KELLY WILLIAMS
MISSISSAUGA,CANADA
Summary
A Procurement, Purchasing, Inventory and Demand Planning Professional in the retail, wholesale, and direct delivery environments from both the operations and procurement perspective. An innovative team leader with strong communication, interpersonal and organizational skills. Strengths in project management, analyzing, planning, and forecasting inventory, sales, and product flow. The ability to lead teams while simultaneously taking multiple projects from concept stage to finished product and achieving company goals.
Overview
39
39
years of professional experience
Work History
Procurement, Purchasing and Inventory Control Manager - Canada
AQUATERRA Corporation DBA Primo Water North America
01.2011 - 01.2025
- Manage the inventory control and purchasing activities for 10 plants and 32 branches across Canada
- Migrated inventory and purchasing functions from Navision to Oracle Cloud with a 5 month go live date
- Documented and implemented SOPs for warehouses, plants and franchisees for inventory control and continuous improvement and training
- Coordinate physical inventory counts and analyze inventory levels, flow, statistics, and performance
- Reduced inventory variances to less than .5% in all locations
- Develop system improvements with IT to improve processes and efficiencies for Procurement, Inventory Management, Accounts Payable and Warehousing
- Oversee the economic and timely procurement of materials for continuous plant operations while maintaining just in time inventory from both domestic and international suppliers
- Negotiate cost, supply methods and terms with new and existing supply sources
- Implement efficiencies in the Accounts Payable department ensuring compliance with procurement and contract policies, guidelines, procedures and signing authorities
- Reduced period end overtime by 90%
- Developed the Canadian Vendor On-Boarding requirements and merged with the US online tool
- Developed and procured for expansion into the Office Coffee business segment and coordinated the development of the operations, sales and warehouse procedures and training requirements
- Maintain sku rationalization
- Member of the Global Procurement team and the Canadian Leadership team
- Procure for new products developed for internal manufacturing and co-packer manufacturing projects
- Co-ordinated the introduction and SOP development of an export program, shipping multiple containers daily
- Coordinated, launched and maintain the Global Procurement Team Sharepoint site and Price Protection Process
- Contributed to the Global Procurement Team Savings of >$14M in 2022 and $20M in 2023
- Managed global RFPs for resale products, raw materials and indirect purchasing requirements
Supply Chain Manager – Regulatory and Product Services Manager
QUADRANT COSMETICS CORP
01.2000 - 01.2010
- Responsible for all aspects of the purchase planning, order placement and delivery from brand owners
- Multifunctional role liaising with all internal departments, brand owners and service providers to meet company objectives
- Maintain government regulatory compliance
- Managed inventory for over 50 prestige fragrance and skin care brands and 3 cosmetic lines from Europe and North America with over 5000 active sku’s at a time
- Negotiated and managed international freight forwarding and custom broker service
- Reduced the duty audit adjustments by 98%
- Developed reports to identify, manage, reduce, and disperse of aged and discontinued inventory
- Reduced non saleable supporting inventory by 56%
- Developed and documented processes and procedures for the Supply Chain and Procurement functionalities
- Established and maintained company compliance on ECCnet (Electronic Commerce Council of Canada), Stewardship Ontario, EEQ in Quebec, and Manitoba and with Freight Insurance providers
- Prepared and maintained all product costing per partner agreements for marketing and budgeting purposes
- Partnered with the finance department to solve product, freight and customs invoice and costing related issues
- Assisted in the selection, successful implementation and ongoing training of a new ERP system, Navision, and the selection of a warehouse management system, Accellos
- Developed and implemented several tools combining Navision/Excel
- Purchase Forecast Tool that increased inventory turns from 3 to 6 times in a year
- Gross Shipment Planning Tool for the Marketing team that increased the ease of use and accuracy of brand planning and deliveries
- Developed Project Management Tool used cross departmentally that increased the timely delivery of requirements and increasing warehouse and reducing labour costs by 20%
- Selected, trained, and mentored a team in the Supply Chain Analyst and Procurement functions
Various Roles in Retail Management and Merchandise Management
VENATOR GROUP INC (Nee: Woolworth Canada Inc.)
01.1986 - 01.2000
- Progressed from retail management to merchandise management and buying for several retail chains
- Researched, formulated, and executed buying plans for designated categories
- Worked in a team environment with buying, merchandising, operations, marketing, field staff and the visual merchandising department to provide retail stores with the necessary tools for a complete retail experience
- Developed new business opportunities in an established retail setting including buying, packaging, distribution, product knowledge, store fixturing and special promotions
- Researched, analyzed, formulated, and executed buying plans for several commodities simultaneously
- Achieved sales, profit and markdown goals while maintaining acceptable inventory levels, controlled aged inventory to under 12 months and turns of 2 to 3.5 times per year
- Managed the timely distribution of product to achieve maximum sales and balanced inventories while achieving liquidation goals
- Participated in the redevelopment of management training programs and staff personal development records
- Held regional workshops in sales and management training
- Facilitated training seminars for launch of new corporate retail computer system
- Recruited, trained, and promoted several team members
Skills
- Purchase Forecasting
- Microsoft Dynamics (Navision)
- Time Management
- Sales Planning
- Oracle Cloud and Oracle EBS
- Team Development
- Inventory Management
- Freight Forwarder Management
- Training & Mentoring
- New Vendor Procurement
- Customs Broker Management
- Advanced Excel
- Inventory Data Maintenance
- Processes & Procedures & SOP’s
- ECCnet
- Eco & Recycling Fees
- ScanMarket
- Spend HQ
- PerAngusta
- Beroe
Languages
English
Native or Bilingual
French
Limited Working
Timeline
Procurement, Purchasing and Inventory Control Manager - Canada
AQUATERRA Corporation DBA Primo Water North America
01.2011 - 01.2025
Supply Chain Manager – Regulatory and Product Services Manager
QUADRANT COSMETICS CORP
01.2000 - 01.2010
Various Roles in Retail Management and Merchandise Management
VENATOR GROUP INC (Nee: Woolworth Canada Inc.)
01.1986 - 01.2000
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