non-conforming material, certificates of origin, material costing, adherence to product compliance, and development of prototypes.
  • Direct the RFQ strategy for new and existing business, including final vendor selection and negotiation of Master Service Agreements (MSAs), ensuring seamless hand-off to purchasing for PO execution.
  • Assist product management and engineering in sourcing parts and/or developing parts design and engineering specifications (dimensional drawing, material selection, mechanical, chemical, electrical, or thermal properties, and material approvals).
  • Engage suppliers in the Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) to support new product development and product changes.
  • Monitor supplier performance using KPI’s and lead corrective actions as needed.
  • Conduct regular supplier business reviews and drive supplier development initiatives.
  • Drive the supply base to develop process improvements: make recommendations to improve vendor operations' productivity, quality, and efficiency.
  • Proactively manage end-of-life cycles and develop mitigation strategies (e.g., life-of-buy, alternate sourcing) to prevent production delays.
• Commodity Management:
  • Develop and implement effective sourcing and commodity strategies in support of company objectives and through analysis of company requirements.
  • Investigate, recommend, and develop alternative sources while promoting continuity of supply, consistency of quality, and competitive pricing.
  • Educate themselves concerning commodities they are responsible for and maintain a good working knowledge of Turck products.
  • Act independently to identify and develop supply chain improvement opportunities for given commodities.
  • Execute periodic Market Baskets and RFQs to benchmark current pricing against market indices and identify TCO reduction opportunities.
  • Provide management with forecasts of trends and potential risk areas, specifically regarding single-source dependencies and delivery delays.
  • Develop mitigation plans such as safety stock or alternate suppliers.
  • Manage cost savings through local and regional sourcing.
  • Provide recommendations for alternative materials or new processes.
  • Optimize and maintain system data integrity to drive the accurate generation of automated procurement messages and MRP requirements.
  • Serve as a functional lead to mentor and elevate the strategic sourcing capabilities of the team to foster a culture of excellence within the senior buyer and buyer roles and provide functional leadership to junior buyers.
  • Lead cross-functional workshops to identify cost-out opportunities through design-for-manufacturability and material solutions.
  • Facilitate executive-level quarterly reviews focused on innovation, sustainability (ESG), and long-term capacity planning.
• General Lead or participate in special projects to support departmental or company objectives, emphasizing cost savings, improving manufacturing speed/flexibility, and risk mitigation.
• Train other staff members and department associates in systems, procedures, processes, and methodologies.
• Work closely with planner buyers to ensure consistency in vendor management, support material flow issues, and purchasing functions as required.
• Act as liaison between the supplier and the rest of the Turck organization.
• Support the organization in all new product development, programs, and value analysis/value engineering programs.
• Ensure appropriate product launch plans for the supply chain are in place.
• Single source communication point for Operations to discuss sourcing activities.
• Collaborate with global sourcing counterparts (e.g., TURCK TMEX) to harmonize supplier selection and leverage TURCK’s total global spend.
• Ensure the supply base meets all global regulatory requirements, including RoHS, REACH, and Conflict Minerals (CMRT) reporting.
• Incorporate Digital Transformation. Utilize data visualization tools (Power BI/Tableau) to automate spend analytics and supplier performance reporting, reducing manual data manipulation for the department.

What You Will Bring

• 4-year degree in engineering and/or business with technical aptitude
• 5+ years of experience sourcing, buying from, and negotiating with distribution and/or manufacturing suppliers (including 2 to 4 years with commodity management responsibilities)
• Excellent and proven negotiation skills with proven performance
• Adequate and thorough understanding of manufacturing concepts and knowledge of MRP/ERP systems
• Advanced proficiency in financial analysis, including the ability to build ‘Should-Cost’ models to validate RFQ responses
• Comfortable with international exposure/international sourcing experience
• Desired: CPSM (Certified Professional in Supply Chain Management)
• Experience using data visualization tools (e.g., Power BI or Tableau) to drive spend transparency and performance metrics
• Strong background in several of the following: electromechanical components, electronics components, metal components, connectors and sockets, plastics and rubber products
• Experience using web-based purchasing/technical search engines
• Contract manufacturing and industrial automation background
• Ability to work independently as well as in a team environment
• Track record of being proactive, taking initiative, and demonstrating a sense of urgency
• Solid analytical skills and attention to detail/organizational skills
• Ability to consider and deal with all technical, commercial, and relational aspects of the job
• Familiarity with regional trade regulations and logistic practices
• Executive presence: able to present to C-suite and represent the company to suppliers
• Familiarity with SAP
• Fluency in Spanish, Chinese and/or German