Capital Purchasing

Overview

At Morgan Advanced Materials, our rich history and dedication to innovation define who we are. Since our establishment in the UK in 1856, we have expanded globally, now operating across 70 sites in 18 countries. Our goal is to create a more sustainable world and enhance quality of life. We actively pursue this purpose through the development and production of advanced materials. 

Within our business unit, we specialise in innovating cutting-edge carbon, graphite, and carbide products that deliver outstanding performance. We use our expertise to tackle complex challenges across many diverse industries to provide effective solutions for our valued customers. 

Our products are shaping a better future; from enabling electric cars to charge faster and drive longer distances to maximising the operational efficiency of wind turbines. We are proud to help generate power for billions of people, deliver water to drought-stricken regions, improve the efficiency of industrial pumps, and protect lives both on the land and in the air. 

Responsibilities

Job Purpose: 

This position is responsible for ensuring that a world class procurement approach is applied to the sourcing of all capital equipment associated with Project Zenith. The Capex Procurement Manager owns the end-to-end procurement process for all Zenith Capex sourcing. The Capex Procurement Manager is responsible for the efficient and effective material control of the project equipment and materials from planning through sourcing, expediting, inspection, transport, receipt while working closely with the Project Manager and design teams to ensure teamwork & collaboration to achieve success. The likely capex involved will be in the order of $100m. 

The role is an essential part of Project Zenith which will significantly increase the ability of the Electrical Carbon GBU to service customers in the compound semiconductor sector, specifically SiC. To successfully achieve this the Capex Procurement Manager will need to be empowered to challenge technical specifications, commercial practices, operating practices and business processes with a focus on driving cost-effective solutions.  

The successful candidate will ensure that world class procurement approaches are applied to: 

• Identify and select equipment vendors. 
• Negotiate cost effective deals which incentivise both Electrical Carbon and Vendors. 

• Supplier Relationship Management, including contract & logistics management. 
• Ensure that capex procurement remains within agreed budgets. 
• Ensure transparency of capex spend vs budget and trade offs required to remain with budget. 

This role could be either a fixed term contract or full-time salaried employment. 

Essential Functions: 

• Coordination of all Project Zenith related capex across relevant sites in North America and Europe 

• Maintains a log of all Zenith related Purchase Orders vs Budget. 

• Work with key stakeholders to identify & qualify potential equipment vendors. 

• Works with Zenith Design Authority to ensure that specifications included in RFP’s will be compliant with EHS requirements. 
• Develop and deploy world class RFP approaches to gather quotations and vendor selection for: 

• Capital equipment. 
• Site preparation and Civils work. 
• Ancillary services for capital equipment. 

• Office & Facilities development required on Zenith sites. 

• Coordinate vendor selection and lead negotiation with vendors to agree mutually attractive deals. 

• Including negotiation of variances or extras to contracts. 
• Agrees Terms & Conditions with vendors (this may need a change to Soaps to give sufficient authority to negotiate Ts & Cs). 

• Employs a world class approach to Supplier Relationship Management including contract & logistics management. 

• Monitors supplier performance 
• Leads issue resolution discussions with Vendors where required. 

• Works with the rest of the Zenith Programme Management Office to review and mitigate risks associated with Capital Equipment procurement. 
• Supports the Zenith Design Authority and other stakeholders in making robust decisions regarding equipment acceptance following equipment installation and commissioning. 

Key Performance metrics and objectives: 

• All Project Zenith related capital equipment is ordered and arrives at the relevant site in time for installation & commissioning aligned to Project Zenith commercial goals. 
• Ensures that all site preparation, ancillary services, civil work and facilities work is ordered/commissioned such that each site is ready to receive, install and commission capital equipment aligned to the commercial goals of Project Zenith. 
• Item specific and total Capex related to Zenith remains within budget. 
• Ensures a common approach to all Project Zenith related capex spend. 

•  Ensures transparency of trade offs between, cost, quality and specification in Project Zenith capex spending. 

Qualifications

Core Competencies: 

To perform this job successfully the candidate will require: 

• Understanding of engineering and technical procurement categories. 
• Understanding of a range of procurement and negotiation approaches to agree mutually attractive deals with Vendors. 

• Able to build trusted relationships with internal stakeholders and vendors. 
• Able to have “difficult” conversations without damaging relationships. 

• Analytical rigour and the ability to develop “should cost” models/thinking. 

• Strong problem-solving skills, able to convince others of the path forwards. 

• Understanding of contract law. 

• Understanding of budget planning and management. 
• Ability to bring teams together to resolve issues and achieve targets and goals. 
• Able to prioritise based on business need, mindful of how other people’s time is used. 
• Sense of ownership, pride and ability to see projects through to completion. 

Requirements: 

• Exposure to engineering and technical procurement categories. 
• 6 to 10 years of experience with procurement of “big ticket” engineering equipment – ideally furnace equipment. 

• This could be in a procurement role or in an engineering role working closely with procurement. 

• Strong planning, project management, cost control, sourcing, communication, and negotiating skills are required. 

• Potentially has a post graduate project management/procurement qualification or equivalent experience. 

• A first degree in engineering or business management, potentially a post graduate procurement qualification/certification. 
• Previous experience negotiating high value deals and Terms & Conditions. 
• Experience with Supplier Relationship Management approaches. 
• Comfortable managing and communication with executive level stakeholders 

• Strong written and verbal communication in English. 

• Comfortable with Excel and modelling. 
• Previous experience working with North American and European vendors of engineering/technical equipment. 

Morgan Advanced Materials is an EEO/AA/M/W/D/V Employer Ind-1

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