Oshkosh Truck picks lean guru as top procurement exec

Oshkosh Truck Corporation, a leading manufacturer of specialty vehicles and truck bodies, announced March 5 that Paul D. Ericksen has joined the company as vice president and chief procurement officer. In this newly created role, Ericksen will be responsible for:

·     All purchased materials throughout the company,

·     Managing strategic supplier relationships,

·     Implementing lean principles throughout the purchasing function and supply chain, and

·     Purchasing support for new product development and acquisitions.

“We’re pleased to have a talented leader such as Paul joining our team. With more than three decades of manufacturing and supply chain management experience, Paul will be instrumental in developing and implementing world-class practices for managing the global supply chain business needs of Oshkosh Truck,” said Robert G. Bohn, Oshkosh's chairman, president and chief executive officer. “Our business expansion throughout Europe, Asia and the United States continues to deliver new challenges in supply chain and procurement management, and we’re committed to maintaining excellence in that area.”

Ericksen joins Oshkosh Truck after 30 years with John Deere, where he developed a reputation for implementing workable solutions to complex problems. He has more than a decade of experience working at the state and federal level with the U.S. Department of Commerce Manufacturing Extension Program, and held materials leadership positions at John Deere factories in Horicon, Wis., and Ontario, Canada, as well as supplier development responsibilities at the corporate level. Ericksen is the author of several articles on lean supply chain and has contributed to several supply chain-focused trade publications. A national certified purchasing manager, Ericksen has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Iowa.