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Materials director skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

5 min read

Quoted expert

Adrian Tan

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical materials director skills. We ranked the top skills for materials directors based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 16.7% of materials director resumes contained supply chain as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a materials director needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 materials director skills for your resume and career

1. Supply Chain

A supply chain is a network or a sequence by which finished products of a company are distributed to retailers and then supplied to the end-users. The distribution of products and services from the production line to the final buyers is carried out in a series of steps including; manufacturing, transportation, and their distribution. The whole supply chain consists of different entities including; manufacturers, transportation, warehouses, suppliers, and retailers. The entities ensure that the products retain their originality while also minimizing the cost of delivery.

Here's how materials directors use supply chain:

Recruited to bridge gap between Global Supply Chain and Manufacturing, allowing manufacturing sites to participate in and execute initiatives.
Chartered with significantly simplifying the supply chain/order management process for the $10 Billion Microprocessor division.

2. Logistics

Logistics is a complete organization and implementation of a problem. Logistics are often considered in a complex business operation, as some works need detailed plannings. Logistics are also used in military action.

Here's how materials directors use logistics:

Finished Goods - Catalyst for controlled warehousing standards to simplify the material handling logistics process, eliminating unneeded handling and searching.
Formed cross-functional team at plant and developed operational restructuring action around on-site logistics that provides supply choices that avoid exploitation

3. Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement is an ongoing process of improvement of products, services, and processes with the help of innovative ideas. It is an organized approach that helps an organization to find its weaknesses and improve them.

Here's how materials directors use continuous improvement:

Established Spare Part replenishment programs, and implemented various continuous improvement processes throughout the Materials Organization to improve overall performance.
Created an environment that encouraged continuous improvement through lean six sigma methodologies and advanced planning techniques.

4. Materials Management

Materials management refers to the process of monitoring and controlling the inventory and use of materials, often within a manufacturing plant. This management may also require shipping and delivery of the materials depending on the material product, price, and customer demand.

Here's how materials directors use materials management:

Facilitated company acquisition assimilation activities for Materials Management
Managed the Materials Management Group to determine and set up multiple distributional locations.

5. Inventory Control

Here's how materials directors use inventory control:

Directed centralized procurement, production and inventory control, global sourcing and purchasing through two department managers.
Complete responsibility for Purchasing, vendor negotiations, inventory control and customer quotes.

6. On-Time Delivery

On-Time Delivery, or OTD, is a metric that measures the rate at which finished goods and deliveries are completed on time. This rate is measured by the overall number of units shipped within a specified time frame agreed upon by the consumer and supplier. On-Time Delivery allows suppliers' compliance with delivery deadlines, and hence their consistency, to be assessed using a continuous and collaborative development approach.

Here's how materials directors use on-time delivery:

Created, implemented and managed production planning processes; improved operations utilization, operations productivity, customer service and on-time delivery.
Developed and implemented Supplier Scorecard metrics and weekly On-Time delivery metrics.

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7. MRP

MRP is an abbreviation of Material Requirements Planning and refers to the control system which is implemented in the planning and management of the activities related to manufacturing. Through MRP, manufacturers can easily schedule the production and it can also be used for inventory. MRP systems are mostly software-based but the process can also be carried out manually.

Here's how materials directors use mrp:

Designed improvements to company MRP system providing Purchasing staff with improved visibility of material requirements.
Enhanced productivity and efficiency by rolling-out numerous MRP software capabilities throughout organization.

8. ERP

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is computer software used by major corporations and organizations for conducting their management and accounting tasks efficiently. ERP systems bind different business processes with each other allowing smoother flow of data between them resulting in swift project assessment and completion.

Here's how materials directors use erp:

Provided direction and testing of NetSuite ERP system implementation at 4 manufacturing facilities.
Managed cross-functional teams during the implementation of an ERP system that was successfully installed and maintained without affecting the revenue stream.

9. Lean Manufacturing

Here's how materials directors use lean manufacturing:

Lead implementation of lean manufacturing in multiple manufacturing lines to drive efficiency and significantly cut costs for 400-person manufacturing operation.
Implemented Lean Manufacturing methodologies to drive cost savings and efficiency.

10. Sigma

In Greek alphabets, sigma is the 18th letter that means "to sum up". In statistics, the lower case symbol of sigma is the unit of measurement for standard deviation which is used to assess the variability in a given set of data. While the upper case symbol is for summation notation means to add up all the given numbers in the data set.

Here's how materials directors use sigma:

Applied lean six sigma processes in of support of 2011 operational objectives resulting in improve margins and reduced manufacturing cycle times.
Utilized Lean Six Sigma principles that improved administrative processes and reduced Purchasing headcount 25%.

11. Cost Reduction

Here's how materials directors use cost reduction:

Coordinate cost reductions with the purchasing and engineering through negotiations and sourcing domestically and internationally.
Direct the Purchasing organization in utilizing the reverse auction process for double-digit cost reductions.

12. Direct Reports

Here's how materials directors use direct reports:

Direct reports include two Purchasing/Material Analyst Managers, one Production Control Manager and one Inventory/Shipping/Receiving Manager.
Direct reports included: Inventory Manager, Scheduling Manager, Transportation Manager, Demand Planning Manager, and 3 Project Managers.

13. Shipping Receiving

Here's how materials directors use shipping receiving:

Managed purchasing, production/inventory control, Shipping receiving and warehouse departments for two separate manufacturing locations.
Manage materials group; shipping receiving; put away and 5S functions.

14. Production Control

Production control is the component of management that directs, plans, and controls the supply and processing of raw material. Any enterprise does this so that specific products get produced by a stipulated approach to convene an authorized sales programme. Production control is often executed from a control or operations room.

Here's how materials directors use production control:

Established global center of excellence for materials and production control management processes.
Ensured excellence in oversight of production control and inventory management functions.

15. ISO

Here's how materials directors use iso:

Led assembly operations and materials during major line reconfiguration and ISO certification.
Developed procedures and obtained ISO 9001 certification.

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What skills help Materials Directors find jobs?

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What type of skills will young materials directors need?

Adrian Tan

Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator, Pennsylvania State University - New Kensington

The feedback from business leaders is that they wish to see a balanced mix of different skills in new graduates. An unexpected skill mentioned is the ability to use spreadsheets such as Excel. Companies do not expect to have to train new employees to use spreadsheets, though it turned out that spreadsheets are widely used (at varying levels of complexity) at all levels in organizations. An assumption here is that if a graduate already has good spreadsheet skills, then the graduate should also have the ability to quickly pick up on other more complex business IT skills required by the organization.
Businesses also need to know if their new employees can effectively interact with internal or external audiences. In this regard, excellent presentation skills are the minimum expectation from businesses. Presentation skills (both formal and informal) include the ability to read people, to communicate, and to covey information appropriately to the different types of audiences they may encounter - and these may sometimes include bored, skeptical, adversarial or even hostile audiences.
Every organization also requires graduates to show that they are good team-players. In addition to that, it is a big advantage if graduates can also demonstrate sound leadership skills in the context of teamwork. This is because new employees with leadership potential are viewed as those who are willing to go the extra mile, able to function with minimum supervision, can roll with the punches to jump back into the fray, and trusted to welcome (instead of to avoid) new assignments or challenges. Leadership skills are also seen as closely aligned with the possession of a corporate entrepreneurial mindset in that such employees are more willing to challenge the status quo, come up with out-of-the-box ideas, and help lead transformation efforts that can guide the organization in the future.

Do you want to know more?

List of materials director skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a materials director resume and required skills for a materials director to have include:

Supply Chain
Logistics
Continuous Improvement
Materials Management
Inventory Control
On-Time Delivery
MRP
ERP
Lean Manufacturing
Sigma
Cost Reduction
Direct Reports
Shipping Receiving
Production Control
ISO
Material Planning

Aerospace
Inventory Management
Production Planning
Process Improvement
Strategic Sourcing
Purchase Orders
Kanban
Supplier Performance
Chain Management
Inventory Turns
WIP
Abc Analysis
Electronic Components
Master Scheduling
Material Costs
Chain Processes

OTD
MRO
KPI
Materials Organization
Global Sourcing
Production Scheduling
Inventory Accuracy
Supplier Quality
Distribution Centers
VMI
JIT
Supply Chain Planning
Material Flow
Product Development
Goods Inventory
EDI

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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