First Quality was founded in 1989 and has grown to be a global privately held company with over 4,000 employees. Its corporate offices are located in Great Neck, New York, with manufacturing facilities and offices in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Georgia, and Canada. First Quality is a diversified family of companies manufacturing consumer products ranging from Absorbent Hygiene (adult incontinence, feminine care, and baby care), Tissue (bath and towel), and Industrial (print and packaging materials), serving institutional and retail markets throughout the world. First Quality focuses on private label and branded product lines.
The Supply Chain Leader for First Quality’s Tissue business will develop and execute a supply chain strategy that will meet the changing demands of the Tissue business in a cost-efficient manner. Establish and manage key business processes and procedures to ensure efficient, repeatable, accurate manufacture, distribution, and warehousing that serve our retail customers. This includes Product Life Cycle, Customer Service, Warehousing, Inbound and Outbound Logistics, Demand Planning, Supply Planning, Supply Chain Technology, and Network Design.
Primary responsibilities include:
- Direct the development of the sales forecast, supply planning, inventory strategy, inventory deployment and Sales & Operations Planning activities in a way that minimizes inventory while maximizing service and production efficiencies.
- Establish Top-to-Top relationships with key retailer Supply Chain Leaders aligning business metrics, data interchange and performance improvement activities.
- Serve as a raw material and planning strategy leader with the ability to transform our inventory strategy and other parts of our overall supply chain
- Lead the development of a distribution network design strategy to assure First Quality has the correct amount of warehouse space in the right location logistically to support continued sales growth, excellent service and cost optimization.
- Manages customer service team to consistently and cost effectively meet customers’ expectations. Develop and implement service performance metrics. Work closely with Sales to use First Quality’s supply chain synergies & strengths as a competitive advantage.
- Work with technical partners to achieve world-class productivity and accuracy through state of the art systems and processes (internal IT project management teams, vendors, etc.).
- Be a formal member of all leadership teams to help lead and ensure cross functional alignment in support of company’s goals and initiatives. Participate in regularly scheduled leadership meetings.
- Create several career paths for developing the well rounded supply chain talent required to support First Quality’s sustained growth.
- Responsible for the development and application of technology across the supply chain.
- Responsible for production and demand planning that provides an accurate product line demand forecast that will allow for synchronized production of plant and supplier operations, deployment of stock, reduction of inventories and maximization of customer service
The ideal candidate should possess the following:
- University degree in Business or related field preferred
- 15+ years of senior management supply chain experience. Operations experience a plus
- Demonstrated ability of managing cost performance, supply/demand forecasting & distribution execution across a variety of product lines from multiple sources
- Experience with continuous improvement methodologies highly preferred – IWS, Lean, TPM, etc.
- High volume retail/CPG experience required
- SAP experience preferred
- In depth knowledge of key supply chain/logistics processes & current best practices
- Capacity to build relationships internally & externally.
- Strong analytical, financial & P&L skill required to succeed.
- Excellent communications skills (verbal and written) and strong project management capabilities.
- Track record of managing, developing and motivating teams.
- Solid judgment to know what is appropriate for the company size/scope.
Work Environment:
- Combination of manufacturing facility and office environments
- Travel will be required to FQ sites, customer sites, vendor sites, and other miscellaneous travel
First Quality is committed to protecting information under the care of First Quality Enterprises commensurate with leading industry standards and applicable regulations. As such, First Quality provides at least annual training regarding data privacy and security to employees who, as a result of their role specifications, may come in to contact with sensitive data.
First Quality is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identification, or protected Veteran status.