Materials Manager

Molex is seeking a Materials Manager to lead the Materials and Supply Planning organization within the Datacoms & Specialty Solutions (DSS) division. This role has end-to-end leadership responsibility for Customer Service Representative, Production Planning, Materials Planning, and Procurement activities supporting the Liquid Cooling Business.

Your mission is to build and lead a high-performing materials team by applying Principle Based Management (PBM) and create superior value for internal and external customers. The goal is to protect production continuity, manage segment end-to-end supply operations, support on-time delivery, optimize inventory and cost, and ensure achievement of revenue commitments.

Location: Tamsui, Taiwan

Our Team

Our team: Liquid Cooling Materials team within the DSS division.

Key stakeholders: Manufacturing, Global Sales/CSR, PM/PjM, Strategic Sourcing, Purchasing, Quality, Engineering, Warehouse, Finance Controller, GS&OP, subcontractors, suppliers, system support teams, and external customers.

What You Will Do (Job Description)

People Leadership & PBM Culture

· Lead, coach, and develop the CSR, Production Planning, Materials Planning, and Procurement teams, with clear accountability, decision rights, performance expectations, and development plans.

· Apply PBM principles to align roles with comparative advantage, encourage principled entrepreneurship, strengthen ownership, and create long-term value for customers and the company.

· Conduct performance management, talent reviews, succession planning, capability assessments, and resource planning to support business growth and operational complexity.

· Build an inclusive, collaborative, and results-oriented team culture focused on customer service, compliance, continuous improvement, and responsible decision-making.

Customer Service & Demand Management

· Lead CSR execution to ensure customer requirements, demand changes, delivery priorities, and commitments are accurately captured, communicated, and managed.

· Partner with Global Sales/CSR and Plant Planners to translate forecasts, orders, backlog, pull-ins, push-outs, and cancellations into executable supply plans.

· Serve as the primary escalation point for customer delivery and supply issues, ensuring proactive communication of constraints, business impacts, recovery plans, and decision needs.

· Align monthly shipment and revenue targets with material readiness, production capacity, and customer priorities.

Production Planning & Capacity Management

· Lead production planning, including backlog review, production order release, schedule maintenance, output monitoring, capacity planning, and shipment readiness.

· Balance customer priorities, available capacity, material supply, inventory, and operational constraints to establish realistic and executable production schedules.

· Identify bottlenecks and capacity gaps early, and partner with Manufacturing and subcontractors to implement recovery, overtime, outsourcing, or capacity expansion plans.

· Drive schedule adherence, backlog reduction, WIP visibility, and rapid resolution of shop floor or system exceptions that could impact customer delivery.

Materials Planning & Inventory Management

· Ensure material plans are aligned with production schedules, customer demand, supplier lead times, planning parameters, and inventory strategies.

· Protect production continuity by identifying shortages and long lead-time risks early, assigning owners, and driving mitigation through expediting, reallocation, alternate material, risk-buy, or production reprioritization.

· Optimize inventory turns, safety stock, and material availability while controlling excess, obsolete, and slow-moving inventory.

· Ensure disciplined management of scrap, engineering changes, quality holds, inventory adjustments, and material disposition.

Procurement & Supplier Management

· Lead procurement execution to secure materials and services at the required quality, cost, quantity, and delivery performance.

· Ensure purchase requisitions and purchase orders are released in accordance with demand, lead time, inventory strategy, business controls, and approval requirements.

· Partner with Strategic Sourcing, Quality, Engineering, and suppliers to resolve shortages, delivery gaps, quality issues, commercial risks, and supplier capacity constraints.

· Drive supplier recovery, alternate sourcing, second-source qualification, lead-time reduction, cost reduction, and supply continuity initiatives.

End-to-End Supply Operations & Risk Management

· Own the segment demand-to-supply execution flow from customer demand through CSR, production planning, material planning, procurement, production readiness, shipment, and revenue realization.

· Establish visibility and governance for major demand, supply, capacity, inventory, supplier, and delivery risks; ensure clear actions, owners, due dates, and escalation paths.

· Lead cross-functional shortage and recovery reviews for critical materials and customer commitments.

· Provide management with fact-based scenarios and recommendations, including cost, inventory, capacity, customer, and revenue impacts.

Systems, Controls & Continuous Improvement

· Leverage SAP and relevant MRP, procurement, inventory, business intelligence, and analytical tools to improve planning accuracy, transparency, and decision quality.

· Ensure master data, planning parameters, purchasing data, and system transactions are accurate and maintained with strong process discipline.

· Drive standardization, automation, root-cause problem solving, and process improvements across CSR, planning, procurement, and supplier management.

· Support global supply chain transformation initiatives, internal controls, audit requirements, and applicable company policies.

Business Performance & Cross-Functional Leadership

· Drive measurable performance across on-time delivery, backlog, schedule attainment, material availability, supplier OTD, inventory turns, excess and obsolete inventory, premium freight, cost reduction, and revenue attainment.

· Convert KPI gaps into actionable recovery plans rather than treating metrics only as reporting indicators.

· Act as the segment’s materials and supply chain leadership interface with Manufacturing, Sales, Program Management, Quality, Engineering, Finance, Warehouse, GS&OP, suppliers, and customers.

· Escalate risks with clear business impact, recommended actions, required decisions, and timing.

Who You Are (Basic Qualifications)

· Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, Industrial Engineering, Operations Management, or a related field.

· 8 or more years of progressive experience in materials management, supply planning, production planning, procurement, customer service, or manufacturing supply chain operations.

· 3 or more years of people-management experience, preferably leading multiple supply chain disciplines or a sizable cross-functional materials organization.

· Demonstrated knowledge of MRP/ERP, inventory management, production planning, procurement, supplier management, capacity planning, and GS&OP processes.

· Strong analytical and financial acumen with experience evaluating backlog, revenue, inventory, cost, supplier performance, and operational risk.

· Excellent leadership, communication, negotiation, escalation, and problem-solving skills with the ability to influence across functions and organizational levels.

· Working knowledge of SAP planning and purchasing processes, including material requirements, planned orders, production orders, purchase requisitions, purchase orders, stock transfers, and exception management.

What Will Put You Ahead

· Master’s degree or professional certification.

· Experience leading materials operations in a fast-paced, high-mix manufacturing environment involving metal processing, machining, assembly, or subcontracted production.

· Demonstrated success by protecting production continuity, improving on-time delivery, reducing backlog, optimizing inventory, and supporting revenue growth.

· Experience with supplier recovery, alternate sourcing, risk-buy decisions, NPI readiness, engineering changes, and quality-related material containment.

· Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Power BI, or comparable business intelligence and data-analysis tools.

· A proven PBM mindset with strong customer focus, ownership, value creation, talent development, and principled decision-making.