About the Role:
Maintain and improve current US customer relationships and business levels, and cultivate & develop new relationships, opportunities and business with potential US customers, well-aligned with Innolux Commercial BG/Avionics business strategy and objectives.
Responsibilities:
- Obtaining RFQs/RFPs (Request for Quote/Proposal) from current and potential customers for new and current products and report these to the Avionics business team.
Providing quotations for such products with support of the Avionics business team, aligned with Avionics strategy. This includes:
(1) Understanding and using the Avionics quotation template.
(2) Organizing and keeping track of the status of such opportunities over long periods of time.
(3) Responding to customer questions and providing updates to quotations for a variety of reasons ranging from product configuration changes, to errors, to competitve pressure.
- Providing general technical Sales support of both newly awarded product development projects and existing development programs as follows:
(1) Constant monitoring of communications between Innolux's Avionics project / technical team and customer program & engineering personnel, with occasional intervening in these communications to assure mutual understanding by both parties.
(2) Providing quote updates to customer sourcing / purchasing as needed in the event of changes in originally agreed product design and/or program scope affecting product unit price and/or non-recurring costs like engineering, tooling, and product testing costs.
(3) Storing and maintaining quotes and other commercial / pricing documentation for record keeping and efficient recall / referencing as it accumulates over the course of the development program to production.
- Understand near term customer demand (orders) and support fulfillment of this demand, including assisting with communications to the customer on latest production and shipping plans as well as helping to resolve shipment delays. This requires awareness on multiple fronts including:
(1) Customer purchase orders (PO's) & Innolux PO acknowledgments.
(2) Innolux commitments and shipment plans associated with those POs.
(3) Shipment notice emails from Innolux to customers and associated documentation and details- packing lists, shipping invoices, flight details, and commercial invoices.
- Support Innolux's Accounts Receivable Management with customers, with the objective of eliminating or minimizing both the amount and duration of overdue payments, first & foremost by assuring on-time payments from customers, but if not on-time, then the fastest possible payment on overdue invoices. This activity includes:
(1) Knowing and communicating with customer Accounts Payable contact windows, both general Accts Payable email addresses for invoice submission as well as specific personnel who can follow-up internally at the customer (eg; buyers, procurement analysts, accounts payable analysts, etc.)
(2) Weekly review of Accounts Receivable (AR) status reports from Innolux Customer Support and Financial Mgmt teams to understand overdue and coming due invoices by customer.
(3) Utilization of the AR report data, including invoice numbers and amounts, and associated customer PO numbers, part numbers and shipped Qty, as well as the invoices themselves if necessary, for accurate communication of complete information associated with the overdue payment, to assure fastest customer response.
(4) Understanding invoicing, shipment receiving, and payment processes with customers to allow the identification and resolution of problems causing payment delays.
- Understand and assist with reporting medium and long term customer demand (forecasts) to support Avionics business planning and strategy. This requires access to customer forecast information and people such as:
(1) Customer forecast systems such as online portals with long term forecasts by customer part number.
(2) Customer personnel that can provide forecasts, such as buyers, program managers, production planners, business planners, engineers.
(3) Where possible, aircraft market production and shipment forecast data that can be found in online news releases, industry articles and industry reports.
- Learn and understand the general Aerospace market value chain that Avionics resides in, for example:
LCD Display maker -> Display Unit Integrator -> Cockpit Systems Integrator -> Aircraft Maker -> Airlines
This includes:
(1) LCD manufacturers vs. LCD module integrators - companies and the competitve landscape among them.
(2) Display Unit integrators vs. Cockpits Systems Integrators - companies & the competitive landscape.
(3) Aircraft Makers - Commercial Air Travel (big airline jets, regional vs. international) and Business Jet companies, competitive landscape, our customers' positions, Innolux's positions.
(4) Aircraft Makers - Military (fighter jets, trainers, transports, helicopters) - companies, competitors, customers' positions, Innolux's posiitons.
(5) Airlines - general knowledge of companies, possible aircraft preferences, future aircarft purchase plans, MRO channels (Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul).
- Plan and support visits to US customers and make occasional trips with US customers to Innolux locations in Japan and Taiwan. This requires:
(1) Skills in both travel planning and traveling itself - reserving hotels, renting cars and/or using Uber/Lyft and possibly local transportation like taxi, bus, and rail, to move between airports, hotels, customer sites, and Innolux sites.
(2) A valid Passport for interntional travel (need more than 6 months until expiration for any given internationnal trip).
(3) Skills in rapid, accurate note-taking and write-up of meeting minutes with key actions defined after every customer meeting for review by Innolux Avionics teammates and management.
Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical or Optical Engineering, with Business minor preferred.
- Prefer min of 5 years of experience in Aerospace (or Automotive) Optical Electronics Technical Sales Experiences or if Candidate is a confident self-starter, has the proper motivation and technical aptitude, and feel capable of handiling the job responsibilities of 1-7 above, a less experienced candidate can be considered.
- Bilingual of English and Mandarin/Japanese is a plus
Skills & Abilities:
- Strong written and verbal communication, using typical MS Office tools, with frequent, active communication via large quantities of emails daily.
- Sufficient electrical, optical, and mechanical knowledge and aptitude that permits a general understanding of how Innolux Avionics' LCD products operate and how they are designed, manufactured, and utilized in the customer application (typically aircraft cockpit primary flight displays used by pilots
- Good general IT instincts, patience, and self-sufficiency to work in Innolux's sluggish remote IT systems with no professional local IT support from Innolux.
Create analysis report (fill out results) and case studies (work instructions)
- Good disposition for building customer trust - sincere, honest, compassionate, calm.
- Some Japanese and/or Mandarin speaking ability and cultural awareness would be a big plus but not necessary.
- Ability to work early/late hours for business meetings due to customers on east coast & west coast US, with Innolux business and operations teams in Japan & Taiwan.
- Flexibility with work hours due to customers on east coast & west coast US; with Innolux business and operations teams in Japan & Taiwan. This means some meetings will be required at times in the early morning, late evening. In addition to a general expectation to be in the office 3-5 days per week, if candidate is metro-Detroit based. The need to support odd hours and some long workdays will be offset by management flexibility with employee's work hours and working from home on a as needed basis
Innolux USA is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, national origin, veteran status, parental status, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. Innolux makes hiring decisions based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs at the time.
U.S permanent resident or U.S citizen only
Schedule:
(Work on a global basis, with global locations, and in global time zones)
- Monday to Friday
- On call
- Weekends as needed
About Us:
Innolux USA is part of Innolux Corporation, headquartered in Taiwan. With its North America headquarter in San Jose California, Farmington Hills Michigan location has been here for close to 20 years to service our automotive customers in the region.
Innolux Corporation is a world leading TFT-LCD manufacture offers comprehensive and top-quality display technology and system integration solutions. Innolux takes part in each and every type from consumer products to commercial use like mobile phones, notebook computer, IT products, LCD TV, wearable devices, and gaming products. In the field of special applications, like medical, X ray display, automotive and avionics panel, Innolux takes the lead in the industry.
