W. Robert SEMETHY, Jr.
209 Forest Hills Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15221-3711, USA, +43 664 818 3600 Mobile
RobertSEMETHY@gmail.com - http://www.linkedin.com/in/robertsemethy
C-LEVEL EXECUTIVE
OPERATIONS ● PROCUREMENT ● SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Global executive with over twenty years of progressively responsible hands on international experience
successful in building high-performance teams and in leading sophisticated manufacturing and service
organizations with full P&L and multi-site responsibility in Europe, North America, Latin America, and Asia
through start-up, turnaround, and high-growth cycles. A strategic visionary, but also a pragmatist with a clear
sense of purpose and urgency when faced with diverse situational challenges. Skilled at establishing
operational excellence within culturally diverse environments, translating conceptual models into specific
strategies, and planning/executing multi-faceted global operations. Key qualifications as follows:
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Running a medium sized service company
Corporate Vision & Strategic Business Planning
Leadership Training & Development
Multi-Industry Experience
Multi-site Responsibility
Full P&L Responsibility
Customer Account Management
Operations and Supply Chain Management
Cross-Border Trade & Finance Transactions
Forecasting & Budgeting (PEREX, OPEX, and
CAPEX)
1991
1989
1999
1995
1989
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Labor Relations (Works Council/Trade Union)
Reengineering, Revitalization & Turnaround
Multi-Function Experience
Outsourcing (Contract Manufacturing and BPO)
LEAN/Six Sigma
OEM and EMS (capital equipment, FMCE)
Sourcing and Procurement
Cost Reduction/Containment & Profit
Optimization
Tax Optimization
Master of Business Administration, Operations Management, University of Pittsburgh Katz Graduate
School of Business
Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of
Engineering
Six Sigma Black Belt
U.S. Patent Number 5,401,120, Pumpable Mine Seal
Engineer-In-Training (EIT), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
SELECTED ACHIEVEMENTS
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Instituted Purchasing and Planning Department for a factory in Timisoara, Romania transferring 10
customer accounts in less than 6 months.
Led complete turn around of the performance of the site Materials Organization for a factory in Budapest,
Hungary preventing closure of the site, increased inventory velocity from 7 turns to 17 turns, and saved
$680 K.
Drove annual savings from Sourcing and Logistics of over $1.89 million annually for an industrial park in
Sárvár, Hungary.
Increased inventory velocity for a factory in Fremont, CA, USA from 10 turns to 12.5 turns and inventory velocity
for a factory in Dornstadt, Germany from 4.5 turns to 7 turns while reducing operating expenses by $400 K
quarter-to-quarter.
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Implemented long-term, complex agreements with contract partners in China, Vietnam, USA, and Japan that
include warranty alignment, IP protection, and cost-take-down targets.
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Slashed cost-of-acquisition for a multi-national financial services conglomerate with third-party spend in excess
of €1 billion from over 2.7% to under 1.15% in five years while continuing hiring to strengthen staff, improving
customer service to over 90% (last four years) as measured by customer satisfaction surveys, on-boarding new
customers (top line growth), and still achieving P&L linked procurement savings of over 5% year-over-year.
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W. Robert SEMETHY, Jr.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Chief Procurement Officer-Erste Bank Group AG
December 2011-Present
Managing Director
October 2008-Present
Procurement Services GmbH (Erste Group Procurement or EGP), Vienna, Austria (WBAG: EBS.VI)
http://www.erstegroup.com/, http://www.erstegroupprocurement.com/
Leads the wholly owned subsidiary of Erste Bank Group (leading financial institution in CEE), with full P&L
responsibility operating in AT, CZ, HU, HR, ME, MK, RO, RS, SK, and UA (until 2013). EGP with just over
150 employees is the central procurement organization for Erste Group, its subsidiaries, and Austrian
Savings Banks providing Sourcing, Tactical Purchasing, Order Management, Internal Distribution, External
Distribution, and printing services (SPV-Druck). Manage external spend of over €1 billion. Report to the
COO-Erste Group and EGP Advisory Board. Accomplished the following:
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Slashed cost-of-acquisition from over 2.7% to under 1.15% (including IT costs and VAT) in five years by
reducing annual budget of over €26 million for 2009 to a budget under €13.1 million for 2014 through the
combination of on-boarding new customers (top line growth), PEREX reduction (over 200 FTE 2009 to just over
150 FTE 2013), OPEX reduction, and tax optimization while still hiring and continuing training to strengthen
staff.
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Achieved P&L linked savings results of over 5% year-over-year for Erste Group through Category Management
(over 20 published/implemented strategies), Supplier Relationship Management (business reviews with more
than 20 suppliers and supplier audit top 150 suppliers), proactive Contract Management, implementation of
comprehensive Business Intelligence, reducing Maverick Spend from 24% to 14% in 2013 (target is 3% for
2014), and the application of 100% eSourcing (eRFx) including increasing the use of reverse eAuctions from 20
events per year (2009) to just under 400 events per year (2013) representing 10% of all eSourcing events.
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More than doubled customers under contract from 2009 to 2013. Also provided indirect procurement
consulting services for a major Indian BPO provider expanding in Europe.
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Increased customer satisfaction index while implementing cost reduction/containment measures and
maintained results over 90% for the past four years. Perform quarterly business reviews with all major
customers to ensure continuous improvement.
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Shepherded the €4 million revenue SPV-Druck printing subsidiary from a slight loss (-0.1%) in 2009 to four
years of positive net profits exceeding 6% each year and EBITA exceeding 10% each year.
Senior Director-Global Supply Chain Management
Mattson Technology, Inc., Fremont, CA, USA (NASDAQ: MTSN)
http://www.mattson.com/
April 2007-September 2008
Created and led an organization of 90 employees directing all aspects of SCM for factories located in CA, DE,
USA, and outsourced partners in CN, SG, VT, JP, and USA for a $300 million manufacturer of semiconductor
capital equipment. Globally responsible for Sourcing, Planning (S&OP, Master Scheduling, and Production
Activity Control), tactical Purchasing, Internal Distribution, External Distribution, and Spares Support including
outsourced call center located in India. Reported to the VP-Operations. Accomplished the following:
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Introduced and implemented replenishment programs globally increasing inventory velocity from 10 turns to
12.5 turns in the USA factory, 4.7 turns to 7 turns in the DE factory, and 1.9 turns to 2.5 turns for Spares in two
quarters.
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Realized cost-take-down globally of 0.7% in twenty weeks through vendor reduction program and
implementation of long-term contracts including complex agreements with contract partners in CN, VT, USA,
and JP that include warranty alignment, IP protection, and annual cost-take-down targets. Annual savings of at
least $1 million negotiated through global vendor reduction and single source strategy for quartz.
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Reduced transactions globally by half using ABC stratification and order policy program directly impacting hard
savings in transportation from 2.3% of revenue to 1.8% of revenue in one quarter.
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Produced $400 K reduction in OPEX quarter-to-quarter and total annual savings of $1.5 million through trade
compliance, freight consolidation, and optimization of Spares depots globally.
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Two direct reports awarded Mattson President’s Customer Service Award in 2007 and 2008.
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W. Robert SEMETHY, Jr.
January 2004 – March 2007
Material Director
Flextronics International Kft., Sárvár, Hungary (NASDAQ: FLEX)
http://www.flextronics.com/
Led an organization of 311 employees directing all aspects of SCM representing annual revenue of $750
million. Led all strategic Sourcing, tactical Purchasing, Supplier Quality, NPI, Internal Distribution, External
Distribution, and Planning (S&OP, Master Scheduling, and Production Activity Control), for all three plants
with an annual spend of $500 million. Reported to the site Managing Director. Accomplished the following:
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Centralized SCM for the Sárvár site and the Zalaegerszeg site with synergies reducing headcount by 70 and
providing an annual cost savings over $304 K.
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Eliminated external warehousing by implementing JIT, combining separate management teams, optimizing
layout, and optimizing material flow while still managing 20 K pallets resulting in an annual savings of $1.48
million in 7 months.
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Increased inventory turns from 12.3 to 16.8 by driving VMI from 25% to 56.6%.
Director of Procurement
Solectron Mexico, Guadalajara, Mexico (NASDAQ: FLEX)
http://www.flextronics.com/
July 2003-December 2003
Material Director
Solectron Hungary, Budapest, Hungary (NASDAQ: FLEX)
http://www.flextronics.com/
July 2002 –June 2003
Senior Purchasing and Planning Manager
Solectron Romania, Timisoara, Romania (NASDAQ: FLEX)
http://www.flextronics.com/
Senior Manager-Purchasing Process and Business Process Owner
Solectron Global Material Services, Charlotte, NC, USA (NASDAQ: FLEX)
http://www.flextronics.com/
January 2002-June 2002
January 2001-December 2001
Senior Buyer
ABB Power T&D Company Inc., Greensburg, PA, USA (NYSE: ABB)
http://www.abb.us/
1997-2000
Purchasing Engineer
Woodings Industrial Corporation, Mars, PA, USA (Private)
http://www.woodings.com/
1994-1997
Project Engineer
MICON, Glassport, PA, USA (Private)
http://www.miconmining.com/
1991-1993
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W. Robert SEMETHY, Jr.