Title:  Product Offer Manager, MD & LD

Role description

Organizing, managing and maintaining the UD Trucks MD & LD product offer, sales engineering and product support activities in UD Trucks International Markets. Identify and drive opportunities for UDIS to leverage LD/MD offer experience in Isuzu. 

Responsibilities

1. Identify MD & LD product specification requirements and engage with Product Line Management, UDT-Technology and Group stakeholders for implementation

• Identify specification gaps to achieve strong competitiveness in the market / regions.
• Co-ordinate with market to prepare the detailed business case for initiating IPMRs.
• Initiate IPMRs to start the product modification process.
• Engage with Product Line Management team and UDT – Technology team to pursue and follow up on the product modification requests.
• Follow up to ensure prioritization and optimized lead-time for the product modification delivery to the market / region.
• Support the introduction of the new specification / features in the market / region.
• Clear long-term market roadmap on MD/LD offer with new platform
• Benchmark and leverage LD/MD experience in Isuzu to grow UDT volume base

2. Support the markets / regions to define feature and cost optimized competitive MD & LD product specification in line with customer needs and market trend

• Support markets in preparing and positioning a well-specified product with attractive and differentiated specifications in the region / market.
• Support markets in optimizing the specification to achieve the lowest product cost.
• Co-ordinate with the region / market and TSSC to support on Customer Adaptations.
• Support market on homologation requirements and queries.
• Support day-to-day queries on product technical specifications.

3. Maintain regular information flow to markets / regions on MD & LD product updates and Intro Blocks

• Share information with markets / regions on product updates in each intro block.
• Conduct regular market meetings to receive information, requests and share updates on their queries and requests.
• Share information / best practices from each market to inspire other markets on their product strategy.

4. Support new market entry projects for MD & LD in collaboration with regions

• Visit market to study the truck market, legal requirements, customer needs, and truck usage practices and evaluate the available competition offering.
• Work with region to prepare and position an attractive, cost optimized and competitive product offer for the new market.

5. Maintain market / region level updated product plans for UD Trucks MD & LD products

• Prepare and implement short and mid-term product plans for UD Trucks products in all markets/ regions.
• Regular product update information to Sales, Product and AM networks to initiate introduction preparation in all streams.

6. Support / Provide training to product network and sales teams

• Work with Competence Development to ensure that the necessary product training material and training is provided to the Market Companies and the Importers.
• Ensure that the product people in the market / region have the necessary knowledge to carry out their roles effectively.
• Initiate and prepare competition comparison information and share it with markets for training.
• Train product team / sales teams based on training plan and specific market demand.

Required knowledge/experience

• Product management related experience in truck OEM.
• Sales and market experience in MD and LD offering related products
• Knowledge of regulations, certification and homologation process will added advantage.
• Good at multi-tasking in a fast-moving working environment
• Good at time management and stress-handling
• Strong technical competence and product knowledge.
• Thorough knowledge of customer needs, sales process and support systems
• Analytical aptitude, problem solving skills, commercial competence, and team skills
• Detail and result oriented, broad-based administration skill needed
• Strong commitment and drive to take initiatives, improve, and deliver. Structured and systematic way of working. Open minded and fast learner
• Good personality with team and teamwork
• Share common values with UD Values, Code of Conduct, high ethical standards
• Excellent oral & written English. Japanese as language as added advantage
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Excellent skills in Microsoft office, in particular MS PowerPoint, Outlook and Word