Circle Beverage

Circle Beverage's mission is to provide enriching careers for our people, to uplift our partners, and to benefit society through our products and services.  

We are a turnkey contract manufacturer that specializes in complex canned beverage products for high-potential brands and retailers. 

We employ a meticulous, full-circle method of vetting clients and products, then onboarding and integrating them into our manufacturing infrastructure which enables us to act as their integrated manufacturing department.

We have helped to launch and grow some of the industry's most innovative products & brands by adding value through manufacturing services and our adjacent expertise in R&D, product commercialization, regulatory compliance & certifications, go-to-market strategy, distribution, and fulfillment.  Circle's certifications include: SQF (GFSI-recognized), FDA-registered, TTB Distilled Spirits Producer, USDA Organic, and B-Corporation.

Co-Founder and CEO

The Leather Book Library (exited 2021)

The Leather Book Library was founded to be the premier global service for custom book binding (www.theleatherbooklibrary.com).  The company established an international supply chain of suppliers and manufacturing partners, one of which acquired the company in 2021.

Founder

Indiana University Health

As the leader of the IU Health Plans Project Management Office, key responsibilities included:

(1) Developing a world-class Project Management organization with a staff of business and IT Project Managers
(2) Overseeing the Supply Chain function for the business unit: strategy, process, and people. ~$85 M in annual supply chain spend.
(3) Serving as a Customer Experience Champion to transform the IU Health Customer Experience.
(4) Driving multiple strategic initiatives to deliver a step change in performance and capabilities.

Manager, Project Management Office

Rolls-Royce

As the Supply Chain Projects Manager of the US Defense Aerospace business, key responsibilities included leading a staff of Project Managers and Supply Chain Designers, 25-50 project team members, and project budgets of up to $5M. Core accountability resided in setting supply chain strategies for the business unit and executing major change programs. Accomplishments included:

(1) Building an organization from scratch by attracting and developing top talent from internal and external sources.
(2) Decommissioning a manufacturing facility in Bristol, UK and implementing a new facility in Indianapolis, Indiana.
(3) Executing a program to transition R-R logistics work to various third party companies, equating to $5 M in annualized cost savings.
(4) Overseeing a Vendor Managed Inventory program for the Business Unit.
(5) Leader of the 'idea generation' pipeline for the business unit. Oversight of major change programs from inception to final delivery.

Supply Chain Projects Manager

Leader in the Global Logistics function which manages logistics services (transportation, warehousing, packaging, in-factory logistics) for Rolls-Royce across 50+ sites in North and South America. Key accomplishments included:

(1) Aligning Logistics strategies across all business sectors (Civil Aerospace, Defense Aerospace, Marine, Energy).
(2) Managing project teams of up to 10 team members and capital project budgets of up to $1 M.
(3) Led an inventory improvement program on behalf of the Chief Operating Officer (COO). This program was focused on improving the business unit’s cash position.
(4) Governing Third Party Logistics (3PL) provider relationships to manage Logistics operations for the business

Global Logistics Manager

Rotational Leadership Development Program

The Coca-Cola Company

Supply Chain Associate

Beverage Manufacturing & Co-Packing | Business as a Force for Good @ Circle Beverage

I help teams to achieve unreasonable outcomes by serving and coaching them with relentless dedication.  

I am grateful for each of the world-class teams that I have had the opportunity to serve.

Manufacturing is my home. I love the daily collision of workmanship, engineering, and old-fashioned work ethic that is necessary to succeed in this industry.

My entire career has been spent in highly regulated sectors (healthcare, aerospace, food/bev manufacturing). I enjoy the chaos that these industries offer and to have the opportunity to bring clarity to that chaos.

I’m the father of 4 young children. Type 1 Diabetic since 1991. Lifelong health and wellness fanatic. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitor.

LinkedIn is a place where I speak about the topics that I love. Manufacturing, leadership, and business as a force for good.  I hope you find my content of benefit.

I value hustle and integrity over any other human traits.

Matt Whiteside

Leads new product introduction (NPI) sourcing and strategic sourcing initiatives within consumer-packaged goods (CPG) for cosmetics, sexual wellness, and supplements.

Senior Sourcing Manager

Senior Supply Chain Analyst

Comanufactured

In my spare time, I'm curating information about copackers that service the CPG industry and centralizing all of these insights into my directory, Comanufactured.co - I hope you follow along!

Votorantim Cimentos

Managed a $50MM direct and indirect spend portfolio across 60 locations and 25 suppliers.
• Led multiple cross-functional RFP’s that resulted in over $5M in savings, sustained supplier relationships through consolidation, and increased production output by 25%.
• Collaborated and managed communications between operations and suppliers on 5 CAPEX sourcing projects to assure on time delivery of crucial equipment, delivered equipment under budget, and increased operational efficiencies. Led the negotiation of contracts within CAPEX to assure terms were reasonable with respect to payment, maintenance, and replacement.
• Effectively managed suppliers to increase product availability which reduced plant downtime by 17%.

Senior Buyer

Moss

Managed a $10M spend portfolio with over 20 domestic suppliers and 2 manufacturers in China
• Administered an RFQ to reduce costs by $100k and decreased lead times by 35%. This improved
production output by 15%.

Category Buyer

Power Equipment Direct

Managed strategic sourcing and business planning for 5 categories within e-commerce that drove $12M in revenue and maintained 33% gross margin across all categories.
• Averaged 11% year-over-year growth across all categories, delivered yearly gross profits of $4M, onboarded new brands that drove customer satisfaction and increased revenues.
    
• Spearheaded an interim Amazon marketplace project that generated over $120k in revenue.
• Negotiated a bulk buy down by 50%, avoiding nearly $600k in spend, and led to a long-term partnership
with top tier supplier in the industry.
• Managed and mentored 1 associate on key market trends, sourcing tactics, and overall effective category
management.
• Wrote monthly commentaries that summarized the performance of key categories in a concise format for
the executive team.
• Collaborated cross functionally to develop and present the overall category strategy for leadership.

Assistant Category Manager

Justin Blair & Company

Managed $3M in spend and maintained inventory for over 3000 active SKU’s within the AS400.
• Built a procurement process from the ground up that relied on strengthening supplier relationships to
increase visibility, consolidating the supply base to achieve economies of scale, and integrating automation within the ERP software. This greatly improved out of stock inventory by over 95% and mitigated risks across the supply chain through strategic relationships and effective supplier relationship management. This new process yielded annual cost savings of 400k, average lead time reductions of 35%, and improved overall revenue by 10%.
• Reorganized warehouse to improve the flow of inventory which decreased picking time by 45% and reduced the number of discrepancies by 20%.
• Managed inbound freight of domestic and international shipments.
• Supervised teams of 4 to conduct cycle counts to improve inventory control by 20%.
• Expanded the assortment of diabetic shoes which led to increased customer satisfaction, 20% cost
reduction, and increased revenue by 15%.

Purchasing Manager

Newstar Lighting

Managed $1M in raw material inventory and a team of two inventory clerks.
• Reorganized 3 floors of warehousing to reduce cycle count times by 45% and to reduce the time it took to stage orders for production by nearly 50%.

Inventory Control Manager

Supply Chain Curator | Helping Startups | $10M+ in Savings | Procurement Prompt Engineer | AI Advocate

Follow me if you’re looking for valuable and unique insights on copackers and all sorts of suppliers servicing the CPG community. I review them all! 

I leverage my 13 year career in supply chain to share my knowledge and experiences within copacking and packaging. I specifically talk about improving the relationships between brands and copackers. 



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