Supplier Performance Manager

Location:

Gorgonzola, Italy

In fast changing markets, customers worldwide rely on Thales. Thales is a business where brilliant people from all over the world come together to share ideas and inspire each other. In aerospace, transportation, defence, security and space, our architects design innovative solutions that make our tomorrow's possible.

Gorgonzola hosts Navigations Air Systems (NAS) domain. The activity of NAS domain: avionics, navigation and radar systems for civil air traffic and technologies supporting the activities of civilian and military pilots, ATC controllers and technicians of several airlines, air traffic control agencies and Air Force around the world. Italy is the Group’s Competence center for the design, production and delivery of Navigation Aids products and Competence Centre for the delivery of non-Radar Surveillance Products.

Main mission:
Manage operational performances for some selected Thales suppliers in close relationships with Procurement, Industrial, Engineering, Services and Quality teams and ensure that all the conditions, internal and external, enabling performances are in place. He/she initiates improvement plans for the selected suppliers in terms of quality and on time deliveries during the execution phase. He/she defines and controls the SKPIs (Suppliers Key Performance Indicators) objectives with the GBUs organization: OTD, Quality.

Activities:

• Anticipation and Continuous Improvement: In order to manage the continuous improvement, put in place the Thales best practices, including lean manufacturing, with his/her suppliers.
• Responsible for the deployment, within the selected suppliers, of corrective and preventive action plans which address process, product, or component alerts from industrial operations.
• Act as a conduit to improve the overall interface between Thales and the Supplier, using lessons learned for the continuous improvement of both parties.
• Develop and execute plans, within the selected suppliers, to eliminate non-value add activities (e.g. the Seven Wastes, MUDA) in both Thales and Supplier processes, consistent with improving the quality and reliability of procured items.
• Deploy, within the selected suppliers, techniques including Six Sigma, DMAIC or Process Failure Mode Effects Analysis (PFMEA) to identify and evaluate the potential failures of process, prioritize actions to alleviate risk in both Thales and Supplier activities.
• Participate to the transverse optimization actions such as Air Supply deployment (internet portal for exchanging data for Purchase Orders and forecasts), specific programs (ramp-up, ramp-down), new KPIs implementations, Reach regulations, logistics.
• Establish high level communication and intimacy with supplier's leadership team.
• For anticipation, identify transformation targets, support associated roadmap deployment through weak signals awareness and risk mitigation plans.
• For anticipation, set up sub tiers mapping to assess risk exposure and propose ad hoc securization.

Crisis Mode:
In case of local supply chain crisis, leads the Task Force with his/her network. In case of Tiger Team at the Group level, can be part of the team.

Reviews, SKPIs and reporting:
Organize and conduct the suppliers performance reviews with the purchase department. Validate and issue the SKPIs for his/her portfolio. Establish a monthly reporting for his/her portfolio. Prepare and participate to the local Suppliers Performance Committees and category performance reviews if needed. Transmit the SKPIs to the group level. Monitor and report on a regularly basis the global performance action plan addressing two main topics: quality and punctuality.

Relationships with the global SPM organization and BLs:
Support Group initiatives in order to improve supplier performances for the Group. Throughout his network, he/she escalates the identification of weak signals (in coordination with Industry, Engineering, Services, Quality and Purchasing departments) to the head of entity/region SPM when needed. Reports the performance of his/her suppliers in category performance reviews when requested by Global SPM for suppliers with low OTD/OCD. Contribute to the knowledge of the complete Supply Chain starting from the tier one supplier and identify the weaknesses. May participate to the Thales IPCA Audit (Industrial Process Control Assessment) and support auditors for the closure of the findings.

When acting under SPM Leader role:
For SPM leader role, he/she is in charge of the management of performances for specific suppliers in behalf of the Group in close collaboration with the SPM organization and Global and Regional Procurement. Such role of Leader is appointed by Global SPM Director (in alignment and agreement with SPM Network). On top of SPM Missions & responsibilities, the SPM Leader must:

• Act as a leader with a global vision of the supplier performance and coordination of SPMs from various entities.
• Monitor Supplier Performance for the group, collect and organise the various root cause analysis done by SPM in entities and align with SPMs in entities needs to audit supplier sites.
• Except when supplier is under Tiger Team or Supplier Development Management, collect the various action plans done by SPM in entities and ensure their correctness, coordinate action plan implementation under a global roadmap at supplier and internally, in relation with SPM in entities and lead performance reviews at supplier, by coordinating SPM in entities.

Education:
Engineering Degree or equivalent. Specialised knowledge of engineering disciplines i.e. Hardware, Software.

Experience:
Experiences in Industry in supply chain > 5 years of experiences. Demonstrable history of managing performance improvement projects preferably in Defence, Aerospace, & Security sectors. Understanding and knowledge of Quality Management principles and systems. Supply chain engineering experience within a low to medium volume environment, light mechanical / electro-mechanical production environment or other relevant sectors. Awareness and use of continuous improvement techniques and practical implementation of lean manufacturing. Experience of operational management, manufacturing and ERP systems, including routings, BOM`s, Concessions, Change Requests etc.

Technical & Soft Skills:
Good Project Management, planning and organisational skills. Good Risk and Opportunity Management, including robust mitigation plans. Strong business acumen, Supply chain, Operations Management, Logistics, quality and Manufacturing. Business and operational planning knowledge MRPII, S&OP, Capacity Management. Supplier Performance management. Knowledge of solutions, products and services. Lean supply chain, manufacturing and services. Data analytics. Problem solving techniques.

Languages:
Fluent in English mandatory. French is a plus.

Ability to work remotely. Capability to influence and to convince stakeholders. Ability to commit and to deliver results. Lead/facilitate team working in an international environment. Demonstrate cooperative behaviour even in conflict situations. Elaborate, communicate and transmit synthetic information. Well-developed communication skills both orally and written. Capability to work closely with others and lead cross functional teams.

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