Materials Manager

thyssenkrupp Bilstein of America, Inc. is a world class manufacturer of suspension solutions headquartered in Hamilton, Ohio USA. thyssenkrupp Bilstein of America supplies products to a wide range of Original Equipment Automotive Manufacturers as well as Aftermarket and Motorsports customers. Our Aftermarket operations are based out of Poway, CA and our Motorsports operations are based out of Mooresville, NC.

For decades, the name BILSTEIN has been synonymous with high tech in suspension design, driving comfort, and safety. In order to expand this position BILSTEIN became a division of thyssenkrupp Technologies AG in 1988, and a wholly owned subsidiary in 2005. This partnership has enabled us to continue the BILSTEIN tradition of excellence.

The Materials Manager is responsible for leading all aspects of customer demand management, material planning, and production scheduling to ensure uninterrupted operations and exceptional customer service. This role oversees Customer Demand Analysts, Material Planners, and Production Schedulers while coordinating closely with Sales, Purchasing, Manufacturing, Logistics, and Suppliers. The Materials Manager ensures material availability, manages production capacity, maintains appropriate inventory levels, drives supplier performance, and implements continuous improvement initiatives to support customer delivery requirements and business objectives.

• Provide leadership and strategic direction for Customer Demand Management, Production Scheduling, and Material Planning functions through a team of managers.
• Lead, develop, and hold accountable managers responsible for customer demand planning, production scheduling, and material planning to achieve business objectives and deliver exceptional customer service.
• Ensure planning processes, systems, and controls effectively support customer demand, production requirements, inventory objectives, and operational performance.
• Provide oversight of customer demand planning activities to ensure customer forecasts, schedules, and requirements are accurately translated into production and material plans.
• Direct the development and execution of production scheduling strategies that balance customer demand, manufacturing capacity, inventory levels, labor availability, and operational efficiency.
• Provide leadership and oversight of material planning activities to ensure uninterrupted material availability while optimizing inventory investment and minimizing supply chain risk.
• Establish performance expectations and key performance indicators for planning functions and monitor organizational performance to ensure customer delivery, inventory, and operational objectives are achieved.
• Review customer scorecards, planning metrics, and operational performance trends; direct corrective actions and continuous improvement initiatives to improve customer satisfaction and business performance.
• Lead the organization's response to significant changes in customer demand, capacity constraints, supplier performance issues, and material shortages by partnering with cross-functional leaders to develop and execute mitigation strategies.
• Serve as the executive escalation point for customer demand, production planning, scheduling, inventory, and material planning issues, ensuring timely resolution of critical business risks.
• Partner with Sales, Operations, Manufacturing, Engineering, Purchasing, Logistics, and Supply Chain leadership to align planning strategies with customer requirements and business priorities.
• Ensure compliance with customer-specific requirements, scheduling agreements, delivery expectations, and internal planning processes.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on planning accuracy, schedule attainment, inventory optimization, supplier performance, customer satisfaction, and operational excellence.
• Establish a culture of accountability, collaboration, safety, and continuous improvement while developing organizational capability through coaching, mentoring, succession planning, and talent development.
• Support business objectives by identifying opportunities to improve planning…