Joe Lawrence

About Joe Lawrence

Joe Lawrence is an experienced Procurement and Supply Chain leader who currently serves as the Head of Sourcing at Robern. Much of his experience comes from the food and beverage industry, most recently at Arctic Glacier Premium Ice, Rita’s Italian Ice and Insomnia Cookies. Joining Insomnia in 2015, he developed Insomnia’s purchasing from a company function to a department all of its own. He managed buying, costing, and supply chain for the entire company, overseeing a $15 million+ annual spend. Specializing in cost savings & negotiation, he achieved over $1.3 million in annualized savings during his tenure. Prior to his time at Insomnia, Joe has over 20 years’ experience in the food industry. He served as the Director of Operations Planning and Procurement at Bai Brands where he oversaw production purchasing, planning and forecasting for the now global beverage brand. Joe currently resides in Yardley, PA with his wife and two sons, 11 and 8 where he coaches baseball and soccer, master builds LEGO’s, and enjoys all Philadelphia sports. He believes The Masters is the greatest sporting event on Earth, Dwayne Johnson should ALWAYS be referred to as “The Rock”, and has and incredible amount of Under Armour polo’s (68 and counting!).

Experience

1. Category Leader-strategic Sourcing

   Robern

   Mar 2024 — Present · US

   Leader of vendor relations and communication, collaborating with partners in China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Europe, and North America. Work closely with Operations, Marketing, and Engineering on new product launches & initiatives as well as continuous improvement. Meet and align with other Kohler business unit colleagues and leaders to best unify vendor bases and strengthen relationships. Working with current corrugated partner to address quality, pricing and service issues while parallel-pathing quotes from prospective suppliers to drive 20%+ cost-savings across over 100 SKU’s. Spearheaded the communication to launch a limited run domestic wood vanity program (first ever in the company’s history), leading to great possibilities for expansion across the wood category. Leading efforts to have all key vendors sign multi-year contracts/service agreements to protect the company across multiple areas including cost, quality, and intellectual property. Collaborating with Production to improve operations by outsourcing custom pallet program, yielding cost and labor efficiencies. Aligning with Quality Engineers to identify risks and source better partners in aluminum, glass, and protective foam. Partnering with Engineering and Sales to improve and build custom projects into a multi-million dollar category. Actively using SAP for purchase order and inventory management.

Skills

• Sales Operations
• Pricing Strategy
• Customer Service
• Warehousing
• Fmcg
• Inventory Management
• Retail
• Team Building
• Management
• Purchasing
• Forecasting
• Marketing
• Pricing
• Sales