Raju Nair
Richmond
Summary
With over three decades of leadership across manufacturing, operations, supply chain, project management, and large-scale installations, I have executed multimillion-dollar parcel and warehouse automation programs while delivering $1B+ in savings and driving revenue growth across global enterprises. Recognized as a transformational change agent and enterprise-wide leader, I bring award-winning expertise in restructuring, cost optimization, Lean/Six Sigma, and technology-driven solutions that elevate performance and build shareholder value. My career spans nearly every facet of Manufacturing and Supply Chain Operations project execution, from global expansion and turnarounds to productivity improvements and digital transformation. Known for calm, decisive leadership in high-stakes environments, I unite teams, streamline operations, and resolve complex challenges to deliver sustained competitive advantage and bottom-line impact. Talented professional with several years of experience and successful career in planning, developing, and executing events and initiatives to achieve maximum potential. Creative and highly strategic with excellent leadership and client relations abilities. Professional and outgoing with success in building relationships and attracting new clients.
Overview
30
30
years of professional experience
Work History
Sr. Vice President of Supply Chain and Operation
Koeber LLC
Dallas
01.2025 - 12.2025
- Company Overview: Körber AG - a Hamburg-based holding company specializing in Supply Chain, Pharma, Digital, and Technologies - with $3B in revenue and 12,000 employees. Koeber USA LLC - $300M - 300 employees - $120M inventory, executes parcel, postal, and warehouse automation projects.
- Joined the organization to lead end-to-end operations, driving transformation across manufacturing, supply chain, procurement, customer service, and field installation to strengthen performance and deliver sustainable growth.
- Redoing the manufacturing footprint to reduce costs – moving the operation to nearshore.
- Make vs. Buy Analysis based on Total Cost of Ownership to reduce Cost of Goods Sold by 25%.
- Improved the service performance by 15 points to 80% in the last 8 months.
- Rebuilding the organization for Supply Chain Planning, Quality, and Manufacturing Engineering.
- Improve manufacturing productivity by 15%.
- Led End-to-End Project Management and Site Installation for All Client Projects.
Vice President of Integrated Supply Chain
Mahindra USA
Houston
01.2021 - 01.2024
- Company Overview: World's #1-selling farm tractor by volume.| $10B revenue, 250K employees.
- Responsibility: $500M P&L, $250M Direct Material Spend, $125M Inventory, $50M OPEX, 3 Mfg. Sites – 500+ Dealers – Team: 6 Direct, 300+ Indirect.
- Joined the organization to lead end-to-end supply chain transformation, reducing cost of goods sold, optimizing inventory, and revitalizing the Tractor-Implement business.
- Reduced product costs by 25%, strengthening profitability across the portfolio.
- Achieved record output of 2,000 tractors per month, setting a new production benchmark.
- Increased daily capacity from 22 to 38 large equipment units, driving operational efficiency.
- Recovered $60M in savings from a $400M supplier spend through strategic sourcing.
- Rebuilt a $40M tractor implement value stream, restoring competitiveness and growth.
- Mitigated supplier risk by developing alternate sourcing for critical components.
- Cut inventory by 20% through thedeployment of an Inventory Entitlement Model.
- Revamped spare parts operations, right-sizing inventory to lift customer service levels to 95%.
- Reset the MRP parameter for the business, and implement the inventory policy.
Head of Supply Chain & Manufacturing
Schindler Elevator
Hanover
01.2020 - 01.2021
- Company Overview: Manufacturer of elevators and escalators.| $2B revenue, 5K employees.
- Responsibility: $500M P&L, $300M spend, $100M inventory, $100M OPEX – Team: 7 direct, 500+ indirect – 3 Mfg. Sites, one Order Consolidation Center, and nine Micro Outbound Hubs.
- Recruited during the COVID-19 pandemic as Interim Head of Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and Micro-Fulfillment for Schindler USA Operations, and tasked with stabilizing operations and restoring delivery performance amid severe global disruptions.
- Within one year, I led a comprehensive supply chain and manufacturing transformation that strengthened resilience, improved customer satisfaction, and delivered substantial cost savings.
- Implemented the SIOP process, improving supplier delivery performance from 60% to 80%.
- Introduced the Lean Production System, boosting plant productivity, safety, and quality.
- Optimized inventory with consumption- and value-based classification, reducing stock by 30%.
- Elevated customer delivery performance from 50% to 90%, restoring service reliability.
- Achieved $60 million in cost savings within one year through operational efficiencies.
- Recognized by the CEO for supply chain leadership and performance during COVID.
Senior Director of Integrated Supply Chain
Honeywell
Mason
01.2018 - 01.2020
- Company Overview: American, a publicly traded, multinational conglomerate with four areas of business in aerospace, building technologies, performance materials and technologies, and safety and productivity solutions.|$33 billion in revenue, 110,000 employees.
- Responsibility: $1.6B P&L – $800M Direct Material Spend – $150M OPEX – $20M Freight – $120M Inventory – Team: 9 Direct, 1.5K+ Indirect – 9 Mfg. Sites.
- Selected for an evident leadership position with an executive charter to improve operational excellence, material and factory productivity, and delivery, safety, and quality performance.
- Increased revenue by 70% and enhanced supply chain presence in Europe by leading critical M&As.
- Planned new operations across China and India.
- Reduced fixed cost overhead by 40% and direct material cost by 15% by optimizing manufacturing operations across the U.S.
- Improved supplier network – reduced single-source dependency from 80% to 20%, deployed Best Cost Country for sourcing, with 40% of suppliers in a high-growth region, and 40% on vendor-managed inventory.
- Enabled the transformation of the supply chain organization by rebuilding the supply chain leadership organization, which enabled transformational capability and competency.
- Increased productivity by 10% by deploying Lean fundamentals in the factory, including 5S, Yamazumi, VSM, and Gemba.
- Improved factory delivery performance from 70% to 95%, with a key focus on supplier delivery performance.
Head of Supply Chain & Operations
Caterpillar, Inc.
Peoria
01.2005 - 01.2018
- Company Overview: The world’s largest construction equipment manufacturer.|$60 billion in revenue, 110,000 employees.
- $4.5B P&L – $800M Direct Material Spend – $500M Inventory – $40M Freight Optimization – Team: 406 Total.
- Promoted and earned progressive responsibilities to improve bottom-line performance.
- Transformed end-to-end supply chain and engineered value chain to improve inventory turns, lead time, distribution channel, and sales and operational planning.
- Deployed multiple lean programs, like Built-In-Quality and Right-Part-Right-Time.
- Introduced a lean strategy to reduce lead times for electric power customers.
- Re-crafted the maintenance strategy that facilitated the transition from reactive to proactive, predictive, preventive Reliability Center Model.
- Delivered P&L impact (cost savings) of $900M by deploying six strategic pillars.
- Improved return on sales from -5% to 15%.
- Low-Cost Producer: Conducted detailed analyses of all part numbers, renegotiated purchase prices, and implemented VA/VE projects, resulting in annual cost savings of $390 million.
- Operational Excellence: Consolidated three assembly plants into one in Seguin, Texas, establishing a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. This initiative saved $190 million annually through lean management, improved labor productivity, and enhanced quality.
- Supply Chain Optimization: Optimized material sourcing to optimal countries, reducing lead times and inventory by $172 million.
- Freight Optimization: Utilized Transportation Guru software models to optimize inbound and outbound logistics, significantly cutting lead times and costs, resulting in $25 million in savings.
- Product Rationalization: Conducted a comprehensive portfolio analysis, categorizing products into growth, improvement, and sunset phases, delivering bottom-line savings of $100 million.
- Building a World-Class Team: Established and nurtured a new lean team structure at Seguin, implementing robust training and development programs in collaboration with universities, strengthening the supply chain and sourcing teams - $120M.
- New plant in Seguin, Texas, with improved manufacturing density of 30%.
- Complete the deployment of new processes, systems, and people.
- Improved quality from 20,000 PPM to over 2,000 PPM.
- Inventory was reduced by 33%, and the Supplier Network was decreased from 643 to 500.
- 30% reduction in material downtime, and customer delivery performance improved to 99%.
- Additional savings released beyond $15M to the bottom line by transferring the entire Fabrication Supply Base ($100M spend) to Mexico, with a focus on total cost of ownership, strategic sourcing, and casting.
Technical Support Manager & Senior Engineer
Caterpillar Inc.
01.2005 - 01.2009
- Created an environment for product and process virtual validation for new product introduction.
- Responsible for Design for X - Safety, Manufacturing, Suppliers, lean, and modular design.
- Responsible for $500-600M in major capital deployment for the Caterpillar Engine division, focusing on footprint optimization and supplier development.
- Created a world-class facility for new product design optimization, and trained the team members and station cell design for lean optimization.
Various Role - Op. Mgr , Mfg and Process Engg.
Satyam Computer Services
Peoria
02.2002 - 02.2005
- Responsible for lean deployment at the Caterpillar Engine Division.
- Establishing Work and Time Standards for Engine Assembly Operations.
- Improving operational efficiency and overall throughput.
- Conducting Kaizen, VST, and Line Balancing exercises.
- Improving standard work and team member training for enhancing the quality.
Manufacturing Engineer
Tube Investment Group
Chennai
07.1995 - 01.2002
- Directed process enhancements for brazing, welding, plating, and painting operations.
- Elevated quality across all special processes to ensure consistency.
- Boosted productivity through systematic operational improvements.
- Contributed to core team efforts aimed at reducing total acquisition costs for components.
Education
Doctorate in Business Administration - Operations & Logistics
01.2027
MBA - General Management
B.S. - Metallurgical Engineering
Skills
- Transformational leader
- Enterprise change agent
- People-driven focus
- Results-oriented
- Strong bias toward action
- Tenaciously strives for excellence
- Objective clarity in decision-making
- Team collaboration
- Supply chain management
- Data analysis
- Project management
- Lean manufacturing
- Strategic sourcing
- Inventory optimization
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Operational efficiency
- Quality assurance
Affiliations
Social Services, Literacy, and Physical Fitness
Timeline
Sr. Vice President of Supply Chain and Operation - Koeber LLC
01.2025 - 12.2025
Vice President of Integrated Supply Chain - Mahindra USA
01.2021 - 01.2024
Head of Supply Chain & Manufacturing - Schindler Elevator
01.2020 - 01.2021
Senior Director of Integrated Supply Chain - Honeywell
01.2018 - 01.2020
Head of Supply Chain & Operations - Caterpillar, Inc.
01.2005 - 01.2018
Technical Support Manager & Senior Engineer - Caterpillar Inc.
01.2005 - 01.2009
Various Role - Op. Mgr , Mfg and Process Engg. - Satyam Computer Services
02.2002 - 02.2005
Manufacturing Engineer - Tube Investment Group
07.1995 - 01.2002
University of Southwest - Doctorate in Business Administration, Operations & Logistics
Capella University - MBA, General Management
National Institute of Technology - B.S., Metallurgical Engineering
Training
Training : Six Sigma Belt , Supply Chain Planning, Certified Quality Manager , Certified Engineering Manager , Leadership Development , Personality Development , APQP and PPAP, TS Certification , ISO , Negotiation skills, Import -Export , Reduce Purchase Material Cost , SAP and Oracle Supply chain training , MES training, Visualization tool , MS Suite, New Product Introduction & People Management