Sales Manager
Resume:
Yasuro Sato
*** ****** ***** **** *: 734-***-****
Canton, MI 48188 ******@*******.***
SALES and BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT LEADER
Account Management, New Product Line & Client Development
Automotive: Polymer Materials, Powertrain, Chassis
Highly motivated sales and business development professional with domestic
and international experience in automotive related industries.
Demonstrated account management and business development skills to achieve
profitable sales growth. Persistent negotiator who uses strong analytical
skills, operational knowledge and a highly logical business approach to
establish trustworthy relationship with customers. Native Japanese language
speaker with global sales experience in North America, Asia and Europe.
Core Competencies
. Account Management
. Costing
. New Product Development
. Price Management
. Quality Management
. Sales Presentation
. Contract Negotiation
. Manage Cultural Differences
. Project Management
Professional Experience
HEXPOL COMPOUNDING, Statesville, NC 2007-7/2011
North American Division of HEXPOL, which is a $1B Swedish public company
supplying rubber compounding, TPV/TPE manufacturing and component business
to the automotive industry. HEXPOL acquired Excel-Polymers December 2010.
Transnational Business Manager
Fully responsible for the annual sales of $20M and business development of
all international customers, mainly Japanese and Korean. Shared Profit and
Loss responsibility with product management team.
. Won new business of $2M in the first year. In addition, expanded
business by a further $2M in existing customers. Tier 1 customers
included: Toyo Automotive, Bridgestone-APM, Hitachi, Toyoda Gosei,
Tokai- Rubber, YUSA and HSAA.
. Managed numerous price increases due to unprecedented raw material
inflations in 2008 and the first half of 2011 without damaging
customer relationship and implemented comprehensive cost adjustment
mechanism with main customers.
. Introduced and implemented proprietary formulations as
localization/cost saving measures for in-house formulation oriented
Japanese and Korean customers. (Hitachi, Tepro and HSAA) Increased
the sales for proprietary formulation business from Zero to $3M, so
did gross margin.
. Coordinated with Excel-Mitsui joint venture in China to develop new
product line and expand customer base.
. Utilized internal technical resources to solve various quality issues,
for example:
o Material localization issue: Nichirin-TN
o Seasonal scorching issue: Toyo Automotive
o Supply chain issues following the March 2011 tsunami.
FREUDENBERG-NOK GENERAL PARTNERSHIP, Plymouth, MI 2003-
2007
General partnership between Freudenberg (Germany) and NOK (Japan). The
global market leader for engine seals and various functional parts in
automotive and industrial markets.
Director - Sales & Marketing Japanese Affiliated Customers (2004-2007)
Fully responsible for the annual sales of $100M and marketing for all
Japanese automotive OEM/Tier 1 customers. Supervised 10 people - six
account managers (4 Americans and 2 Japanese) and 4 application engineers,
who are all expatriates from the Japanese partner.
. Coordinated not only sales efforts but technical/operational issues
with the Japanese partner, including manufacturing equipment/tooling
transfer from Japan to US and from US to China.
. Deeply involved in market claim negotiations internally and
externally.
. Participated manufacturing divisions' strategic planning.
. Worked with legal team to negotiate Terms and Conditions with major
customers.
Account Manager (2003-2004)
Managed sales of $20M to Honda, its tiers and Japanese brake suppliers
(Aisin and Akebono)
. Achieved new business closing goals for two year in a row. (Member of
"Circle of Excellence")
. Successfully managed price increases and negotiated customers' cost
reduction requests.
EAGLE-PICHER AUTOMOTIVE, Hillsdale Tool Division, Hillsdale, MI 2002-
2003
The global leader for NVH manufacturer.
Account Manager
Fully responsible for managing sales of $60M to multiple Japanese customers
including Toyota, Nissan, Subaru, Mitsubishi and Isuzu.
. Utilized Japanese offices to determine new business opportunities and
improve relationship with Japanese customers.
. Won new Toyota program working with internal procurement group to
source Chinese components to meet the target price.
YOROZU AMERICA CORP. Novi, MI 2001-
2002
One of the biggest Japanese Chassis manufacturers.
Sales/Marketing Manager
Managed multiple functions including forecasting, budgeting, sales
activities and project management on multiple customers including General
Motors, Mitsubishi, Honda and Nissan.
. Initiated correlated synergy sales efforts with Tower Automotive,
which at that time was the largest shareholder of Yorozu Corporation
in Japan.
. Managed various commercial and technical meetings between US customers
and Japanese engineers as coordinator/interpreter.
WAKO USA, INC., Wheeling IL
1995-2001
US sales and distribution subsidiary for Japanese plastics injection
molding die components manufacturer.
Managing Director
Fully responsible for the entire US operation including the incorporation
of the company. (Complete start-up). Marketing responsibility for European
and South America markets.
. Grew from zero to $2.8M, which were 50% of the plant outlet and 10%
share of US market.
. Profitable since the second year.
. Structured the inventory control database that turned to e-commerce
web site.
. Coordinated an efficient supply chain, including demand forecasting,
international logistics and inventory control. (3,000 line items and
500 active)
. Participated in a European subsidiary start-up that included market
research, competitor analysis and budgeting in 1998 and had managed
the European operation from 2000 to 2001.
Education
M.B.A., Lake Forest Graduate School of Management: Lake Forest, IL 2000
B.S. Physics, Rikkyo University: Tokyo, Japan 1985
Languages
Japanese: Native language
English: Fluent
Miscellaneous
Immigrant Visa (Green Card)
Willing to travel
Open to relocation
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