Manager – Resin & Indirect Materials (Greases/Solder Paste/Felts, etc.)

Responsibilities

• Lead North America purchasing strategy and commercial management for resin raw materials and indirect chemical commodities, including greases, felts, solder paste, glues, etc.
• Serve as the commodity leader for resin and assigned chemical commodities, with a strong working understanding of polymer/material properties, applications, manufacturing processes, suppliers, feedstocks, and market drivers.
• Apply a basic understanding of organic chemistry and material properties to manage technically complex resin, grease, lubricant, and chemical commodities in cooperation with Engineering and Manufacturing.
• Develop and execute short- and long-term commodity strategies covering sourcing, localization, cost reduction, supply continuity, capacity, and supplier development.
• Analyze total North America spend, volumes, forecasts, material-market movements, raw-material indices, feedstock impacts, supplier cost structures, and total landed cost.
• Lead RFQ, sourcing, quotation analysis, negotiations, commercial terms, and supplier selection for assigned commodities.
• Lead annual cost-reduction activities through competitive sourcing, localization, specification review, VA/VE, commercial negotiation, and supply-chain optimization.
• Support Component Purchasing with resin and chemical raw-material cost inputs, benchmarking, and supplier/material cost analysis.
• Manage supply-chain risks including capacity constraints, allocation, supplier operational risk, logistics, tariffs, force majeure, and material discontinuation or transition.
• Lead commercial activities associated with material changes, production change requests, engineering changes, last-time buys, inventory builds, and supplier transitions.
• Maintain sourcing documentation including RFQs, LOIs, ECIs/PCRs, agreements, pricing records, and supplier commercial documentation.
• Manage, develop, and provide direction to buyers responsible for resin and assigned indirect/MRO chemical commodities.
• Establish priorities, assign responsibilities, review workload, and ensure timely execution of sourcing, cost-reduction, supply-risk, and program activities.
• Develop team members’ commodity, technical, analytical, negotiation, and supplier-management capabilities.
• Establish clear objectives and performance expectations and provide regular coaching, feedback, and performance evaluation.
• Coordinate activities across multiple AISIN North America plants and affiliated companies and ensure consistent purchasing direction and communication.
• Escalate significant commercial, supply, quality, or program risks to Purchasing management with clear countermeasures and timing.
• Lead purchasing support for new programs, including supplier identification, material sourcing, localization, prototype/trial materials, cost estimates, and launch readiness.
• Work closely with Design, Materials Engineering, Production Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Finance, Component Purchasing, and AISIN plants to evaluate material requirements and commercial impact.
• Support material qualification and validation activities by coordinating suppliers, technical data, samples, commercial conditions, timing, and supply requirements.
• Identify potential suppliers and assess technical capability, manufacturing footprint, capacity, cost competitiveness, supply-chain structure, and commercial risk.
• Manage key supplier relationships and act as the primary commercial escalation point for assigned strategic suppliers.
• Develop and maintain supplier and market intelligence including new materials, technology, capacity, competitor activity, VA/VE, cost improvement, and supply-risk developments.
• Prepare and present weekly/monthly status, commodity strategies, cost-reduction results, sourcing recommendations, supply-risk assessments, and management-level presentations.
• Operate with a cross-functional approach and assume additional responsibilities as required by the business environment.
• Other tasks and duties as assigned.

Required Skills and Abilities

• At least 7+ years of responsible purchasing, commodity management, supply-chain, or related manufacturing experience.
• Demonstrated experience in resin, polymers, chemicals, lubricants, greases, or related materials used in manufacturing.
• Automotive manufacturing experience with practical understanding of manufacturing processes, material applications, quality requirements, and associated cost drivers.
• Basic working knowledge of organic chemistry, polymer/material properties, and chemical terminology sufficient to manage technically complex resin and indirect chemical commodities.
• Prior experience managing and developing employees in a larger or multi-site organization.
• Demonstrated ability to develop commodity strategies and lead complex commercial negotiations with strategic suppliers.
• Strong analytical capability including spend analysis, market/index analysis, quotation and cost-driver analysis, forecasting, and cost-reduction tracking.
• Ability to manage multiple high-priority activities, supply issues, program requirements, and supplier negotiations simultaneously.