Robert Speake
Arden Hills,USA
Summary
- Passionate and experienced supply chain professional with a reputation for clear communication and the ability to maintain a positive, proactive attitude and drive results even in challenging circumstances.
- Highly reliable and always willing to go the extra mile to delight both internal or external customers and foster an engaged and empowering work culture through strong partnerships with peers.
- Respected leader who finds fulfillment in coaching individuals at all levels of the organization, connecting with people on a personal level to motivate and ensure alignment on goals and vision.
- With experience in Europe, North America, and extensive travel across the globe, embraces differences and works collaboratively to achieve positive outcomes that stick.
- Thrives under pressure, demonstrating a bias for action and challenging the status quo to drive continuous improvement.
- Adept at data analysis to drive decision making and skilled at uncovering and communicating the story behind the numbers to senior leadership.
Overview
24
24
years of professional experience
Work History
Sales & Operations Planning Manager
H.B. FULLER USA - HEALTH, HYGIENE & CONSUMABLES
09.2016 - Current
- Transfer to North America following a period of churn and turmoil in the North America Supply Chain leadership and team and poor results
- Successfully stabilized the S&OP team and process within the first six months, resulting in step change in service and inventory profile and perception of supply chain within the functions supported
- Responsible for S&OP process and for scheduling and purchasing for a total of ten manufacturing facilities, eight third party warehouses and several contract manufacturers supporting annual revenue of over $800m and managing inventory of ca. $70m
- Management and budget responsibility of a team of five Master Planners and sixteen plant Schedulers and RM Planners - both on-site and remote.
- Implemented a robust Sales and Operations Planning process and coaching of Master Planning team providing clear and measurable standard work to significantly improve service to customers (SIFOT) whilst improving inventory DOH and profile
- Optimized inventory control with meticulous tracking and analysis and coordination with commercial, operations and sourcing to achieve maximum value from slow moving and aging inventory - reduction in 2023 of 35% of aging inventory and a 20% DOH reduction which continued in 2024 with adherence to process and standard work
- Led monthly S&OP process including Executive review and creation and communication bi-annual volume outlook/budget and measurement against this
- Led supply chain through the ‘supply chain crisis’ of 2020/2021 to maximise output from scarce raw materials and mitigate customer impact wherever possible. This included daily calls with commercial leadership to drive timely decisions and communication and detail coordination with sourcing, operations and logistics
- Key contact for commercial leadership and valued partner for projects to gain new business – using supply chain as a competitive advantage with direct contact with strategic customers to support new business, optimize the supply chain setup and provision of customer-tailored business continuity plans
- Supply Chain Leader for unplanned operational issues, including catastrophic events, to allow operations to focus on addressing the core issue whilst S&OP team addressed creative solutions to limit customer impacts and the communication thereof
- Coordination with my counterparts across all regions globally to ensure optimal supply of material between regions
- Supply Chain Leader of multiple projects including plant consolidations, enhanced demand forecast tool and process, Power BI driven global supply/demand balances, and new ‘Order Management Control Tower’ for communication between scheduling and customer service.
Sales & Operations Planning Manager
H.B. FULLER DEUTSCHLAND GMBH
04.2013 - 09.2016
- Seamless integration of recent Forbo acquired plants into the H.B. Fuller supply planning group including standardization of processes across all plants in France, Germany and Italy
- Management of monthly S&OP cycle including demand analysis and commercial reviews, supply reviews with plants and coordination, preparation and presentation of monthly Executive S&OP review
- Management of the European Automotive Customer Service Team in Mannheim, Germany
- Supply Chain leader for multiple high value projects including consolidation of assets and closure of three plants
European Supply Chain Manager
TREMCO ILLBRUCK INTERNATIONAL GMBH
01.2009 - 04.2013
- Implementation of standardised monthly metrics across all European locations to measure and drive improvements across the supply chain and reporting to senior management via quarterly meetings
- Supply Chain Lead to close manufacturing plant in Washington, UK and transfer production to Germany
- Definition of new portfolio and logistics set-up to maintain service level and minimize inventory increase
- Supply Chain Lead for Navision 2009 within Scandanavia and East Europe including process mapping, creation of documentation and training of key personnel and master data cleansing
- Developer and Owner of EU Supply Chain Balanced Scorecard used to drive the supply chain vision and strategy into the local organization
Supply Planning Manager
CELANESE CHEMICALS
11.2006 - 12.2008
- Mid-to-long term supply capacity planning for five production facilities producing three hundred SKUs on forty reactors
- Management of monthly Sales and Operations Planning cycle, taking demand forecast and analysing via Excel to create supply scenarios, calculating and addressing capacity constraints
- Communication to production sites, Sales & Marketing and to global management via monthly Executive S&OP meeting to agree constrained forecast
- Forecast accuracy analysis (attainment and MAPE) and pro-active communication with commercial team to continuously improve
- Raw materials – implementation of raw material forecasting process supported by SAP Business Intelligence report jointly developed with IT, allocation of raw materials, and coordination with Emulsions internal supply planners
- Inventory – analysis, target setting and monitoring of inventory levels in co-ordination with all production sites to minimise working capital whilst maximising delivery reliability
Supply Chain Coordinator
CELANESE CHEMICALS
11.2002 - 09.2005
- European supply chain planning and day-to-day coordination of three core products (Vinyl Acetate, Acetic Acid and Acetic Anhydride), with sales of over 600,000 mt per year
- Long and short-term production and re-supply planning in conjunction with Celanese global production facilities to ensure customer satisfaction whilst minimizing cost and working capital
- Coordination and communication between marketing, order management, production, laboratory, procurement and logistics (vessel, barge, railcar, road, drum) for all supply chain issues
- Trainer for Supply Chain modules and Super-User for Celanese SAP implementation in Europe
Business Analyst
NORTEL NETWORKS GERMANY GMBH
08.2000 - 10.2002
- Reporting – creation of project reports, spend and inventory analysis, key customer scorecards and investigating and taking corrective actions on any missed or late deliveries
- Prime for SAP implementation – system retirement, training, design, interfaces, communication, data migration from legacy systems, process definition, and support of German SAP Users
- EU prime for monitoring and controlling of physical inventory
Education
Bachelor of Arts - First Class Hons International Management & German
University of Bradford, England
06.2000
Skills
- SAP - prior super user with detailed scheduling / purchasing experience as well as advance knowledge on MRP to drive positive results
- Power BI
- Microsoft Excel to drive data analysis
- Production Planning
- Capacity Planning / Supply/Demand balancing
- Demand forecasting
- Project Management
References
- Joseph Huff, Vice President of HSE, Quality, Supply Chain & Operations, Nexus Circular, Atlanta GA +1 (706) 342 6528
- Andrew Barrett, Vice President of Operations, Sika Chemicals, Marion OH +1 (513) 719 3658
Languages
English
Native or Bilingual
German
Full Professional
French
Limited Working
Timeline
Sales & Operations Planning Manager
H.B. FULLER USA - HEALTH, HYGIENE & CONSUMABLES
09.2016 - Current
Sales & Operations Planning Manager
H.B. FULLER DEUTSCHLAND GMBH
04.2013 - 09.2016
European Supply Chain Manager
TREMCO ILLBRUCK INTERNATIONAL GMBH
01.2009 - 04.2013
Supply Planning Manager
CELANESE CHEMICALS
11.2006 - 12.2008
Supply Chain Coordinator
CELANESE CHEMICALS
11.2002 - 09.2005
Business Analyst
NORTEL NETWORKS GERMANY GMBH
08.2000 - 10.2002
Bachelor of Arts - First Class Hons International Management & German
University of Bradford, England