Current Vacancies at AkzoNobel

Job Purpose

To establish and manage the business development and associated activities within Sub Saharan Africa. The main goal is to achieve short and long-term business and financial objectives, and to increase the market share while maintaining the margin expectations of the region. The BDM (Sub Saharan Africa) will develop and execute the Business Plan and Marketing Plans within the targeted Sub Saharan African Region and subsequently work on the execution of such agreed plans to align and maximize the respective marketing and sales effort. The BDM (Sub Saharan Africa) is responsible for meeting business targets that are set during the development of the business and marketing plan, and performance objectives. Provide a support to Business Development in terms of initiating and managing projects.

The BDM (Sub Saharan Africa) will be responsible for maintain and managing relationships with Licensing partner and distributors within the Sub Saharan territory to ensure business standards in terms of AkzoNobel practices and policies are followed.  

Key Activities

• Develop compelling integrated Business growth plan within the targeted Sub Saharan African Region in alignment with global cross-border and country strategies and business objectives.  
• Ensure plans are aligned with and effectively communicated to all stakeholders. Liaise with various the various Sub Saharan Africa country licensing and distributor partners to support any Business Development activity within the region.
• Drive implementation of the initiatives as per agreed cross-border plan and support country marketing teams and other functions in the implementation of the agreed Business Development initiatives.  
• Work closely with the local South African marketing team to design and execute pre-agreed strategies built around developing new business growth.
• Review the effective implementation of the plans in each targeted region on an ongoing basis and provide guidance to the teams to ensure that objectives are achieved. Provide regular status reports to the Commercial Director Sub Saharan Africa.
• Lead and support the development, and/or opening of new markets for AkzoNobel within the Sub Saharan African region.
• Develop effective business relationships and with strategic partners. Such as licensing and distributor partners.
• Manage license renewals and customer partnership agreements and manage and maintain partner status.
• Maintain good relationships with stakeholders
• Be a point of contact in the Business development activities in the region
• Provide accurate demand forecasting to the Demand Manager.
• Work closely with Integrated Supply Chain to ensure the timeously execution of customer orders.
• Work closely with Integrated Supply Chain to ensure license partners work within AkzoNobel agreed safety and quality standards 
• Live the AkzoNobel values and life-saving rules
• Compliance with ISO 9001 / 14001 quality / environmental management systems & corporate Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) management system.

Experience & Role Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business /Commerce  
• Extensive business development experience, developing new markets, and moving products from one country to another
• Verbal & written communication in English and French is essential
• Strong project management skills and experience
• Ability to develop new business and build relationships
• Extensive relevant work experience on African & International projects/assignments
• Understanding of doing business in Africa an advantage
• Extensive travelling within African continent

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Purpose/Key Objectives of the Job

• Plan production with a very high level of understanding tradeoffs between service, stock and manufacturing costs.    
• The role requires a comprehensive understanding of existing and future capacity plans/ constraints at the manufacturing plant, and knowledge of how production capacity can be flexed to meet demand.  
• Contact point to supply planning manager for production plan sign off (handshake).   
• Contact point to factory manager for adherence to plan, constraints and exceptions.    
• Manage all assigned material activities related to production planning and ensure availability for the master production plan in line with MRP parameters and supplier contracts.  
• Ensure planning is aligned to service and OWC KPIs  

Responsibilities

Production Planning

• Manage the MPS/MRP process and resolve exceptions in accordance with IBP rules.
• Master production plan 13-week horizon/ 1 week/ daily release for production plant/ cells while keeping in line with agreements made on capacity.
• Finite production and capacity planning based on factory calendar and EBQs. Make sure the Rough-Cut Capacity Plan (RCCP) process and planned production capability exceptions for Supply Points are managed (x production sites and relevant tollers/TPMs).
• Release production orders to the site in line with agreements made with the site. 
• Review schedule adherence and drive improvement.
• Manage demand exceptions with Scheduler and SP Manager. Support the site schedulers and site with analyses when needed to create visibility.
• Work together with DRP Planner/s to understand customer requirements and incorporate this in the production plan.
• Drive gate keeping meetings with the other departments and support with providing relevant KPI’s to measure performance.
• Provide impact analysis when needed to show the impact of decisions or scenarios to the plan. Support on reporting where necessary.
• Proactively flag potential issues and come with gap closing proposals to mitigate risks.
• Balance service level (OTIF) and inventory targets (OWC), whilst understanding cost impacts on manufacturing.
• Manage reduction and prevention of slow and obsolete stock. Ensure rework and scrapping at the site/primary DC.
• Inputs to inventory strategy including safety stock settings on existing, new and phase-out products.
• Ensure master data correctness & proper housekeeping of transactional data.
• Support projects and process improvement to enhance performance and efficiency of the required planning activities.

Key Performance Indicators

• Service – ensure on time and in full targets (Delivery Capability) 
• Inventory within target levels – both in value and in days
• SLOBs – slow moving and obsolete stock in value
• Supply bias/ production plan adherence (PP)
• Inventory availability throughout the network (DRP)
• Material availability

Job Requirements

• University Education (e.g. Engineering, Business Administration, Economics, Supply Chain Management, Logistics or other relevant discipline) with Degree or equivalent qualification, preferred. 
• At least 2+year experience in Supply Planning in FMCG, Paint/Coating or Chemical manufacturing
• Focused on results
• Good problem-solving skills, able to identify and structure issues, run accurate analyses and synthesize recommendations.
• Strong desire to challenge and improve status-quo. 
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, flexibility and able to work under-pressure.
• Fluent and able to work in English. Understanding and sensitivity to different cultural behaviours. 
• Experience on Supply Planning in SAP and BI, and Accpac
• Knowledge of DRP, MPS, MRP processes and parameters.