Materials Control Manager

Founded in 1898 and headquartered in Chicago, IL, GATX Corporation (NYSE: GATX) is an industry leader with 125+ years of success—success that is powered by our people. We are proud of our high-performance culture, hard-working and enthusiastic management team, and beautiful office space in the Willis Tower.

At GATX, we hire the best and offer our employees a dynamic, energetic, collaborative environment to enable them to make an impact from day one. Enjoy the perks and benefits of a global company with the close-knit culture and community of a much smaller one. In the same way we strive to empower our customers to propel the world forward, we are dedicated to providing our people with the tools and resources they need to advance in their careers.

This position is responsible for material control across GATX’s North American Rail and Locomotive network of repair facilities.  As a functional materials and inventory management leader and mentor, this position will work closely with the Service Centers’, Field Services’, and Locomotive’s materials and inventory management personnel.

This position reports directly to the Senior Materials Manager and will have frequent interaction with Service Center Directors/Managers, Operations Managers, and Material Leads.  As required, this position will interface with VP – Sourcing, Procurement and Materials Management, the VP Maintenance Network Operations, and other areas of Rail management.  Site materials management resources will have a dotted line reporting relationship to this position. This position also works closely with Production, Industrial Engineering, Safety, Continuous Improvement, Quality Assurance, Accounting, and Information Technology.

• Responsible for the material control of all parts and supplies at the network service facilities in the US and Canada.  Specific areas of focus include, but are not limited to: stockroom/materials safety awareness, material storage/security strategy, lean material flow strategy, network/central distribution/logistics strategy, and the annual physical inventory and/or cycle counting process.  Responsible for developing and maintaining dedicated vendor-managed inventory programs to reduce lead times and enhance throughput.  Accountable for setting and meeting all SQDC metrics at Levels 2, 3, and 4 for all NA Service Center material departments, as well as meeting KPI’s for all programs and initiatives assigned by the Sr. Materials Manager.
• Materials and inventory management functional lead/mentor of Materials personnel located in Rail Operations.  Identify, develop, implement, document, and communicate material control and inventory management best practices where applicable.  Leadership of the Materials Best Practice Council (BPC).
• Ensure alignment between Materials, Operations, and Quality relative to the development of and compliance with SWI’s, QP’s, QAI’s, QF’s, and other relevant policies and procedures.
• For material control-related capital and other assigned projects, responsible for leading cross-functional teams.
• Responsible for supporting each site with Materials Lead/Supervisor succession planning, recruiting and hiring.  Leadership for the development and execution of the Materials L&D Pathway.

1. Undergraduate degree or equivalent materials management work experience required.
2. Ten plus years of rail industry experience; some mix of railcar repair experience preferred.
3. Five plus years of supervising labor; some mix in both a union and warehouse environment preferred.
4. Proven and consistent performance improvement relative to Materials Control-related SQDC KPI’s.
5. Project management experience.
6. Travel requirements of approximately 35%.  Ability to travel to Canada (internationally).

This is a hybrid position that will require the employee to work in the office at least 3 days a week throughout the year. The employee may work the balance of the time remotely, except when the business requires work to be fully in-office.