Head - Supply Chain Management

Role overview

The Head of Supply Chain Management will own the end-to-end supply chain operation at the Kharkhoda plant. This includes procurement coordination, production planning, material planning, inventory management, stores, logistics, dispatch, customer schedule control, supplier coordination, and cost reduction. The position is focused on ensuring seamless movement of materials from vendors to the plant and from the plant to customers, while keeping inventory lean, deliveries on time, and operations closely aligned with production, quality, purchase, finance, and customer-facing teams.

Company overview

SKH Sheet Metals Components Pvt. Ltd. is a wholly owned business of SKH. The company operates manufacturing facilities in Binola near NCR, Ranjangaon near Pune, and Chennai. Its Pune facility, established in FY 2008-09, spans 200,000 square feet with an additional 40,000 square feet planned for addition. SKH SMC produces seat structures, metal fuel tanks for passenger vehicles and two-wheelers, bumper brackets, ISOFIX assemblies, and a range of sheet metal parts and assemblies for Indian and global OEMs. Its customer base includes Volkswagen India, FCA, Mahindra & Mahindra, Renault Nissan, and export customers such as VW, Audi, Skoda, Ducati, and Bentley. The company also runs a facility in Binola established in 2010-11, a Chennai plant started in 2014, and a Germany office to serve export customers more closely and respond quickly to customer expectations.

Key responsibilities

• Take full leadership responsibility for the SCM function at the Kharkhoda plant.
• Synchronize supply chain work with production targets, customer schedules, and overall business needs.
• Drive SCM performance against PQCDSM priorities: productivity, quality, cost, delivery, safety, and morale.
• Develop and manage a capable SCM team with clear accountability across planning, stores, logistics, dispatch, and material control.
• Evaluate customer forecasts, rolling schedules, and monthly production demand.
• Build production plans in coordination with Production, Quality, Maintenance, and Tool Room teams and track their execution.
• Maintain adherence to OEM schedules and coordinate directly with customer SCM teams for changes, urgent requirements, and dispatch priorities.
• Track gaps between plan and actual production or dispatch performance and drive corrective actions.
• Ensure sufficient availability of raw materials, bought-out parts, consumables, packing materials, and child parts against the production plan.
• Work with Central Purchase and Strategic Sourcing on supplier readiness, procurement timing, shortages, and escalations.
• Monitor supplier delivery behavior and push timely corrective action when delays occur.
• Ensure material planning is based on BOMs, customer schedules, stock norms, and production plans.
• Review critical components closely to avoid any production stoppage caused by material shortage.
• Set and monitor inventory norms for raw material, WIP, finished goods, bought-out parts, consumables, and packing materials.
• Control slow-moving, non-moving, excess, obsolete, and dead stock.
• Reduce inventory carrying cost and working-capital blockage through stronger control and planning.
• Conduct regular stock reviews, cycle counts, reconciliations, and physical verification.
• Maintain high inventory accuracy through disciplined system usage and process compliance.
• Oversee stores operations, including receipt handling, inspection coordination, storage, issue, traceability, and documentation.
• Maintain FIFO/FEFO practices, 5S discipline, bin locations, identification standards, preservation methods, and safe storage.
• Ensure GRNs, stock postings, inward records, and material issue processes are handled correctly.
• Track handling losses, storage damage, and material movement discipline.
• Keep stores and warehouse compliant with safety, quality, and audit expectations.
• Plan outbound logistics, vehicle deployment, route planning, dispatch documents, and customer delivery commitments.
• Deliver dispatches and customer deliveries on schedule.
• Monitor premium freight, detention, logistics costs, vehicle utilization, and overall delivery efficiency.
• Coordinate with transporters and logistics partners to ensure dependable and cost-effective service.
• Ensure invoice accuracy, e-way bills, ASN updates, dispatch paperwork, and customer portal transactions are completed on time.
• Coordinate with suppliers on schedule compliance, capacity preparedness, shortages, and quality concerns.
• Review supplier delivery performance and support improvement actions.
• Escalate major supplier risks to the Plant Head, Purchase, Quality, and Corporate SCM teams.
• Support work on alternate sourcing, localization, value analysis/value engineering, and cost reduction with Purchase and Engineering.
• Lead cost-saving actions across inventory, freight, packaging, routing, and manpower productivity.
• Support lean initiatives, better material flow, dock-to-stock reduction, warehouse layout improvement, and digital tracking.
• Improve inventory turns, schedule adherence, logistics efficiency, and delivery results.
• Promote kaizen-driven and process-improvement activity within SCM.
• Prepare SCM MIS reports for daily, weekly, and monthly plant reviews.
• Track core metrics such as customer schedule adherence, supplier delivery performance, inventory value, inventory days, DOH, stock accuracy, dispatch performance, freight costs, and line stoppages.
• Maintain action plans for delays, shortages, red indicators, and other performance gaps.
• Escalate critical concerns promptly to Plant Head and FOP leadership.
• Ensure compliance with company systems, ERP/SAP discipline, documentation standards, and approval workflows.
• Keep the function ready for internal audits, customer audits, IATF audits, statutory inspections, and financial audits.
• Maintain control over material movement, reconciliations, scrap, returnable packaging, and customer-owned property.
• Follow safety, quality, legal, and documentation requirements consistently.

Performance expectations

• Customer schedule adherence percentage
• On-time delivery percentage
• Supplier delivery performance percentage
• Production plan adherence percentage
• Inventory days / DOH
• Inventory accuracy percentage
• Reduction in slow-moving and non-moving stock
• Line stoppages caused by material shortages
• Logistics cost as a percentage of sales
• Premium freight cost
• Dispatch adherence percentage
• Stock audit compliance
• Stores 5S score
• SCM cost-saving results
• Customer complaints linked to delivery or logistics
• ERP/SAP transaction accuracy

Required skills and profile

The right candidate will bring strong experience in automotive supply chain management and a practical understanding of production planning, material planning, stores, logistics, and dispatch. Experience with OEM customer schedules and automotive delivery systems is important, along with strong knowledge of inventory control, BOM, MRP, FIFO, warehouse processes, and ERP/SAP. The role also calls for the ability to coordinate suppliers, transporters, customers, and cross-functional internal teams, backed by strong analytical thinking, commercial awareness, leadership, discipline, ownership, and problem-solving skills. The person should be comfortable working under pressure and handling urgent customer demands while maintaining clear communication and coordination.

Preferred background

The preferred profile is someone who has led SCM in an automotive manufacturing environment, ideally in sheet metal, press shop, welding, fabrication, or auto component operations. The candidate should be able to manage customer schedules, production planning, material availability, inventory, stores, logistics, dispatch, supplier coordination, and continuous improvement in SCM.

Additional information

The source text mentions a few employer and facility details that are relevant for context. SKH SMC Pune was established in FY 2008-09 and operates from a 200,000 square foot built-up area, with 40,000 additional square feet planned. The facility uses advanced manufacturing methods such as robotic welding for seat structures, riveting, self-piercing, and clinching technologies. SKH SMC Binola was set up in 2010-11 to support captive needs, Tier-1 customers, and export customers across seat structures, stamped and welded parts, and stack pipes. SKH SMC Chennai began operations in 2014 and produces metal fuel tanks for Renault Nissan. The company also operates an office in Germany to stay closer to export customers and respond to customer issues quickly.