Commodity Manager (Laser Press Break/Castings & Machining) - The Toro Company

Who Are We?     

The Toro Company is a homegrown, Minnesota-based company that has been in business since 1914. We pride ourselves on providing world-class equipment to help maintain the environment that we love, while putting an emphasis on giving back to the communities that surround us. From residential lawns and gardens, to venues such as St Andrews Links and Target Field, we are a company with a global footprint and a passion for helping people beautify whatever landscape they may be in. With 100 years of operation under our belt and an average employee tenure of 15 years, come find out what makes The Toro Company the best place in the Twin Cities to build a career. 

The Category Manager is a highly visible and impactful sourcing team leader, collaborating with multiple positions both within and outside the Integrated Supply Chain (ISC) to help achieve its goals of Operational Excellence and Sustainability. The Category Manager I’s major responsibilities are the development, implementation, and execution of category strategies to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO).  The Category Manager I will also be responsible for cultivating, managing, and maintaining strategic supplier relationships, as well as implementing and maintaining continuous improvement projects. The Category Manager I position is a valuable strategic role within the global sourcing department, contributing significantly to the long-term goals as well as day-to-day operations.

What Will You Do?

• Develop and execute cost reduction strategies to reduce TCO through cross-functional collaborations and supplier negotiations/partnerships.
• Maintain and present category strategy to sourcing leadership.
• Coordinate and implement supply agreements, Long Term Agreements (LTA), Warranty Agreements, and collaborative partnerships.
• Serve as an internal resource and liaison to other areas within the organization regarding supplier capabilities, technologies, market conditions, and business risk/opportunities.
• Manage supplier performance through various metrics such as on-time delivery (OTD), supplier report cards, and quality notifications (QN).
• Lead cost negotiations, payment term discussions, and contract implementations with strategic suppliers.
• Track, report, and reconcile all material price variants (MPV)/purchase price variants (PPV) to ISC and Finance leadership.
• Effectively communicate with internal and external customers on all aspects of category.
• Support escalation process by engaging suppliers as well as TTC manufacturing facilities.  
• Develop and implement lean strategies that align with TTC Operational Excellence and Sustainability goals through methods such as KanBan, Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI), stocking agreements, etc.
• Support TTC Digital Transformation objectives.
• Support multiple areas of the parts procurement process within TTC’s MRP/ERP system.
• Provide direction and support to team regarding category strategy.
• Confidently present to all organization levels within the company.
• Ability to troubleshoot issues of varying complexity as they arise.
• Lead & support various intradepartmental process improvement projects.
• All other tasks and projects as assigned.

Job Dimensions

Interfacing with commodity buyer, supplier quality engineer, advanced sourcing managers, product managers, engineering, legal, manufacturing facilities and suppliers.  This position is responsible for strategic sourcing activities for the assigned set of commodities. Travel both domestic and/or international will be required.

What Do You Need?

• Bachelor’s degree required, preferred in Supply Chain Management, Operations or Engineering.

• Level I = 7+ years sourcing experience or relevant education normally gained by completing degree in supply chain or operations related field.

• Level II = 10+ years sourcing experience or relevant education normally gained by completing degree in supply chain or operations related field.

• Experience in Metals and executing Metals Strategy preferred.

• Supply Chain Management certification, or ability to achieve, preferred.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills to professionally interact with internal and external stakeholders at all levels in the organization.

• Highly self-motivated, ability to work under pressure, manage and prioritize multiple objectives concurrently, attend to details, and meet deadlines in a dynamic environment.