Gm - Commercial Tyres - Ib & Ltr

Role- Head PD Commercial tyres (Radial)- Position Title- GM - Product Development Commercial- Department- Technology- Level / Grade- GM- Reporting To- VP - Product Development (Commercial)- Reportees- Direct: 4-5 Indirect : 8-10- Organisational Chart:
- Key Purpose of the Job (Position Summary)- This position is responsible for overall product development and management for commercial segment with a dual focus on new product development and enhancement of existing products to ensure competitive advantage. The position is also responsible for partnering with OEMs for development of products.- KEY PERFORMANCE AREAS-
- No. of OE approvals
% Achievement of NPD hit ratio for commercial products as per QCD targets
% Conformance to NPD plan
No. of enhancements in existing products
Reduction in claims value
- KEY ACTIVITIES & RESPONSIBILITIES- Strategic and Planning-
- Establish a strategy and roadmap for product development and commercialization in line with organizational strategy
Participate in organisation level strategy discussions on product trends including global market trends
Provide technical leadership in defining the company’s product portfolio for the segment responsible for
Work with Marketing Product Management team and the Product Planning function to
- define the product strategy and arrive at a product roadmap-
- Develop the annual business plan and prepare the annual budget for the Product Development in association with ED Technology & Head Product Planner
Cascade the annual plan to functions under product development to ensure alignment of actions
Plan end-to-end responsibility and develop and implement short as well as long term plans to ensure availability of resources to meet plans
Liaise with cross functional teams/ other departments to ensure timely execution of the plan within allocated budget
- Market Analysis and Competitor Benchmarking-
- Liaise with the Marketing/ Sales team to understand the current market scenario and customer feedback/ expectations about the product
Conduct market visits to address critical issues and analyse product performance in the market
Analyse the market feedback and devise strategies to improvise the product performance by incorporating the suggestions/ changes as apart of product development/ improvement
Understand the product issues through discussions with the custodians and provide suggestions for improvements
Drive benchmarking studies to evaluate competitor products and adopt industry best practices for optimum product performance
Identify emerging technologies, assess their applicability to the business needs and develop proposals to take advantage of emerging business opportunities
- NPD and Product Improvement-
- Provide direction for developing new products and for improvement of existing products
Provide technical leadership and guidance to the team including cross function team in addressing product development and management issues
Liaise with Marketing and Sales teams to ensure customer insights are manifested in product designs
Ensure that the new product developed meets the quality, cost and delivery standards set by the customers
Ensure competitiveness and innovation of products from a technological and design standpoint
Drive accountability, consistency, quality, and process standardization across various stages of product development
Devise and implement a roadmap for improving existing products by adding significant value to the product in terms of cost, quality, enhanced features
Liaise with Technical and Quality, where required, to understand technical issues reported in product or industrialisation and in customer complaints and to find solutions
Proactively address customer feedback on product design where appropriate
Ensure that claim analysis for escalated claims are successfully conducted by the team
Identify, establish and manage technology partnerships to realise strategic business objectives
- Cost Management-
- Ensure adherence to the Product development budget by monitoring budgets
Ensure design and development of new products with less number of stages (internal iterations) and higher efficiency (reduction in design cycle time)
Drive product cost optimization(Technical economy) by improving existing products and adopting latest technologies
- People Management-
- Guide and manage the team to ensure that department’s objectives are met
Conduct effective performance appraisals and provide regular feedback to manage the performance of the team
Motivate, counsel and coach employees to ensure a conducive working environment
Ensure that the team is adequately trained to improve capability within the department
Improve technical knowledge within the department by encouraging the team to undertake training and upgrade capability
Ensure people involvement in improvement initiatives
Continuously strive to enhance self-capabilities by attending trainings, seminars, conferences, etc. and improve self