Tolling Specialist - South Asia

Regional Tolling Manager

1.  Job Title                              Regional Tolling Manager

3.  Job level                          MM2-MM4

4.  Purpose/Key objective of the position

The Regional Tolling Manager is responsible for managing Tolling (AKA Contract Manufacturing) suppliers in the region. Nouryon defines Tolling as providing manufacturing services for a fee by a contractor (the Toller), to a company issuing a contract (including a purchase order) for those services. Tolled services can include, chemical reaction processes, formulation, blending, mixing or size reduction, separation, agglomeration, packaging/repackaging etc. or a combination of these.

The Regional Tolling Manager will be the key contact point for the Tolling suppliers and acts as Nouryon’s representative when managing relationships, contracts, price negotiations and performance. They will support the Business Line planning and specifically the Product Line Management teams in ensuring the needed quantities and qualities of products are supplied, with the proper service levels and at the right cost, to meet the business’ needs. They will work with Tolling Specialists as they implement projects for new Toll productions and take over the ongoing management of those projects once completed. They will maintain a strategic overview of managing Tolling risks, ensuring future capacities and capabilities will be available, to support the various business’ aspirations in the region.

5. Position in the organization - Describe all your reporting lines: (functional, legal, administrative or other)

Reports to Director – Global Tolling.

6. Principal accountabilities

Strategic Oversight

• Develops, executes and maintains regional Tolling strategies to meet existing and future product supply needs for the various businesses. Ensures alignment of the Tolling strategy with the Business strategies and growth plans.
• Runs periodic risk assessments with internal stakeholders and identifies and implements needed mitigations to avoid supply interruption and/or business impact.
• Maintains current insight into the Tolling capabilities and capacities in the market (e.g. by attending appropriate Conferences and Trade Shows tailored to Tolling suppliers) as well as keeps abreast of market changes that can impact the sustainability of Tolling operations.
• Maintains continuous improvement plans for the Tolling network, focusing on performance improvement, capacity availability and cost optimization.
• In conjunction with the Regional Tolling Specialist, identifies suitable candidate suppliers for new Tolling Projects and supervises the selection and approval process.
• In conjunction with the Regional Tolling Specialist, ensures appropriate protection for Nouryon’s intellectual property, know-how and trade secrets.

Toller Management

• Establishes and maintains partnerships with the Tollers including negotiation and management of contracts, in collaboration with internal stakeholders to meet the needs of the businesses.
• Collaborates & coordinates with internal stakeholders for optimal management of Tollers and risk associated including ensuring capacity availability and production performance.
• Negotiates pricing and supply contracts with the Tollers, understanding total cost of ownership for Nouryon and estimating cost structure and profitability using tools such as clean sheets and ‘should cost’ analyses to ensure competitive and sustainable supply. Ensures SAP is updated with the current pricing, BOM’s and investigates (in conjunction with Tolling Specialists) and approves variances.
• Review performance routinely with the Tollers (e.g. Raw Material and yield reconciliations) as well as internal stakeholders and develops and implements corrective action plans.
• Together with Business Planning, maintains a medium to long term production plan and capacity evaluation at the Tollers.
• Organizes and leads audits of the Tolling suppliers as needed.

Liaison & Project Support

• Actively supports new Tolling initiatives lead by Tolling Specialists by identifying, negotiating and establishing contracts with new Tolling Suppliers.
• Provides market intelligence for Tolling options, capacities, capabilities and pricing strategies.
• Maintains a Tolling market intelligence database for the Region.
• Liaises with internal functions for identification and resolution of quality and performance issues.
• Supports Business Planning’s Site Management Reviews (SMRs) of Tolling Operations by ensuring alignment with business expectations and needs.

Improvements

• Coordinates internally and with the Tollers to establish performance parameters. Evaluates the Tollers against the performance and agrees action plans to bring improvements.
• Optimizes the Tolling supply chain in terms of operational total cost of ownership to deliver value to the business.
• Establishes a continuous improvement mindset with the Tolling partners with an aim to optimize performance for Nouryon.
• Identifies and leads projects that help bring improvements in performance and costs related to Tolling operations.
• Ensure best practices are implemented in the management of routine Tolling operations.

Works with all Tolling suppliers  in the Region.

7. Functional responsibilities/Network

• Owner and executor of Regional Tolling strategy.
• Custodian of Tolling relationships and contracts.
• Acts as external interface in Nouryon for Tolling and as Nouryon’s representative to Tollers.
• Coordinates the liaison with all the relevant functions within Nouryon as a single point of contact for Tolling.
• Interacts extensively with Tollers externally.
• Participates in regional exhibitions and conferences relevant to the core responsibilities to maintain current insight into the market for Tolling service provision.

8. Job context

Nouryon as a leading speciality chemicals manufacturer maintains a global manufacturing footprint and a complex supply chain of intermediates and finished products. Tolling augments Nouryon’s manufacturing footprint by supporting in capacity and capability availability as well as regional manufacturing footprint. With around 100 active Tolling suppliers globally representing 3-4% of Nouryon’s volume, Over the last few years, there has been increased reliance on Tolling to allow for a faster response to changing market conditions, such as providing optionality, overflow capacity and regional expansion, to enable faster new product introductions and to support continued growth in a capital constrained business environment.  The Tolling organization is in place to ensure a cohesive, company level strategy and approach towards Tolling.

The Tolling function focuses not only on strategic aspects of contract manufacturing but also on the stewardship and sustainability of the operations and performance management. The function liaisons with many internal stakeholders and functions and acts as a single point of contact. The core responsibility is to ensure business continuity at optimized cost and through streamlined supply chain. The Tolling function supports day to day operations as well as short term planning and inventory management by the Business Planning function and provides one of the key options in the IBP supply planning cycle. Risks to safe and reliable operations are identified and mitigated by the Tolling function through liaison with the relevant stakeholders.

The function builds its strength on strong alignment with the business, deep understanding of Nouryon’s strengths & Intellectual Property, breadth of cross functional interactions and robust project management. The multi-faceted leadership requires the incumbents to not only be functionally strong but also proactive in communication, results focused and able to multi-task without losing focus on the bigger picture.

9. Job requirements, qualifications, and practical experience

• Bachelor’s/Academic Degree in Supply Chain Management, Materials Management or a related scientific discipline, with at least 5 years’ experience in Procurement, Supply Chain or Tolling
• Will possess and/or develop an extensive network of contacts at tolling suppliers and companies with relevant manufacturing capabilities.
• Proven commercial acumen and data driven decision making with a working knowledge of strategic sourcing, contract negotiation and management, supplier management and operations planning.
• Leadership experience is preferred.

Attributes:

• Self-starting
• Result oriented, with a data driven approach to analyzing complex problems
• Able to operate in situations with uncertainty and ambiguity.
• Strong communication skills to be effective in collaborating with team members at many levels of the organization.
• Strategic thinking and an aptitude for building long term, effective relationships with external suppliers.

Travel required up to 50%.