Rick Silva

Oversee Purchasing, Manufacturing, Sourcing, and Forecasting for new product development. Forecasting fulfillment needs for key mass market and independently owned retail accounts on assigned core list of titles. Negotiate and manage purchasing of reprints with oversees vendors and ensure timely delivery.

Supervised and improved inventory management process for manufacturer of stylish reading glasses sold through retailers including LensCrafters, Rite Aid. Managed stock, worked with vendors, communicated with domestic and overseas sales channels. Replaced error-prone manual allocation of frames to packages with formula-heavy Excel spreadsheets, saving hours (or days) in each packaging cycle. Achieved issue-free rollout of new Microsoft Great Plains inventory control system by designing and testing inventory scenarios prior to rollout. Commissioned software to detect overstocked eyeglass frames for repackaging and sale. Saved $13,000 in write-offs. Ran daily reports and performed analysis on product and sales forecasts.

Sourced and sold lumber and specialty building materials for Western U.S. distributor. Forecast demand and placed orders with suppliers to ensure adequate inventory. Generated orders and provided end-to-end follow-through. Proactively contacted customers to ensure satisfaction, often leading to new orders. Contributed to sales team exceeding sales goals 20%-30% every quarter. Served as owner and first point of contact on Engineered Wood Products. Contributed to win of multi-million dollar Park City condominium contract. Introduced the company's first software-based forecasting models. Spreadsheet models provided more accurate ordering, as well as more accessible product availability information for sales staff. Contributed to sales increase of 30%. Created and promoted package deals on overstocked inventory. Saved company $25,000 in write-offs, as well as rent on overstock storage facility.

Supervised and mentored team of 11-18 distribution center personnel. Initiated cross-functional training and job rotation. Refreshed extremely low team morale into mutually supportive atmosphere, and made it easy to cover for ill workers. Empowered workers to monitor and manage their own mispick and shortage metrics. Increased employees’ feeling of ownership while improving pick/putaway scores. Started daily team meetings, constant communication, and delegation of more responsibility to grow employees. Pulled rank of DC up from 27th (out of 32) to top 7.

Monitored distribution center performance and quality metrics including costs, employee turnover, customer complaints, and inventory accuracy. Dealt with customer returns. Ensured removal of recalled or outdated products. Researched errors in warehouse processes to improve inventory count accuracy. Created and presented employee trainings on quality and integrity. One particularly effective presentation was chosen for company-wide viewing. Received recognition for creation of a staff development technique that improved operations on a large scale. Served as point of contact for customer relations. Maintained high customer satisfaction levels. Tightened control of high-value medicines. Turned around a challenging issue of recurring losses, taking the DC's loss score from nearly worst to among the best.

located items, ordered supplies, removed overstock, worked with customers on issues. Made judgment calls about which items to load and how to set demand levels appropriately relative to customer requests. Acquired extensive experience with Tandem, AS 400, and SAP business functions. Facilitated emergency orders of life-saving medication for regional hospitals. Ensured that patients received the medication they needed in time.