Global Supply Chain Vice President

Vice President, Global Supply Chain About Us Akona Process Solutions brings together the proven expertise of four established brands—Spiroflow, Kason, Cablevey, and Marion—to deliver industry-leading solutions in material handling and processing. With a combined legacy of over 200 years, Akona specializes in mixers, blenders, dryers, screeners, tubular drag conveyors, and bulk material handling systems. Our solutions are designed to improve efficiency, hygiene, and performance in industries such as food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and chemicals. Headquartered in Charlotte, NC, Akona serves customers globally with centers of excellence in the USA, and UK. Position Summary Akona is creating a Vice President of Global Supply Chain to take end-to-end accountability for how material flows into and through our operations — procurement, materials planning, inventory, and shipping & receiving — globally. The role carries a solid line over North American supply chain and functional (dotted-line) oversight of European supply chain, which reports solid-line to the EU General Manager. Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, this leader owns the “source, plan-materials, and deliver” functions and serves as the operational and system-of-record authority for supply chain across the business. This is a build-and-transform role for an operator, not a caretaker. It is designed for a proven Akona operations leader who knows our plants, our people, and our Epicor environment firsthand. The immediate priorities are to drive real adoption of Epicor, build out the standard work that lets the function scale, install disciplined inventory and procurement controls, and modernize procurement with AI-enabled tools already in flight. The role is central to Akona’s value-creation plan and carries significant visibility with the executive team and ownership. Key Responsibilities Transformation Priorities Epicor Adoption & Internal Championship Serve as the Operations team’s internal champion and resident expert for Epicor — the person the plants and functions turn to for how work should be transacted in the system. Partner with Creative, our ERP adoption and training consultancy, to drive full adoption and data integrity across procurement, materials planning, inventory, and shipping & receiving — then carry that expertise in-house as the engagement winds down. Establish usage-compliance standards and hold the organization accountable to transacting in real time, eliminating off-system workarounds, spreadsheets, and manual tracking. Partner with Finance, IT, and Production to ensure master-data accuracy (item masters, BOMs, routings, lead times, safety stock, reorder points) that MRP depends on. Standard Work & SOPs — Foundational Treat standard work as a critical, early priority — the foundation the rest of the function scales on. Identify, document, and implement standard work and SOPs across procurement, materials planning, inventory, and shipping & receiving to create consistency and reduce variation. Build a continuous-improvement discipline within the function; train and hold the team accountable to standard processes. Develop and mentor the supply chain team, building capability in Epicor, materials planning, and procurement. Procurement, Cost-Out & AI Enablement Lead the procurement function — supplier management, sourcing strategy, PO discipline, and cost / lead-time performance. Step into the Didero implementation and drive it to completion, putting AI-enabled procurement (demand and price signals, supplier risk, spend analytics, automated PO workflows) into productive use. Deliver year-over-year cost-out and productivity savings on a total-cost-of-ownership basis; strengthen procurement controls and segregation of duties in coordination with Finance. Develop supplier risk, continuity, and dual/multi-sourcing strategies, and implement supplier perfor…

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