Progressive Distributor

On point

The job of the point person who manages an onsite customer relationship requires specific expertise. Here's a profile of the skills needed to be an effective onsite manager.

by Richard Vurva

Do you know how to spot the onsite manager at an integrated supply account? Look for the person who walks hunched over. Good onsite managers wear so many hats they have to duck when walking through a doorway.

"Jack be nimble" might be the best phrase to include in a job description for an onsite manager. The job of the point person requires a unique blend of people skills, analytical abilities and problem-solving expertise. Human resource experts refer to it as multi-tasking. To the average Joe or Jane, it simply means the ability to juggle several activities and responsibilities at once.

Progressive Distributor developed the following profile of an effective onsite manager. Our editors began building the profile by watching onsite managers at work on plant floors and in storerooms throughout North America. We refined it further through conversations with executives from some of the leading integrated supply companies. Probably most important, it resulted from numerous interviews with end-use customers who made the decision for their companies to outsource procurement activities, inventory and storeroom management, product purchasing, logistics and the myriad of other services integrated suppliers provide their customers.

We boiled it down to the following seven primary responsibilities:
   1) Chief communications officer
   2) Team leader and planner
   3) Systems integrator
   4) Inventory manager
   5) Onsite procurement officer
   6) Customer service coordinator
   7) Director of documentation

Chief communications officer
First and foremost, the onsite manager is the chief communications officer. He or she makes sure suppliers understand the customer's pain and directs activities to relieve that pain.

Kaiser Aluminum's Carl Foltz points out that successful integrated supply solutions are contoured to the individual customer.

"When distributors can listen to each particular situation and have the ability to shape a program to fit the customer's culture, they can be more successful," he says.

It's the site manager's job to be the eyes and ears of the integrator.

"The key thing the onsite manager does is keep our activity aligned with what the customer cares about," says Jeff Senior, a corporate program manager for Industrial Systems Associates (ISA) in Bensalem, Pa. He oversees ISA's In-Plant Store program at 22 Kraft locations in the U.S.

"You need two-way communication," he says. "The customer has to be comfortable discussing issues and helping us establish priorities. Having an environment where that can take place puts us in a position to be successful."

At many manufacturing plants, this can be a sensitive relationship. Although companies have outsourced services such as grass cutting and painting, the storeroom is intimately tied to a company's production process.

"It can have a significant impact. So, you need a high level of trust," Senior says.

Team leader and planner
The site manager is the go-to guy in the plant or on a construction site.

"We look at the site manager as the team leader at the site, but also to leverage some of the team members behind the scene at our field support center, our sales force as well as implementation," says Herb Butler, ISA's vice president of implementation.

He says the manager flexes his leadership skills when he brings together a cross-functional team as part of ISA's Plant Area Management Program. The team consists of representatives from local and national suppliers who deliver technical support, In-Plant Store employees assigned to a specific area of a plant, and a representative from the customer, such as a maintenance supervisor or production foreman.

"Our site manager has to take those three very different team members and have them focus on a common goal," he says.

Site managers frequently participate in production and maintenance planning sessions.

"He or she is in there making decisions, not just sitting and waiting for directions. The site manager often participates in capital planning projects to help identify areas where we can contribute," he says.

Systems integrator
The site manager requires computer skills.

"In our case, we have a remote terminal to link him to our warehouse. He can look into the system and see what the customer needs to replenish his stock," says Jim Beckstein of Mill Supplies in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Past experience working in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) environment is an added bonus. Large operations where integrated supply accounts are most common typically utilize ERP systems such as SAP, Baan or PeopleSoft. The ideal onsite manager understands how such systems work.

Often, plant floor workers may not have PC skills and are unfamiliar with bar code scanners, credit card readers and other technologies used to check supplies out of the tool room. The site manager frequently must teach inventory management software to end-users.

Inventory manager
Understanding inventory management principles is a core competency of the site manager.

"The onsite manager has to understand the principles of securing, moving and managing inventory," says Joe Dugger, executive vice president of Briggs-Weaver in Dallas.

It's not enough just to perform a warehouse function. Good site managers prove their mettle with customers by being proactive. They must constantly be on the lookout for other services or products that the integrator can bring to the table.

But the site manager must never be perceived as just a salesperson. Beckstein says the site manager must take care to maintain proper levels of inventory, even if it means sacrificing sales.

"Your customer has to trust you," Senior says. "There can be no surprises, which means you might have to bring bad news to your customer. When you see a vulnerability that the storeroom may be creating, you have to be comfortable talking about it. It can't be a surprise later."

Onsite procurement officer
One of the more critical roles of the site manager is to manage onsite procurement.

"Even though we have a corporate procurement team that puts together deals that leverage our corporate buying power, we manage that procurement process at the site level," says Butler.

The site manager's job is to get the right product at the right time, not to shove a pipeline full of products the customer doesn't need or want.

The goal of a traditional distributor is to sell as opposed to providing a balance between the service, tech support and the best price.

"The selling skills that are an attribute for the traditional distributor can become a negative in our business," says Butler.

"Normally, you don't want a salesperson onsite," Beckstein says. "You want a detail-oriented person who understands inventory replenishment. They also must understand how to apply the product."

Customer service coordinator
Often, the onsite manager serves as a gatekeeper at the plant, eliminating the parade of suppliers who used to come peddling products for sale.

Dave Smith, manager of supply management at Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation, says the onsite manager is the key interface between Siemens and its supply base.

"That person is responsible for helping us maintain technical proficiency, bringing in supplier resources to continue to present new products and new ideas," he says.

Good site managers act like MRO detectives, always searching for the best sources for the products and services the customer requires.

"We have one contract where we manage 26 service providers for a customer, including janitorial, facilities maintenance and other suppliers," says Dugger. "The site manager has to be aware whenever an opportunity presents itself, or do the investigative work to identify those opportunities."

Director of documentation
Reporting ongoing cost savings is a crucial role of the onsite manager.

"It's the onsite manager's job to do monthly cost-saving reporting," says Dugger. "It's also his or her job to identify new cost savings possibilities and do the groundwork to quantify those savings."

Butler says the site manager at In-Plant Store locations generates regular reports that show progress against key performance indicators (KPI).

"Sometimes those KPIs are below the agreed upon-hurdle rates," he says. "We may not have hit an inventory turn number on the client's inventory. We don't want to hide those things. We want them out there in front as a goal we both can strive to reach."

Senior says running an integrated supply account is like running your own business.

"You need the mentality that whatever it takes, this is my customer. If you don't have that mentality, it's not the right job for you," he says.