Director of Material Handling
Mesa, Arizona | Relocation Assistance Provided
Our client is a rapidly growing North American manufacturer of highly engineered systems for data centers and other mission-critical environments. The company is making a significant investment in its expanding Mesa, Arizona manufacturing campus, including a new, state-of-the-art facility built for high-velocity production.
As the operation scales across additional production lines and shifts, the facility will manufacture approximately $1 billion of product annually and move more than $800 million of inventory through the operation each year.
The Director of Material Handling will own how all of it moves.
This is not a traditional warehouse leadership role. The opportunity is to design, implement and lead the complete material-handling system required to support a pull-based, takt-time-driven manufacturing operation—from the moment material arrives at the dock through storage, sequencing and line-side delivery.
The Director will determine how material is received and put away; where and how it is stored; how high-, medium- and low-runner parts are positioned; how materials are picked, kitted and sequenced; what moves by forklift, cart, runner or other conveyance; how internal milk runs operate; how parts are containerized and presented at point of use; and how the entire system scales as production grows.
Key Responsibilities
- Own material flow from receiving through put-away, storage, picking, sequencing, replenishment, line-side delivery and returns.
- Build and maintain a complete Plan For Every Part (PFEP) governing storage, containerization, replenishment, routing, presentation and inventory strategy.
- Design warehouse layout, storage strategy and material locations based on part size, velocity, consumption and production requirements.
- Develop internal milk runs, material routes and conveyance strategies to support continuous-flow production.
- Establish kitting, sequencing, containerization and point-of-use presentation for assembly operations.
- Implement Lean, pull-based replenishment systems including kanban, min/max and other signal-driven methods.
- Own receiving discipline, inventory accuracy, cycle counting, physical inventory and material traceability.
- Establish material-readiness and clear-to-build processes and lead recovery when shortages or inventory issues threaten production.
- Build and lead the material-handling organization required to support multiple production lines and shifts.
- Establish KPIs and continuously improve material availability, labor productivity, inventory accuracy, travel, space utilization and overall flow.
Candidate Profile
The successful candidate has built and operated material-flow systems before and knows what good looks like in a high-velocity manufacturing environment. Ideal experience includes:
- 10–15+ years of progressive leadership in material handling, material flow, manufacturing logistics, warehouse operations or materials management.
- Experience designing and implementing material-flow systems—not simply managing an established warehouse.
- Strong experience in continuous-flow, takt-time-driven, pull-based or Lean manufacturing environments.
- Hands-on expertise with PFEP, kanban, kitting, sequencing, milk runs, line-side replenishment, containerization and point-of-use delivery.
- Experience with warehouse layout, receiving, put-away, inventory control, cycle counting and physical inventory.
- Leadership of sizable hourly teams and frontline managers/supervisors in a multi-shift operation.
- Demonstrated ability to scale systems, processes and teams as manufacturing volumes increase.
- Strong ERP/MRP and data capabilities.
Relevant backgrounds may include automotive, heavy equipment, electronics, aerospace, industrial products, high-volume consumer manufacturing or other sophisticated manufacturing environments with continuous material flow.
This is a highly visible, hands-on leadership opportunity for someone who wants to design the system, build the organization and own its execution as the operation scales.
Compensation
Base Salary: $175,000–$225,000 + 20–30% annual performance bonus
Comprehensive benefits and relocation assistance are provided.
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