Supply Chain Management

R I C H A R D W. R A F D A H L, C . P. M .

*************@*******.*** mobile: 847-***-**** office: 847-***-****

Residence: Algonquin, IL. 60102

PROCUREMENT SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIST

AND

A highly skilled Procurement, Cost Savings and Supply Chain Executive with exceptional

strategic sourcing, process improvement, negotiating and value optimization expertise.

AREAS EXPERTISE

OF

20+ years of executive-level experience in manufacturing, retail and commercial

•

distribution, and international purchasing .

Strategic Sourcing and Cost Reduction for many direct and indirect spend categories.

•

Ability to identify where “real” savings and productivity gains can be achieved.

•

Highly skilled in negotiating strategic supply agreements that maximize value,

•

promote service excellence and advance a competitive advantage.

Managing and upgrading multiple segments of the supply chain including sourcing,

•

supplier relationships, cost reduction, inventory management and operations.

• Proven ability to develop appropriate procurement and supply chain strategies

that will support business plan and deliver immediate results.

• Specialized skills in indirect spend, team collaboration, complex negotiations,

comprehensive supplier agreements and supplier development.

• Track record for successfully employing process re-engineering.

P ROFESSIONAL E XPERIENCE

COST REDUCTION SPECIALISTS, INC. DECEMBER 2005 -

PRESENT

CRS provides professional procurement, cost reduction, spend management and value optimization

services to various companies, municipalities and other organizations.

PRESIDENT/FOUNDER

• Created business plan and assembled a team of experienced procurement experts. Our team

specializes in identifying opportunities to reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for a wide

range of spend categories by optimizing the entire process from “Source to Pay”.

• Negotiated $14MM in tangible savings and productivity gains over the last 8 years

• Implement “best practices”, solve complex supply chain problems and identify opportunities for

process improvements across a wide variety of spend categories, business models and

businesses/organizations.

• Secure “real” long term savings within both direct and indirect spend by focusing on strategic

sourcing, developing comprehensive RFX’s, negotiating extremely competitive programs and

supplier agreements.

1

R I C H A R D W. R A F D A H L, C . P. M .

*************@*******.*** mobile: 847-***-**** office: 847-***-****

Residence: Algonquin, IL. 60102

SCHWARZ SUPPLY SOURCE

1999 – 2005

MORTON GROVE, IL

$400 million B2B distributor of specialty packaging and integrated supplies with multiple U.S.

locations. Primary customers include major retailers and brands including SAKS 5 th Avenue, GAP,

The Limited, Sears, McDonalds and UPS Stores.

VICE PRESIDENT, PURCHASING AND INVENTORY CONTROL

• Recruited to this newly created position to develop and implement strategic purchasing and

supply chain initiatives on a $250M spend.

• Appointed as member of Corporate Operating Committee, a 12 person team responsible for

short and long-term strategic direction for the Company.

• Through strategic selection, training and deployment of Purchasing and Inventory team

members, created a team that identified opportunities and effectively executed total cost

reduction through such efforts as strategic supplier selection, product line refinement, value

analysis, SKU reduction, Supplier KPIs’ and right-sizing inventories.

• Negotiated all elements of supplier relationships to ensure lowest total cost of ownership,

including product/service cost, commercial terms and key performance metrics, delivery

requirements and price change methodology.

• Continually worked to support company objectives via continual process improvements and

implementing “best practices”.

Selected achievements:

• Generated over $5,000,000 in annual profit contribution through comprehensive cost reduction,

intelligent negotiations and increased Purchase Price Variance (PPV).

• Reorganized the Purchasing Department and built a team focused on developing a strategic

supplier base, supplier metrics, KPIs, cost improvements, and inventory optimization.

• Secured growth incentive rebates in excess of $500,000 annually with strategic supplier

partners.

• Improved inventory turns by 25% while increasing daily fill rates/ service levels to 98.5%.

• Selected and managed the implementation of state-of-the-art ERP – Oracle – JDE -E3.

BERLIN PACKAGING, INC.

1992-1999

CHICAGO, IL

A $400 million international supplier of various retail, commercial and industrial packaging

products and services.

VICE PRESIDENT, PURCHASING

• Responsibilities encompassed the full range of procurement strategies, policies and practices,

including: inventory management, Purchase Price Variance (PPV), and desired profit

contribution of $200 million in products and services purchased.

• Within scope of position, managed the various responsibilities of 14 district offices.

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R I C H A R D W. R A F D A H L, C . P. M .

*************@*******.*** mobile: 847-***-**** office: 847-***-****

Residence: Algonquin, IL. 60102

• Implemented a central and regional purchasing program for many key components and initiated

numerous supplier service agreements that challenged suppliers to achieve a higher

performance, quality and competitive standard.

• Served as liaison to IT department in order to increase the effectiveness and efficiencies within

the purchasing staff.

• Aligned with Sales team to secure new business, satisfy customer requirements and defend

existing business from competition.

Selected achievements:

• Achieved gross profit improvement of more than 20.4% through efforts to reduce

cost.

• Generated $565,000 in new rebates with suppliers; from $35,000/yr to $600,000+.

• Drove improvement of company-wide inventory turns from 5x to 9.4 (plus).

• Initiated annual performance reviews for all key suppliers - clarified performance

expectations, increased accountability and improved quality.

• Located, audited and approved international sources of supply in Europe, Middle

East, Mexico, South America, Taiwan and Korea.

EARLIER CAREER

DIRECTOR OF PURCHASING AND INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

Lawson Products Inc., 1987 – 1992

Des Plaines, Illinois

$200+ million publicly held distributor of industrial repair and replacement parts.

• Responsible for strategic sourcing, negotiations, purchases and materials management.

• Progressed through several positions of increasing responsibility including Manager and

Director of Purchasing.

EDUCATION/CERTIFICATIONS

Bachelor of Science, Business – Western Illinois University

Certified Purchasing Manager – Institute for Supply Management; Lifetime Certification awarded

in 1998

Member of Institute for Supply Management

Member of Turnaround Management Association (TMA)

TECHNICAL SKILLS

AS400 - ADVANCED MICROSOFT OFFICE - OTHER ERP AND MAINFRAME SYSTEMS

3

R I C H A R D W. R A F D A H L, C . P. M .

*************@*******.*** mobile: 847-***-**** office: 847-***-****

Residence: Algonquin, IL. 60102

Partial Client List – CRS, Inc.

Brook Furniture

Chemblend Partners

Conney Safety

Computershare

Cosmetic Essence Inc.

Dedicated Computing

Fox Valley Fires and Safety

Flagsource

Lakeland College

Little Lady Foods

Nyco Chemical

Old Wisconsin Sausage (Div. of Carl Buddig)

PacMoore Products

Parts Now

Polycon Packaging

Pregis Corporation

Terlato Wine Group

Transilwrap Corporation

Tripplite

Village of Hoffman Estates

Village of Northfield

Village of Wheeling

4

R I C H A R D W. R A F D A H L, C . P. M .

*************@*******.*** mobile: 847-***-**** office: 847-***-****

Residence: Algonquin, IL. 60102

Hello,

My name is Richard Rafdahl and I have over 25 years of diverse procurement and supply chain management experience

focused on providing significant financial improvement with every organization I have had the privilege to work with. I

would like to briefly introduce myself and share with you my experience, qualifications and expertise which would

match and compliment the opportunity that is available. In addition to reviewing the attached resume, I hope you read

the following and consider the value I would provide to your organization.

Conceiving, developing and executing smart strategic initiatives that drive business efficiencies, responsible cost

savings, value optimization, process improvement and margin growth are what I am best at. Throughout my career, in

senior procurement positions within diverse industries, I have effectively managed complex business initiatives,

implemented strategic sourcing programs, championed detailed spend analytics and value analysis, developed

comprehensive RFIs, RFPs and RFQs and optimized the supply channel while achieving exceptional results. Some

examples are as follows:

• As the founder of Cost Reduction Specialists I have assisted numerous organizations improve their profitability

by identifying value improvement opportunities, developing a comprehensive strategic approach and applying

best practices to secure tangible savings with various expenses and programs. My clients range from large and

small manufacturers, commercial and retail distributors, food processors, service organizations, retail

businesses, colleges and municipalities.

• As a procurement consultant, I assembled a highly experienced procurement team that focus on “best in class”

sourcing, comprehensive negotiations and value improvement with many different direct and indirect products

and services for various organizations. This diverse team has saved our clients many millions of dollars and

significantly improved their financial position.

• In my former role as VP of Procurement for 14 years with several organizations, my staff and I routinely

exceeded our financial and purchasing objectives each year. I also have years of team experience working with

various C-level executives as well as middle management and staff.

• As an executive procurement officer, I have identified, evaluated and established long term relationships with

key national and international suppliers which provided the best value and performance available. This

included routinely traveling to Europe, Asia and Middle East in search of new supplier and product

opportunities while maintaining existing programs.

• Developed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Procurement Department as well as Supplier Community

which established clear performance metrics and expectations resulting in improved overall performance.

• Led the development and advancement of a 20 person purchasing and inventory management staff which

effectively reduced costs, increased turns by 50% and optimized the supply chain and international sourcing

which accounted for significant financial improvement for the organization.

• Recognized, researched and implemented a state of the inventory management system which contributed to

increased inventory turns, timely replenishment control and supplier performance tracking.

I am confident in my ability to exceed your expectations with procurement, sourcing, negotiating, supply chain, cost

savings and process improvement and hope you will consider my skills and expertise on a consultant, contract basis or

permanent basis.

Sincerely,

5

R I C H A R D W. R A F D A H L, C . P. M .

*************@*******.*** mobile: 847-***-**** office: 847-***-****

Residence: Algonquin, IL. 60102

Richard Rafdahl

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