Distribution Center Manager

The Distribution Center Manager will oversee the planning, procurement, storage, control, and distribution of materials and products according to the company’s needs and customer requirements. Ensure materials are delivered on time to facilitate production schedules and assist in forecasting and planning future orders. This role is pivotal in maintaining the balance between too much and too little inventory. The Materials Manager will coordinate and oversee inventory audits, cycle count, manage stock levels, organize inventory, and develop inventory tracking systems to minimize losses and maximize efficiency. This role is also responsible for strategic sourcing and purchasing activities to support new product introduction (NPI). This includes collaborating with engineering and procurement teams to develop sourcing strategies, identifying and qualifying suppliers for new components and materials, negotiating pricing and lead times, and ensuring alignment of sourcing activities with production schedules and cost targets.

Scope of Responsibilities 

• Lead daily receiving, put-away, replenishment, picking, packing, shipping, returns, and inventory-control operations.

• Supervise, schedule, coach, train, and evaluate hourly associates.

• Maintain accurate inventory through cycle counts, reconciliations, investigations, and root-cause corrective actions.

• Manage order fulfillment to meet on-time shipment, order accuracy, service-level, and productivity goals.

• Establish labor plans, shift schedules, workflows, and staffing requirements to match volume forecasts.

• Monitor KPIs such as fill rate, order accuracy, dock-to-stock time, inventory accuracy, cost per order, productivity, overtime, damage, and safety incidents.

• Ensure compliance with company policies, OSHA and other applicable safety requirements, security procedures, and quality standards.

• Manage warehouse layout, slotting, storage capacity, material-handling equipment, and space utilization.

• Use warehouse-management systems and reporting tools to monitor operations, identify bottlenecks, and improve performance.

• Coordinate with transportation, customer service, purchasing, inventory planning, vendors, carriers, and other internal teams.

• Oversee maintenance, inspections, and safe use of forklifts, conveyors, dock equipment, and other facility assets.

• Prepare operational reports, budgets, forecasts, and improvement plans for senior leadership.

• Lead continuous improvement projects that reduce costs, improve throughput, minimize errors, and strengthen customer service.

• Review trends to improve inventory operations, including purchasing, materials, suppliers, and storage.

• Support financial cost containment by minimizing inventory loss, root-cause analyses, turnover rate, and space requirements.

• Ensure all stakeholders are trained, knowledgeable, and prepared to take ownership of the production line once the first article process is completed and approved.

• Develop and implement metrics, i.e., (On-time delivery, monthly ship targets, performance to standard cost).