Harish Rajagopal

Senior Procurement and Category Management leader with 16 years of progressive experience across global electrical, automotive and industrial manufacturing, encompassing category strategy, strategic sourcing, supplier qualification, commercial agreement negotiation and end-to-end supplier relationship management. Proven track record managing $800M+ annual spend portfolios and $278M+ combined project procurement budgets, delivering $130M+ in cumulative cost savings through should-cost and total-cost-of-ownership (TCO) analysis, value analysis/value engineering (VA/VE) and structured negotiation. Deep experience in supplier risk management and continuity planning, including re-sourcing financially distressed suppliers with zero supply interruption, and in supplier quality systems (ISO 9001 principles, PPM/OTD/NCR management, root-cause and corrective action) that translate directly to regulated, quality-critical supply environments.

Strong technical credibility as a Mechatronics engineer (B.E. and M.Tech), with a demonstrated ability to partner cross-functionally with Engineering, Quality, R&D, Legal and Finance to embed procurement into New Product Introduction (NPI) and stage-gate governance. Actively seeking to transition this category management, supplier risk and quality-systems acumen into the pharmaceutical / life sciences industry, bringing a rigorous, compliance-minded approach to External Manufacturing category leadership.

Global Commodity Manager & Strategic Sourcing Lead at Allison Transmission (2019-01 – Present)

Automotive transmission manufacturer (NYSE: ALSN). Own category strategy and site-level procurement execution across an $800M annual spend portfolio (direct materials, manufacturing equipment, CAPEX, indirect categories), partnering with Engineering, Operations, Quality and Finance to shape supply base and drive supplier performance.

• Delivered $40M (11%) in cost savings through commercial agreement negotiation, VA/VE, category management and supplier localisation - exceeding the standard 3-5% industry savings benchmark
• Managed a combined $278M project portfolio (Off-Highway 6K/8K/9K and Project Harmony): directed timely issuance of 567 purchase orders and led commercial evaluation of 246 sourcing packages (technical assessment, supplier capability evaluation, risk mitigation, contract finalisation), maintaining full compliance and on-time delivery of all critical NPI milestones with zero schedule slippage
• Took sole commercial ownership of a $78M sourcing scope, independently leading 14 sourcing packages end-to-end within a compressed 37-day timeline while maintaining full technical compliance and cost targets
• Led supplier qualification and onboarding for 91 new suppliers through a full localisation strategy (capability assessment, NDA execution, terms negotiation, compliance verification and commercial closure), supported by supplier scorecards, quality reviews (PPM/NCR) and backup-supplier identification to mitigate single-source risk
• Negotiated multi-year strategic commercial agreements covering over 80% of annual spend, strengthening supply continuity; developed and executed continuity plans that re-sourced three financially distressed suppliers in 2025 with zero supply interruption
• Reduced contract cycle time by 66% (120 to 60 days) and procurement cycle time by 25% by implementing Power BI-based supplier performance dashboards and spend-analysis reporting, coordinating with an offshore analytics hub (Pune) — an operating model directly comparable to distributed EMEA/global procurement teams
• Led and developed a site procurement team (objective-setting, performance reviews, development plans); ran structured technical trials, benchmarking and negotiation for critical supplier selection, achieving cost reductions of 8–22% across multiple commodity segments

Senior Buyer at Samsung Electronics (2010-01 – 2019-12)

Consumer electronics manufacturing.

• Led global strategic sourcing for the Smart Factory Project ($650M total value), managing technical RFQ evaluation and supplier qualification across manufacturing plants in the USA, Korea, Poland, China and Vietnam
• Created and published global direct ($720M) and indirect ($545M) spend analysis reports for corporate HQ, improving spend visibility and cost transparency across five regions and identifying consolidation opportunities
• Negotiated 30% savings on an industrial gas contract renewal ($8M realised) and delivered $20M in savings over seven years through analysis and negotiation of the warehouse management contract
• Reduced purchase requisition lead time from 5 days to 1 day through ERP process implementation (MS Dynamics), improving PO execution flow and exception handling
• Implemented yearly pricing contracts for consumables ($120K in savings) and reduced inbound logistics costs through truck density optimisation ($80K annual savings)

M.Tech in Mechatronics Engineering – SRM Institute of Science & Technology (2011-01 – 2013-12)

Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics Engineering – SRM Institute of Science & Technology (2010-12)