US Production and Supply Chain Manager

Something & Nothing is disrupting the global soda category with award-winning premium sodas for conscious consumers across the US, UK, and Europe. The US Production and Supply Chain Manager will own the American supply chain end to end, including production, sourcing, warehousing, logistics, customs, compliance, quality, and supply base development. The role also includes reporting, budgeting, and supporting the US customer service function.

Responsibilities:

• Own the relationship with Green Mountain Beverages, our co-packer in Vermont
• Attend all or most US production runs on site. We are currently planning six to eight US runs a year
• Build US production schedules from the demand forecast owned by our CFO, to group method and standards
• Own yield, waste, run performance and the product quality standards held at our co-packer, and resolve issues as they arise
• Source all US non-ingredient materials, buying against the group deals negotiated by our Global Sourcing lead
• Own US supplier lead times, MOQs and purchase orders in Unleashed
• Own a component readiness view against every US production date and report it at fortnightly S&OP
• Feed US labelling and regulatory requirements to our designers and creative co-founder, who own master artwork
• Own the relationships with our warehouses in Pennsylvania and California
• Own US stock accuracy, conduct regular stock takes, and share a weekly US stock report
• Ensure stock is in the right place at the right time for both coasts
• Own relationships with our US Freight broker and carriers
• Own the US OTIF delivery KPI
• Review logistics costs and find efficiencies across cost, carbon emissions and customer lead time
• Run damages, returns and exceptions monitoring for the US
• Own US customs and import documentation, including inbound chilled ingredients from our UK supplier
• Own US compliance and regulatory processes, including federal labelling requirements, Proposition 65 and state packaging and recycling laws
• Own the process that gets each US label version signed off as legally correct before it goes to print, with external specialist support where needed
• Execute the product improvement plan in the US and feed US findings into the global plan
• Joint lead on reviewing our ingredient supplier and building the case for expanding or moving to a global supplier
• Assess and, when volume triggers it, appoint a second US co-packer
• Assess and, when volume warrants, add US warehousing capacity in other regions
• Find cost efficiencies across the US supply base without impacting quality
• Help us recruit our US Customer Service colleague, then onboard them alongside the UK team
• Support and coach our US Customer Service colleague day to day, together with our UK/EU Customer Service lead
• Attend fortnightly S&OP with the co-founder, CFO and UK operations team
• Own monthly reporting for all US production, warehousing and logistics
• Analyse performance to understand reasons for success and failure, and adapt plan for constant improvement
• Own the US supply chain budget

Requirements:

• Experience running co-packed or contract manufactured production in food or beverage, including being on site for runs
• Experience managing 3PL warehousing and US logistics partners
• Experience owning inventory accuracy across more than one warehouse location
• Experience in building (and re-building) production schedules in line with demand fluctuations
• Working knowledge of US customs and import processes
• Familiarity with US food and beverage labelling, Proposition 65 and state packaging law, or the appetite to own it with external specialist support
• Comfortable owning a region single-handedly in a business where people hold broad responsibilities
• Able to get to Middlebury, Vermont for six to eight production runs a year. Northeast US is an advantage but not a requirement
• Preferably to be currently or previously employed in a beverage or food company