Quality Assurance Control

Tonya Tullis, Raw Material Expert

***** ********** ****** #****~ Los Angeles, CA 91411~310-***-**** yvspre@r.postjobfree.com

Seeking Manager/Senior Buyer commodity sourcing and inventory management role with a dynamic company in West Los Angeles

Procurement professional with 8 years of experience in the dietary and nutritional industry. (5 years as Indirect Buyer, Quality Control Chemist and QA Customer Complaint Investigator and 3 years as a Direct Buyer of raw materials, packaging components and sourcing third party contract manufacturers). Extremely knowledgeable on the entire manufacturing and operational process for two-piece capsules, tablets, soft gels and powders. Excellent problem solver, self-motivated, as well as a strong negotiator with exceptional interpersonal skills and a sense of urgency.

Special areas of expertise:

• Problem solving with data analysis

• cGMP regulations

• Quality Control

• Sourcing third party manufacturers

• Quality Assurance

• Packaging Components

• Internal/External Audits

• Raw material properties

• Raw material sourcing

• Consolidation of raw materials/vendors

• Understanding commodity market

• Cost Savings by negotiation & formulation changes

• Soft gel, two-piece capsule, tablet & powder manufacturing

Work Experience

Nutrition Express. Torrance, CA – Family owned company voted best nutrition store in the South Bay 14 years in a row.

Private Brand Purchasing Manager

April/2011 – August/2011

• Responsible for Nutrition Express’s private brand products (Fitness Labs, Lindberg Nutrition and Lindberg Beauty), which included 500 different skus.

• Actively sourced raw materials and third party contract manufacturers who exceed quality expectations within set standards of cGMP regulations.

• Built relationships with co-manufactures and negotiated prices for small manufacturing runs.

• Provided feedback to Marketing as to what products should be launched based on current trends.

• Ensured that inventory levels were within the specified limit for minimums and/or maximums.

• Made sure that all orders were placed on time, based on vendor lead-times.

• Followed up on all orders to ensure that they arrived on time.

• Sourced protein powders, amino acids, vitamins, herbs, artificial & natural sweeteners, minerals, probiotics, red & green antioxidant powders, enzymes as well as two-piece capsules, tablets and soft gels.

Westside Aesthetics. Westwood, CA and Malibu, CA – Owned by renowned Dr. Alexander Rivkin, who specializes in non-surgical medical procedures.

Consultant

April/2007 – May/2011

• Consulted as an expert in quality control, quality assurance, raw materials and skin care.

• Advised on current market prices of raw materials and packaging components.

• Helped to source contract manufacturers that met GMP compliance.

• Consulted on raw material properties, formulations, stability, potencies and applications.

• Worked with renowned Dr. Alexander Rivkin during the development of his product line.

• Helped to create "Westside Aesthetics Skin Care Line", which is sold exclusively at both of his doctor's offices in Westwood and Malibu.

• Worked twice a month at the front desk, in order to gain customer service skills.

Pharmavite LLC. San Fernando, Northridge and Valencia, CA - Founded in 1971, and is one of the industry leading brands in the dietary supplement industry.

Raw Material Buyer

June/2008 – April/2011

• Direct Raw Material and Packaging Component Buyer, analyzing the supply market and price drivers for these items.

• Managed a 35 million dollar budget, while saving 4 million dollars in 2009 (Approximately 50% of this cost savings was directly related to formulation changes of the raw materials used in the bulk product).

• Served as a liaison between Pharmavite’s internal and external clients, to ensure that production was not interrupted while making sure that the quality of the product was not affected.

• Sent RFI and RFQ on a regular basis to keep updated on the market price and analyze the innovative technologies.

• Have built fantastic relationships with vendors in the food and nutritional industry.

• Implemented blankets on high risk and volatile raw materials, in order to secure supply and hold pricing.

• Sourced excipients, flavors and sweeteners, minerals, herbs and trits.

Indirect Buyer

February 2005 – June 2008

• Indirect purchasing experience managing a 440K yearly budget.

• Helped prepare the Capital Budget, forecast the Operating Budget, track inventory and place orders.

• The purchased items included chemicals, standards, laboratory supplies and equipment that are used to analyze Pharmavite's raw materials and finished goods.

• Helped to decrease the 2005 Operating Supplies Budget by 43% per month from second quarter to fourth quarter.

• Involved close contact with vendors to ensure that the back-ordered items would arrive on time.

• Negotiated with vendors for competitive prices. Performed cost analysis, and ensured that the discounted price did not affect the product quality.

Quality Assurance Customer Complaint Specialist

January 2005-June 2008

• Investigated all customer complaints to determine if they were plant related or not, using analytical, physical and/or chemical analysis.

• Purchased and implemented a microscopic FTIR, in order to make accurate decisions with extreme confidence.

• Built a database of more than 100 samples collected throughout manufacturing and packaging to input as standards in the microscopic FTIR.

• If determined to be plant related, an investigation was put into action in order to find the root cause, implement a corrective action and track the results.

• Developed strong relationships with Manufacturing, Packaging, Tech Ops, Quality and R&D.

• Performed an analysis on each complaint to determine the cause and corrective action.

• Prepared monthly reports for Nature Made Japan customer complaints, which include data tacking for plant-related incidents using trending, normalization and Pareto analysis.

• Utilized the reports to track the root cause of all defects, and implement corrective actions.

• Worked closely on SOPs and standard methods for manufacturing and packaging, including participation in multiple internal & external audits.

Quality Control Chemist

June/2003 – April/2005

• Analyzed raw materials, in process samples and finished product (soft gels, two-piece capsules & tablets) to ensure that they met required specifications, using instrumentation (GC-MS, UV, FTIR, HPLC, ICP-MS) and wet chemistry, which were held to USP standard testing methods.

• Utilized SOPs to compare test results with Pharmavite’s raw material specifications, and incorporated visual and physical examination.

• Participated in multiple internal GMP audits of Pharmavite (packaging, manufacturing & receiving).

• Participated on the Recognition Design Team, which ultimately rolled out to the entire company.

• Awarded Spotlight on Excellence, Employee of the Year recognition, for going above and beyond in performing my work responsibilities.

• Helped develop and redesign the Pharmavite values, of which create the work environment; they included courage, integrity, team-work and perseverance.

• Participated on the Safety Committee for 3 years.

Education

• Bachelor of Science in Business Management, University of Phoenix, April 2008

• Associate of Science Degree in Chemical Technology, Los Angeles Trade Technical College, August 2003 (GPA 3.89/ Deans list 3 semesters/ Honor roll), June 2003

• Chemical Technology Certificate, June 2003

• Aesthetician Certificate, June 2000

• Completed a Certified Quality Auditor (CQA) course, 2008

Computer Skills

• Microsoft word, Strong at Excel, Power Point, types 30wpm, Data Entry

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