EVP – Supply Chain — Aftermarket Franchise

The mandate

A North American aftermarket network holds substantial inventory yet still experiences vehicle-off-road shortages. Concentrated suppliers support ageing tooling, while distributor forecasts and supersession rules create stock in parts with declining demand. Recent sub-tier interruptions showed that purchase orders and safety stock do not constitute recovery. The board has authorised an urgent supply-chain seat outside the annual plan.

The EVP will lead a US$11,500 million regional revenue and programme perimeter influencing 1,875 employees and partners. Accountability spans procurement, planning, logistics, inventory, distribution, supplier quality coordination, resilience and supply talent. Service owns customer priority; engineering owns technical substitution. The EVP owns whether parts can reach the right repair economically across the installed fleet.

Resilience will be mapped by part family and failure consequence. A low-volume safety component with unique tooling requires different protection from a fast-moving maintenance item. The team will identify sub-tier materials, drawings, tooling condition, qualified alternatives, transport routes and time to restore. Dual-source status is valid only after production, approval, commercial and logistics evidence exists.

Inventory decisions must incorporate fitment and lifecycle. Superseded parts may be interchangeable technically but not approved for every vehicle or market. End-of-production demand can be volatile, and remanufacturing depends on return cores. The EVP will segment stock by customer criticality, demand confidence, lead time and recovery option, replacing blanket turns targets with explicit service-and-cash choices.

Why this seat is open

The requirement arose after a supplier interruption revealed split accountability across procurement, planning and service. There is no predecessor. Interim teams are containing priority shortages, but permanent authority is needed within four to six weeks. The hiring is not connected to an undisclosed compliance case.

What you will own

• Establish end-to-end supply assurance by part family and customer consequence.
• Verify source, tooling, sub-tier, logistics and substitution recovery.
• Rebalance inventory using fitment, failure, lifecycle and service evidence.
• Restructure supplier governance around capacity truth and recoverability.
• Improve distribution flow, expedite discipline and working-capital productivity.
• Build successors across procurement, planning, logistics and resilience.

A parts-control room will focus on exceptions that require enterprise choices. It will join dealer back-orders, predicted failures, inventory location, supplier recovery and engineering substitution. Expedites must record root cause and avoided customer consequence; repeated premium freight will trigger planning, source or master-data correction. Allocation rules during scarcity will be transparent and approved before commercial pressure distorts them.

Supplier interventions will distinguish temporary support from structural dependency. Where the firm funds tooling repair, working capital or capacity, it will secure access, milestones and recovery rights. Development of alternate sources must include process knowledge and validation capacity, not merely a nominated vendor. Procurement savings that extend lead time or weaken continuity will be valued after risk rather than celebrated at signature.

The distribution network will be reviewed as a service design, not a warehouse-cost exercise. The EVP will compare central stock, forward positioning, emergency pooling and direct shipment by failure urgency and route reliability. Carrier capacity, border delay and hazardous-goods constraints will be included where batteries, fluids or regulated components are involved. Packaging and handling defects will be traced separately from supplier quality.

Master-data governance is another operational priority. Incorrect lead time, fitment, order multiple or supersession can manufacture both shortages and excess. Named business owners will approve critical attributes, and changes will be sampled against dealer orders and physical inventory. Planning automation will not be scaled until these inputs are sufficiently trustworthy.

The first 12 months

Within 60 days, the EVP will identify the 50 parts creating greatest service and source exposure, stabilise current shortages and verify inventory availability. By day 90, the sponsor will receive a recovery portfolio, leadership assessment and decisions on tooling, sources and strategic stock.

By month eight, ten critical parts should have tested recovery or qualified alternates, inventory segmentation should operate across two distribution centres, and recurring expedite families should have corrective action. Supplier reviews will include sub-tier and recovery evidence.

At year-end, critical-part fill should exceed 96%, vehicle-off-road back-orders fall by 30%, and inventory cash reduce by at least 10% without deterioration in safety or service cohorts. Ninety per cent of priority sources must meet documented recovery objectives, and severe supplier actions should close within 30 days or reach executive decision.

What the board will measure

• Customer-critical availability despite concentrated supply.
• Inventory reductions based on fitment and lifecycle truth.
• Tested alternatives rather than nominal dual sourcing.
• Lower premium freight and recurring shortage.
• Independent supply leaders and succession.

The person

You are an EVP Supply Chain, chief procurement officer or operations leader with 18–22 years in automotive, industrial service parts or another complex installed base. Minimum scope is US$6,650 million and 1,325 employees. Evidence must include a concentrated-supplier recovery, an inventory reset that protected service and a qualified substitution under customer or regulatory constraints.

This is an onsite Detroit role with supplier, distribution-centre and field travel. You must be comfortable making allocation decisions under scarcity and explaining their customer consequence.

Compensation and terms

Base salary is US$320,000–420,000 plus annual incentive. Measures cover availability, inventory cash, tested recovery, expedite reduction, supplier performance and succession. Final terms reflect relevant experience; notice up to six months may be supported.

Confidentiality

The network, suppliers, parts, inventory and customer incidents are confidential. Controlled details follow qualification and an undertaking. Detroit and the approximate perimeter are not identifying information.