Interview Preparation Notes for Supply Chain Engineer Position

Foram Pandya

Email: fbpandya@gmail.com

Phone: +1 669 281 6704

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/foram-pandya/

CSC Hackathon:https://csc-hackathon.io/

My Talent:https://www.mytalent.io/

Summary

A results-driven Supply Chain Professional with Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and experience in project management, process improvements, and optimizing inventory and operations.

Experience

Procurement Specialist, ABM Systems, Inc. (Apr’18 – Jan’21)

• What motivated you to choose procurement and supply chain as a career?
• What steps do you take to ensure high-quality standards in your procurement process?
• Tell me about a time when you negotiated with a supplier to lower costs. What was your strategy, and what was the result?
• Describe a procurement issue you identified and resolved. What was the root cause, and how did you solve the problem?
• What challenges have you faced when managing supplier performance and how have you overcome these challenges?
• Tell me about a time when your forecasting data was incorrect, and how you reacted to this.
• Describe how you maintain excellent communication with the different internal departments in your procurement process.
• How do you keep up with the latest industry trends and developments?
• Tell me about a time when a supplier failed to deliver on time, and how you managed to mitigate the impact.
• How do you balance cost savings with supplier relationship management?

STAR Answer Example:

• Situation: One of our key suppliers was consistently delivering late, leading to production delays that were impacting the business.
• Task: As the procurement specialist, I was responsible for ensuring timely delivery from all suppliers.
• Action: I arranged a meeting with the supplier’s account manager to understand the root cause of the delays and to collaborate on a solution. We identified that the supplier was experiencing a material shortage, which was causing delays. We then jointly developed a plan to order more materials ahead of time, which would enable them to deliver on time.
• Result: After implementing the solution, the supplier’s delivery times significantly improved, reducing production delays, and improving supply chain performance.

Supply Chain Planner, GE Renewable (Mar’17 – Mar’18)

• What led you to move from procurement to supply chain planning?
• Tell me about a time when you had to coordinate across multiple internal departments to ensure smooth supply chain operations.
• How important is inventory optimization, and how did you approach this in your previous role?
• Describe a scenario in which you had to make a trade-off between meeting production schedules and minimizing inventory levels. What was your approach, and what was the outcome?
• What planning tools and methods do you use to optimize material flow?
• Describe how you have leveraged technology to improve production scheduling and material planning.
• How did you manage and prioritize competing demands in your previous role?
• How did you manage changes in demand forecast and relay them across the supply chain?
• Tell me about a time when you had to optimize material flow for multiple projects with different priorities. What approach did you take, and what was the outcome?
• Describe how you effectively communicated and collaborated with suppliers to ensure on-time delivery and quality.

STAR Answer Example:

• Situation: We were experiencing material shortages in one of our production lines, which led to production delays and missed deadlines, impacting our customers.
• Task: As the supply chain planner, I was responsible for identifying the root cause of the shortage and devising a solution to avoid future delays.
• Action: I collaborated with the procurement team to identify the bottleneck in the supply chain, which was a delay in the raw material delivery from a key supplier. I then contacted the supplier's account manager to negotiate expedited delivery or find alternative suppliers. After reviewing the options, we decided to expedite the delivery from the current supplier.
• Result: We received the materials in time for our production schedules, preventing further delays and enabling us to meet customer demands.

Continuous Improvement Assistant, SJSU (Jul’22 – Dec’22)

• What led you to pursue a continuous improvement role?
• Tell me about your experience in process mapping and identifying areas for improvement.
• What led you to choose specific tools, such as Value Stream Mapping and FMEA methods, to analyze material planning procedures?
• What challenges have you faced when implementing process improvements, and how have you overcome them?
• How do you balance the need for improvement with the reality of resource constraints?
• Tell me about a time when you had to resolve a conflict among cross-functional teams during a process improvement project.
• What metrics do you use to measure the effectiveness of a process improvement initiative?
• Describe your experience in collaborating with IT teams to automate tasks and reduce errors in the planning process.
• Tell me about a time when you had to manage a change in a process. What were the challenges, and how did you manage them?
• How do you ensure sustainability in process improvements and prevent them from slipping back into the old ways?

STAR Answer Example:

• Situation: We were experiencing frequent stock-outs in critical components which affected production line efficiency.
• Task: As the Continuous Improvement Assistant, I was tasked with analyzing the material planning process and identifying the root cause of the stock-outs.
• Action: I collaborated with internal teams to map out the end-to-end material planning process using Value Stream Mapping. We identified that the demand forecasting process relied too much on historical data and not enough on current trends, leading to inaccurate forecasting. I then worked with the demand forecasting team to develop a new methodology that incorporated more current data and feedback from the production teams.
• Result: After implementing the new forecasting methodology, we significantly reduced the number of stock-outs, improving efficiency and productivity in the assembly line.

Internship

Process Improvement Intern, JerseySTEM (Nov’23 – Present)

• What led you to choose JerseySTEM as an internship opportunity?
• Tell me about your experience in implementing IT automation projects for departmental processes. What tools and technologies did you use?
• Describe a scenario where your team had to identify root causes and devise effective solutions to complex problems.
• How have you leveraged continuous improvement principles to design automated workflows for data gathering, procurement, and material dispatch?
• What challenges have you faced when implementing the PDCA cycle, and how have you addressed them?
• What metrics do you use to track the success of IT automation projects?
• How do you ensure that automation does not cause unintended consequences?
• Describe a time when you had to negotiate with vendors to achieve a win-win outcome that benefits both organizations.
• What skills have you developed during this internship, and how do you plan to continue developing them in your future career?
• Tell me about a time when you had to work collaboratively with a cross-functional team to achieve a common goal.

STAR Answer Example:

• Situation: We had a manual process that required significant resources and time to generate weekly procurement reports, leading to delayed decision-making and communication.
• Task: As part of the IT automation project, I was tasked with designing an automated workflow for procurement data gathering and reporting.
• Action: I collaborated with the procurement team to understand the report's requirements and used data visualization tools such as Tableau and Excel to design an automated solution that enhanced visualization. We then integrated the workflow with a web application that was accessible by internal stakeholders, which allowed us to respond to procurement queries faster.
• Result: After successfully implementing the solution, we reduced the report-generation time by 80% and enhanced decision-making capacity, improving overall procurement efficiency.

Supply Chain Manager Intern, Connecticut Immigrant & Refugee Coalition (Aug’23 – Oct’23)

• What motivated you to pursue a role with the Connecticut Immigrant & Refugee Coalition?
• What challenges did you face while developing a customized inventory management system tailored to organizational needs?
• Tell me about a time when you had to collaborate with a team of multiple stakeholders to achieve a common goal.
• What strategies did you implement to ensure the success of your retail system planning and strategic business growth initiatives?
• How did your previous experience in procurement and supply chain planning prepare you for the Supply Chain Manager role?
• What challenges did you face when integrating inventory management with digital sales channels, and how did you overcome them?
• What metrics did you use to measure the success of your initiatives, and what outcome did you achieve?
• Describe a scenario where you had to prioritize competing demand from multiple projects, and how did you manage the situation?
• Tell me about a time when you identified an opportunity to reduce waste in material handling, and how did you implement a solution.
• What lessons did you learn during your Supply Chain Manager internship, and how do you plan to apply them in the future?

STAR Answer Example:

• Situation: We were experiencing frequent stock-outs in critical components, which affected production line efficiency.
• Task: As the Supply Chain Manager intern, I was tasked with designing and implementing an inventory management system tailored to organizational needs to ensure on-time delivery of critical components.
• Action: I collaborated with the procurement team, cross-functional internal teams, and external suppliers to design and deploy the customized inventory management system. I extensively analyzed the inventory management needs, which informed the purchasing process, order tracking and monitoring, and communication with suppliers. I also regularly reviewed incoming inventory and outgoing finished goods to ensure optimal levels of inventory were available.
• Result: After implementing the inventory management system, we significantly reduced the number of stock-outs, improving efficiency and productivity in the assembly line. This success led the organization to standardize the process and integrate it into the process-improvement initiative.

Skills

• What skills do you consider essential for a supply chain engineer to possess?
• Describe how you have used technology tools such as SAP ERP, Microsoft Office, Slack, SQL, R programming, and data visualization.
• How do you determine which supply chain tools to use for specific projects and situations?
• What are some successful strategies you have used for budgeting and cost management?
• Tell me about your experience in implementing Lean Six Sigma Green Belt principles and how they have contributed to your success in supply chain roles.
• What strategies have you used to improve supplier relationship management and improve outcomes?
• Describe your experience in demand forecasting and how you ensure forecast accuracy.
• Tell me about a time when you used data to identify bottlenecks in the supply chain, and what solutions did you implement?
• What supply chain certifications do you hold, and how have they impacted your approach to supply chain engineering?
• What steps do you take to ensure that you stay up-to-date with advancements in the supply chain field?

Education

• Tell me about your experience in obtaining your master's degree in Industrial Engineering and Management.
• How did your bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering prepare you for a career in supply chain engineering?
• What courses did you take that were particularly impactful in your supply chain roles?
• Tell me about your experience in extracurricular activities such as hackathons and how they have contributed to your professional development.
• How do you plan to continue your educational and professional development in the supply chain field?

Project

• Tell me about your experience in collaborating in a global Circular Supply Chain hackathon.
• What motivated you to develop a system life cycle cost model for a California school's parking lot?
• Tell me about your experience in estimating Total Cost of Ownership, Net Present Value, and Cash Payback Period for the project.
• How did you collect the data required to make accurate estimations without bias?
• Tell me about the outcome of this project, and how it has influenced your work in supply chain engineering.

Notes for Coding and Design Rounds

Coding Rounds

• Explain the difference between time and space complexity.
• What is the Big O notation, and how does it help determine time complexity?
• What are some data structures and algorithms used in supply chain engineering?
• What are some common challenges in supply chain engineering that require algorithmic solutions?
• Explain how you would optimize a specific algorithm for a given task.
• What steps do you take to ensure the code you write is maintainable and scalable?
• What are some steps you take to debug code and resolve errors?
• Tell me about a time when you had to optimize an algorithm for a critical supply chain task, and what was the result?
• What programming languages and tools are you most comfortable with?
• What do you think makes for excellent coding practices in a team environment, and how do you ensure they are followed?

Design Rounds

• Explain the difference between high-level and low-level system design.
• Tell me about a time when you had to come up with a high-level system design for a complex supply chain problem.
• What are some factors you consider when designing a system to handle real-time supply chain data processing?
• How do you prioritize non-functional requirements such as scalability and security in a system design?
• Tell me about a time when you had to design a system that could handle large volumes of data.
• What design patterns are particularly useful in supply chain engineering projects?
• What are some ways you evaluate the success of a system design post-implementation?
• What resources do you use to learn new system design techniques and best practices?
• Tell me about how you approach design trade-offs, such as balancing the need for speed versus accuracy.
• What strategies do you use to ensure that your system designs align with business requirements and goals?