Suresh Sankar Raja

Possessing shared responsibility for managing the Procurement, Supply Chain and Operations functions:
 Spearheading the Procurement / Supply Chain activity of above AED 500 Million annually, Operations, Inventory and Distribution too, while monitoring the KPI’s of the team & guiding associates to accomplish the business targets & revenues set by the company.
 Implemented the Automated Replenishment System (ARS), Provided system and logistics support for inter-location transfers of stocks, stock outs, non-moving or excess ordered, preventing from damages and wastages which would save AED 5 million annually.
 Improved supplier and customer service record with 85% and 90% delivery satisfaction index rating on line level respectively, thus reducing non availability of stocks to a bare minimum.

Negotiated several price breaks on company purchases, services, contracts and agreements:
 Included several contracts such as supplier trade agreements, service level agreements, facilities and maintenance agreements. Secured 100% signed agreement status with active suppliers.
 Successfully negotiated price breaks to achieve food cost savings in key commodities such as Rice, Flour, Sugar, Meat, Chicken, Milk Powder, Cooking Oil and others. Resulted in annual savings of more than 8 million for the company.
 Uncovered backlog of issues for Maintenance Department; implemented leaner procedures with cross-training 2-person maintenance team, cutting costs, improving quality and turnaround time.

Recognized by company through achievements in process implementations:
 Executing risk mitigation plan including developing and implementing the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for various departments to ensure best practice is followed. Implementation and ensuring adherence to DOA across functions and departments.
 Partnered with corporate Project Manager to do the central warehouse retrofit integrating new warehousing and logistics standards.
 Led and successfully implemented the Microsoft Dynamics ERP system across the group in various modules such as Procurement & Supply Chain, Operations, Production Management and Retail Management.

Possessing shared responsibility for managing the Procurement and Supply Chain functions:
 Managing and supervising the Procurement and Supply Chain activity of above AED 750 Million annually. Extensively administer a supplier base of 500+ for consumable goods, capital equipment’s, and various services.
 Taking initiative to supervise the retail store opening, procurement of goods and materials, warehousing and distribution, store opening planning, material layouts, merchandise planogram, category management and the post store opening marketing activities.
 Networking with industry experts to stay in tune with current developments in the field of procurement and supply chain. Tracking product/industry trends to ensure the general benefits achieved from the sourcing activities.
 Negotiated contractual terms and conditions for both retail and agency business. Functioned in increasing sales & profit capacity through aligning the stores with gondola ends for targeted consumer promotions - generating AED 8 million of additional revenues.
 Maintained supplier service record with 85% delivery satisfaction index rating on line level, thus reducing non availability of stocks to a bare minimum.

Operated as Retail Synergy - Implementation Executive:
 Accountable to oversee the implementation of store segmentation; Store clustering for better improved store planning, optimum assortment and efficient merchandising.
 Completed duties in alignment with compliance responsibilities; prepared relevant data and submitted background checks, store data, financial data, customer data, etc.
 Key tactics used to turnaround stores involved by reallocating staff and manager to strengthen team and at times save on salary expenses.
 Executing risk mitigation plan including developing and implementing the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for various functions and departments to ensure best practice is followed.
 Led and successfully implemented the SAP ERP system across the group in various modules such as Materials Management, Sales & Distribution, Production Management and Retail Management.

Spearheaded 5 pivotal store community service/public relations events, gaining reputation as company’s “Goodwill Ambassador”:
 World Environment Day - Go Green: A joint effort with Unilever Middle East to educate the consumers on saving the environment.
 Sustainability - For a Better Tomorrow: A joint effort with Henkel Middle East to educate the children on sustainability- Re-use, Reduce, Re-cycle.
 Synergy - Spirit of Giving: School children involvement in distributing food packets during Ramadan to the labor camps.
 Full of Goodness Campaign: An in-house campaign in effort to rejuvenate the customers with the theme full of goodness.
 Breast Cancer Awareness: An in-house campaign in effort to give the general awareness against Breast Cancer to all the customers.

 Sourced potential vendors in compliance with the company policies while negotiated contracts with vendors for prices, terms of trade, annual rebates on purchases, new store openings & listing of new products, etc.
 Dexterous in managing in-store tenants such as Para Pharmacy, Beauty & Cosmetics, Perfume & Sunglasses, Watches & Jewellery, etc. Analyzed floats available for procurement and developed the vendors so as to get the regular supply of the materials.
 Implemented cost reduction measures such as alternate sourcing, materials substitution and long-term contracts to maintain overall efficiency and to optimize purchases and stock levels on local and import buying.
 Conceptualized budgeting & forecasting the department sales and profits while handled negotiation for revenues, rent outs and sales commissions. Assured sales and retail dynamics in the stores.
 Significantly played a key role for completely building the private labels / brands into a 3 tier structure with a success strategy to differentiate the business, build loyalty and improve the margin mix.
 Performed root-cause analysis to prevent the reoccurrences of margin loss issues by controlling and minimizing the wastage & shrinkage at the lowest level. Ensured the optimum purchase of merchandise by implementing the re-ordering process through business cycle model.
 Established a win-win relationship with vendors as well as customers while ensuring their satisfaction by achieving delivery and service quality norms and thus leading to repeat business.
 Spearheaded efforts in managing, training and leading a multi - cultural and diversified staff force across the Gulf and Middle East while practiced and guaranteed the respect of MAF - Carrefour Values.

Accomplishments
 Made efforts in opening the 1st hypermarket (Continent) in the UAE and 5 hypermarkets (Carrefour) in various cities and countries within the GCC and Middle East.
 Acquired and surpassed the retail sales every year in a row with an average growth of 15.00%. Credentials for delivering a double digit growth on the P & L net profits year after year.
 Execute the service level agreements with suppliers and partners to attain required service level compliance.

 Conducted market development activities, identified newer business opportunity & generated revenue for the organization by initiating and developing proposals, and forging major account relationships.
 Identified and developed new streams for long-term revenue growth by collaborating & assisting the sales & merchandising team and maintaining relationships with clients to achieve repeat & referral business.
 Took part in national and international trade fairs and presented the company and its products. Augmented sales of the existing products and established new products in the market with new innovative ideas.
 Strategized and implemented long term purchasing goals by launching comprehensive merchandising and promotional plans to ensure maximum profitability in line with organizational objectives.
 Established healthy business relations with vendors and dealers while organized & monitored promotions and clearance sales for the export production surplus and rejected goods.
 Delegated work to the team members and coordinated with cross functional departments such as internal designers, sampling, purchasing, production and logistics departments for an efficient delivery of service.

Accomplishments
 Significantly generated 18 new accounts across the globe. Maintained healthy relations with existing ones.
 Ascertained a good working relationship across cross functional departments, and also with vendors, partners and customers in business.
 Formulated a more effective production process (Group system to Line system), which increased efficiency by 30% and saved man hours as well.