Company Name
Power Test
Search Job Title
Director of Supply Chain
Client Profile
Power Test is a founder-led manufacturer of highly engineered dynamometer and testing systems used by companies across trucking, power generation, mining, military, marine, aerospace, and performance racing. Following a strategic private equity investment, the company was entering its next stage of growth and operational transformation. Leadership was focused on improving execution across the 100+ employees to create more synergy for future performance.
Role Objectives & Challenges
As the company continued to grow, its supply chain organization had become fragmented. Buyers, planners, warehouse operations, inventory, and materials management had evolved independently, leaving no single leader responsible for aligning the entire function. Leadership recognized the need for someone who could bring those teams together, improve communication, and create a more coordinated approach to planning and execution.
The Director of Supply Chain role was created to lead that effort. The successful candidate would oversee purchasing, planning, warehouse operations, inventory, logistics, and S&OP while working closely with engineering and operations to improve material availability, inventory accuracy, supplier performance, and on-time delivery.
Finding the right person proved difficult because the profile required two very different skill sets. The client needed someone who understood executive-level planning, forecasting, and supply chain strategy, but who was equally comfortable leading hourly warehouse employees, walking the production floor, and solving operational problems. Candidates with one side of that experience were common. Candidates who had successfully done both were not.
There was an additional wrinkle to the search. The Director of Supply Chain would ultimately report to a Vice President of Operations who had not yet been hired. That meant candidates needed confidence in both the company's leadership and its long-term vision despite not knowing who their future manager would be. Throughout the search, SCM Talent Group worked directly with the CEO to ensure candidates clearly understood the opportunity and the company's strategic direction.
Our Approach to Solve the Search
The engagement began with an extensive intake process that allowed SCM Talent Group to fully understand the business, its products, and the operational challenges behind the search. Although the company manufactures highly specialized testing equipment, the search focused less on direct industry experience and more on finding leaders who had managed similarly complex manufacturing environments.
Because the client preferred not to relocate the successful candidate, the search concentrated on southeastern Wisconsin, where a deep manufacturing base provided access to experienced supply chain leaders. Target companies included heavy equipment and industrial manufacturers, and other organizations producing complex engineered products.
Candidates were evaluated on more than technical expertise. The client needed someone who could connect equally well with the plant floor and the executive team, build credibility across multiple functional areas, and introduce greater discipline to planning, purchasing, inventory management, and warehouse operations. The search emphasized leaders who had built organizations and processes rather than simply managed well-established ones.
The Hire & Results
The search concluded in just 30 days.
The first candidate identified during the search ultimately became the successful hire. His background aligned almost perfectly with the client's needs, combining supply chain leadership, S&OP implementation, warehouse operations, procurement, inventory optimization, ERP systems, and operational transformation within complex industrial manufacturing environments.
Only three candidates were formally presented, demonstrating the highly targeted nature of the search. Two advanced through the interview process before the client selected the eventual hire, who impressed leadership with both his technical capabilities and his ability to communicate across every level of the organization.
The placement filled a critical leadership gap at a pivotal point in the company's evolution. Shortly after joining the organization, the new Director of Supply Chain became actively involved in helping build out the rest of the supply chain organization, including partnering with SCM Talent Group on an additional senior planning search. That outcome reflected not only the strength of the placement itself, but also the confidence both the client and the newly hired executive placed in SCM Talent Group's consultative approach to building high-performing supply chain teams.
