Commodity Manager MRO, Services.& Equipment

Company:

Interested in joining a winning team? A team whose employees are empowered to make a difference?

Organizational context and job purpose

The INEOS O&P USA business manufactures and markets Ethylene, Propylene, Butadiene, Polypropylene and Polyethylene.  Manufacturing sites include Chocolate Bayou Works (Alvin, TX), Battleground Manufacturing Complex (LaPorte, TX), and Carson PP Unit, (Carson, CA), with a division office in League City,

The Commodity Manager, MRO, Services, and Equipment will provide leadership and management of the MRO/M/EPC team, consisting of capital projects, TAR procurement, and specialized procurement services in key engineering areas.

The role will set direction for the MRO/M/EPC team consistent with the overall business functional strategy, ensuring that its purpose and capability are fully understood across procurement and by the O&P businesses across the US. 

The role will be a ‘working leader’ and possess expertise in either large capital project procurement or a specialized area of engineering procurement.  The Commodity Manager negotiates multi-year, multi-million-dollar contracts ($5-$250 million) for critical services, materials and strategic capital projects.

The post-holder will be expected to provide leadership across both areas of the team’s responsibilities, as well as utilise their expertise to deliver in one of the roles within the team.  The Commodity Manager integrates the strategic approach across other INEOS North American as well as working closely with counterparts in the INEOS Global Procurement Network.

The Commodity Manager must have in depth technical knowledge of the chemical manufacturing operations and the critical mechanical needs of those operations. This position requires integrating the technical requirements of those who maintain the processing equipment and the contractors who provide the services to maintain that equipment. The Commodity Manager must have in-depth knowledge of plant maintenance and construction practices as they evaluate supply proposals from a broad cross section of contractors.

The position requires a detailed understanding of contract law and what value the terms and conditions hold in a sophisticated contract negotiation. These legal concepts include seller indemnifications, limitations of liability, warranties and guarantees (length and monetary value) and legal remedies.

In addition to having a base of technical knowledge and project management skills, the Commodity Manager must have a broad base of interpersonal skills that leads a diverse group of technical and managerial personnel through a complex decision-making process as strategic sourcing decisions are made.

The Commodity Manager is also required to interact with all levels of internal management as well as with all levels (including VP) of peer management in the industry and with INEOS’ strategic suppliers. Recognition in the industry is critical to the position as the Commodity Manager represents INEOS’ position on any number of issues to the industry.

Job performance and delivery in this role is defined by the successful negotiation of major site service contracts, capital project construction contracts and materials acquisition for maintenance/repair & operation (MRO). This is not only measured by lowest total overall cost but includes the successful negotiation of favorable contract terms and conditions that provide more than adequate protection for the assets of INEOS including indemnities, liabilities, warranties, guarantees and remedies.

How the Role Fits In:

Internal           

The job holder will need to work with the Capital management teams both centrally and within the sites to ensure future demand is visible and hence rigorous, professional procurement processes can be applied to all spend. 

This role will have significant interface across the O&P Procurement leadership team, site engineering teams and site procurement teams. 

Depending on the additional responsibilities of the post-holder (projects or specialist procurement), the role will interface with O&P project engineering teams, and other Ineos businesses to identify opportunities for leveraging scale and developing a single sourcing strategy for their area of specialism.

The job holder will also work with the engineering and technical community to make progress on sourcing equipment and material manufactured in Asia or other advantaged locations.

External

Changes in the external market environment for raw materials, engineering, construction, services, and materials will influence cost saving opportunities and inform preferred procurement strategies.

When sourcing from Asia or other global locations, this role will have significant exposure to that marketplace and suppliers to play a leading role in driving the project activity.

Responsibilities AND Accountabilities

Leadership

• Set the strategy and direction for the MRO/M/EPC team.  Communicate this strategy and direction to the procurement teams as well as ensuring that the business groups (Olefins, PE, PP, Pipeline) and Operations understand how the MRO/M/EPC team will engage and align to support their needs.

• Continually monitor the effectiveness of the services provided by the MRO/M/EPC team and drive continuous improvement in performance from the team and efficiency of service delivery.

• Work in partnership with the Site Procurement Manager to ensure that the engagement mechanisms and partnership between the teams is highly efficient and providing value to the business.
• Build the MRO/M/EPC team and ensure the right talent is secured and developed to provide the highest level of procurement services across O&P USA.
• Provide day-to-day leadership and management of the team, ensuring clear performance objectives are set, priorities are clear, and resources are secured to deliver against expectations.
• Act as a coach and mentor to the MRO/M/EPC team to grow capability.

Development and Support

• The role will lead and develop a network of Procurement professionals whose aim is to provide enhanced expertise in key procurement activities.
• Support the O&P USA Procurement Manager in driving improvements within US Procurement.  A key part of the network responsibilities will be to:
  • Identify and share best practices across the INEOS US sites.
  • Build capability of the Buyers to ensure continuous improvement and talent development.
  • Identify new tools to enhance the efficiency of the site teams and the network.
  • Ensure a professional and thorough approach is adopted consistently across the network to maximize the optimisation opportunities.
• Design, monitor and report on appropriate Key Performance Indicators across O&P USA (Working Capital Management, Payment Terms etc) for multi-site procurement activities.
• Drive improvement in the adoption and utilisation of key procurement tools to drive operational efficiency.
• In partnership with the Manufacturing Procurement Manager and counterparts in other INEOS US-based businesses, the role is responsible for securing pan-USA/Global deals with key suppliers, providing services to multiple sites.
• Support the Manufacturing Procurement Manager in forging stronger links with other INEOS businesses, with a view to identifying multi business 3rd party agreement opportunities.

Implementation and Management of strategic, tactical, and innovative procurement and supply chain proposals/plans that add measurable value to the business.

• Maintain deep knowledge of the specific markets – labor, commodities, energy.
• Use knowledge of the market dynamics in other industries to help shape procurement strategies for O&P that leads to lower cost sourcing opportunities.
• Understand cost and value at all points in the supply chain to determine where the procurement leverage resides and exploit those points of leverage to the benefit of INEOS.
• Understand and effectively utilize project management principles and skills to bring discipline to the contracting process. Lead and manage the integrated, multi-functional strategic sourcing process and team for the acquisition of the given material or service.
• Lead and manage the capital project procurement process with the goal of executing the project at the lowest cost.
• Develop sophisticated bid packages that create differentiation between suppliers.
• Use knowledge of supplier & industry cost structures to evaluate complex supply proposals.
• Define sourcing channels (sole source, strategic alliance, multi supplier “bidding” process) that lead to lowest cost procurement.
• Work closely with site maintenance, operations, and technical teams to determine the specifications or the scope of work for the low-cost procurement of goods and services.
• Use knowledge of external market conditions, internal technical requirements, and supplier motivations to develop complex negotiating strategies.
• Provide supply options and solutions that meet the needs of the manufacturing operations and maintenance organizations.
• Lead performance management for the assigned commodity portfolio by determining how much cost did the procurement activity remove from the system.

Build robust external supply base of critical service contractors and material suppliers across the portfolio of required services and materials.

• Provide multiple competitive procurement options in any particular service or material segment.
• Utilize strong analytical and problem-solving skills to evaluate dissimilar, multi-faceted supply proposals that leads to selection of the lowest cost supply option for INEOS.
• Work in conjunction with Manufacturing Procurement Manager to ensure proposed suppliers meet INEOS expectations for safety and technical capability.
• Interact with senior management and owners of the contractor supply base to understand critical drivers and needs of those service providers that ultimately leads to lower cost procurement.
• Represent INEOS O&P on the Operating Committee of the Houston Business Roundtable interacting with industry peers and contractor companies with the objective of understanding the marketplace dynamics for maintenance and EPC services.
• Support the integrity of financial transactions through review and approval of requests for changes to SAP vendor master data.

5.  Ensure the assets of O&P are adequately protected via robust contract development and negotiation of the underlying contract terms and conditions.

• Understand the value of a robust set of contract terms and conditions to the business.
• Aggressively negotiate protections in form of indemnifications and limitations of liability
• Capture additional value in the contracting process by negotiating extended warranties and well-defined final acceptance of work criteria.
• Develop creative negotiating tactics to maximize financial recovery in a warranty claim.

Be a source of positive cash delivery to O&P especially at bottom of cycle.

• Use Contract compliance, performance management and relationship management as a means of adjusting contractor compensation.
• Require contractor productivity improvement and effective outsourcing of non-core activities.
• Leverage aggregated Network spend across the INEOS businesses in North America
• Expand sourcing options to China through routine interaction with the China Procurement Office
• Analyze inefficiencies in contractor spend looking for potential large dollar value capture.
• Streamline existing procurement processes.
• Develop vendor managed inventory scenarios thereby reducing working capital and releasing cash to the business.
• Explore noncash payment options (i.e., barter) on a case-by-case basis
• Work with service contractors and INEOS operating personnel to lower fixed costs through improvements in productivity and quality of services.

Skills & Knowledge Required

Education/Experience

• Degree in an engineering or chemical discipline
• 15 years of engineering/maintenance/operations/procurement experience
• Previous leadership experience and management
• Experience in working across multiple sites with a track record of identifying and sharing best practices.

Skills/Competencies

Technical skills

• Exceptional, demonstrated commercial and negotiation skills.
• In depth understanding of the technical challenges of plant operations
• Excellent project management skills and/or expertise in specialized engineering discipline
• Strong analytical. critical thinking and complex problem-solving abilities.
• Change management skills.
• In depth knowledge of procurement and supply chain processes
• Knowledge and understanding of the value of contract terms & conditions.
• Knowledge of industry and external labor and commodity market dynamics
• Knowledge of international markets and economic conditions
• Strategic and tactical planning skills

Behavioural skills

• Excellent leadership skills, with the ability to grow and develop teams.
• Performance Management focus, good at developing SMART goals and KPI’s and routinely provides interactive reviews.
• Well-developed influencing skills across organisational boundaries.  Able to positively impact business decision making.
• Experienced in working in a multi-national and/or virtual team.
• Ability to create a vision to realize business objectives.
• Highly organised and able to drive a team to deliver against deadlines and co-ordinate activity across multiple workstreams.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and able to drive action and achieve results even in times of uncertainty.
• Has a proactive approach to problem solving, together with the ability to make decisions and justify those in times of conflicting demand, controlling issues as they arise whilst challenging the status quo.
• Commercially astute with the ability to act on opportunities quickly to gain business advantage with 3rd party suppliers.
• Skilled in identifying commercial opportunities through analysis of the fundamental business drivers.
• Highly effective communicator.
• Change agent, constantly seeking opportunities for improvement and supporting the organisation through periods of fast paced change.
• Strong negotiator.
• Performance coach and mentor.
• Effective at building internal and external networks.

Our culture is one of honesty and integrity with an emphasis on safety, health and environmental performance.On our team, people are acknowledged for embracing new practices that help create real value for customers.