To manage the Product portfolio and Profitability. Understanding the product profitability by Industry, Customer and SKU. Manage Product rationalization, specification changes and New product Introduction. Central coordinator for assigned segment for Market mapping, opportunity tracking, new product development & launch, market intelligence, Customer feedback, tracking competitor activity with a product portfolio approach. The job holder works as a bridge between regions & functions to facilitate cross-pollination of ideas & success stories to ensure faster horizontal replications globally. Also the Job holder need to work with different manufacturing plants to rationalize the product mix for better profitability.
Aditya Birla group invested in first plant in Thailand which today stands at 100,000 TPA capacity and a turnover of USD 270 Mn. Group has invested in second plant at vilayat with an installed capacity of 72000 TPA capacity which starts producing from Oct 2013 onwards.
As part of 65/10 plan Epoxy business has set a strategy to grow upto USD 1 Bn in revenue. Business today produces 383 different grades, 3000+ SKUs and consumes 283 different raw materials. In oct13 in order to solidify its position in European epoxy resin market, it acquired CTP Gmbh.
Business exports sizable share of its production (~ 65% post vilayat startup) to more than 40 countries around the globe. The customer list consists of many reputed MNCs.
Job context:
1. Epoxy resin is a performance polymer and is consumed by a very large and diverse applications
2. From the product life cycle perspective Epoxy resin is in growth phase and number of application is growing. Due to this reason the customer base is fragmented.
3. Global industry is growing at 5% YOY against which Epoxy business has grown historically at 14 % Year on Year. With investment in India plant and acquisition of CTP in Europe the business has targeted exponential growth to achieve a top line of USD 666 Mn by 2016.
4. Globally business competes with global players like Dow, Momentive, Huntsman, Formosa and Kukdo, who have global clientele and very high brand recall.
5. Value Added Products are the key focus area for growth of epoxy business, which is dominated by Momentive & Huntsman
6. Epoxy systems being performance polymers require very long customer approval lead times. Typically it ranges from 6 months to 3 years, depending upon application & qualification systems at various customers.
Major Challenges:
1. Constant Change of various geopolitical, legal, macro economic changes, environmental issues, technology shifts, changes in duties etc. globally and formulating & implementing business growth plan and achieving the same.
2. Due to change in GSP duty structure and FTA scenario between countries and region, it is crucial to rationalize the product portfolio in different manufacturing locations to avail the duty benefit.
3. Profit erosion due to commodity products and competitive situation. Shift in product portfolio from Regular to Specialty is the key for profitable growth. Detailed understanding of all the applications in assigned segment
4. Identification and deployment of knowledgeable distributors in all major markets, effective training, aligning to our strategy and implementation of sales and marketing objectives through them.
5. Building new product pipeline is the key for Profitable growth. Understanding of shortfalls of our products (if any) and Co-ordinating with R&D teams for timely new product development.
6. Co-ordinating with global and Regional sales teams for horizontal replication of new applications, products and success stories.
7. Tracking of competition product offerings on real time basis and proposing timely action plans. Tracking the raw material pricing scenario both global and regional. Pricing strategy is the crucial for growth.
KRA (Accountabilities) (Max 1325 Characters)
Supporting Actions (Max 1325 Characters)
KRA1
Develop Product Portfolio Strategy
Focus products - Target segment
Develop and implement global / regional strategies jointly with regional sales team, for enhancing growth of assigned products portfolio
1. Develop a multiyear product plan that addresses industry, product segment and market needs.
2. Partner with Regional teams to anticipate, understand and proactively manage changes in product life cycle to maximize profitability.
3. Co-ordinate with global sourcing and operations and support for product and RM planning.
KRA2
Develop, collate, Track and utilize market intelligence for better decision making.
1. Visit customers, their end customers, universities, R&D partners to gather changing needs of end customers.
2. Plan and conduct segment and region specific secondary market research. Apply qualitative and quantitative techniques to interpret the data, formulate reports indicating recommendations based upon the research findings.
3. Support business managers and provide insights for growth opportunities, product replication and new product launches.
4. Conduct market intelligence research and benchmarking across segments and regions.
KRA3
Products - Pricing strategy
Develop the Regional pricing strategy and communicate the Pricing guidelines to the Global and Regional Managers. Generate the price variance analysis on monthly basis and identify the Gap and implement the corrective action for better profitability. Also track the key Raw material price movements and communicate on monthly basis to the Sales team .
KRA4
New product launches and annual Revenue plan for New products.
Understand the customer requirements
Co-ordinate with SCM, R&D and planning teams for timely development and launch of new products. Define the annual plan for New products and communicate to the Regional team. Quarterly review on the New products pipeline projects with R&D. Work closely with R&D to align the external resources for core business growth.
KRA5
Development of product literatures & success stories and product promotion information
Work closely with R&D team and end customers to identify critical Unique selling propositions and promote the same through technical literatures, presentations, leaf lets and success stories.
KRA6
Manage the Slow moving Goods Inventory ( SMOG )
