Job Purpose
To manage day-to-day merchandising activities with Kenya-based suppliers and factories, ensuring accurate order execution, timely sample approvals, production tracking, quality compliance, and on-time shipment in line with customer requirements and regional merchandising procedures.
Overall Responsibilities
Order Management
- Follow up on purchase orders, order confirmations, quantities, delivery dates, and critical requirements.
- Monitor each order from order placement through production and final shipment.
- Coordinate with factories to ensure production plans meet confirmed customer delivery dates (CRDs).
- Identify potential delays and communicate risks to the Egypt team immediately
Sample Management
- Coordinate proto, fit, SMS, PPS, TOP, and other required samples.
- Ensure samples are submitted, approved, and distributed to the relevant teams on time.
- Follow up on sample comments and corrective actions with factories.
- Escalate delayed samples and ensure approved samples are available before required production milestones.
Production Follow-up and WIP
- Maintain accurate and up-to-date Work-in-Progress (WIP) reports.
- Verify production milestones, including bulk fabric and trims readiness, cutting, sewing, finishing, inspection, and shipment.
- Validate factory updates before reporting order status to the Egypt team.
- Highlight production delays, capacity constraints, and CRD risks with clear recovery plans.
Supplier Coordination
- Maintain regular communication with factory merchandising, production, and quality teams.
- Conduct factory visits when required to verify progress and resolve issues.
- Ensure suppliers understand customer requirements, sample procedures, reporting timelines, and compliance standards.
- Escalate repeated non-compliance or inaccurate reporting to the Egypt team.
Factory Visits and On-Site Follow-up
- Conduct regular visits to apparel factories in Nairobi and Mombasa to monitor production progress and verify reported WIP status.
- Meet with factory merchandising, production, and QC teams to review order status, sample approvals, fabric and trims readiness, and shipment plans.
- Verify actual production milestones, including cutting, sewing, finishing, and inspection, against factory-reported dates.
- Identify production bottlenecks, quality concerns, and potential delivery delays, and agree on corrective action plans with factories.
- Ensure factories comply with customer requirements, sampling procedures, and reporting timelines.
- Share visit reports, key findings, action owners, and deadlines with the Egypt Regional Merchandising Team.
- Escalate critical issues immediately, particularly those that may affect confirmed customer delivery dates (CRDs).
Quality and Technical Compliance
- Follow up on fabric, trims, garment construction, measurements, labeling, and packaging requirements.
- Ensure trims and accessories meet both appearance and functional requirements before bulk production.
- Coordinate with Quality Control (QC) teams on inspections, defects, corrective actions, and shipment readiness.
Reporting and Communication
- Submit accurate weekly WIP reports and timely updates as requested by the Egypt team.
- Provide clear information on order status, delays, root causes, responsible parties, and recovery actions.
- Maintain proper records of approvals, sample submissions, production updates, and shipment documents.
- Use the designated company tracking systems and avoid unnecessary duplicate reporting.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- On-time shipment: Orders shipped against confirmed CRDs.
- Sample compliance: Samples submitted and distributed within agreed timelines.
- WIP accuracy: Reliable, validated production status and milestone dates.
- Risk escalation: Early communication of delays with actionable recovery plans.
- Supplier performance: Responsiveness, reporting accuracy, and adherence to requirements.
- Quality compliance: Reduction in preventable quality issues and repeat deviations.
