Product Manager - Vernon Hills, United States - Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc. (MEAU)

Description

Mitsubishi Electric Automation is a global leader in providing quality automation solutions to a variety of industries, from manufacturing and industrial to medical and agriculture.

We have immense pride in our employees who have an incomparable commitment to excellence.

When you choose a career with Mitsubishi Electric Automation, you are choosing a passionate and hard-working team environment that prides itself in diversity, inclusion, sustainability efforts, and employee support.

Position Summary:

The Product Manager will support the VFD and Motors product portfolio in all aspects of product lifecycle management, while supporting management plans to achieve organizational sales and profit goals.

You are expected to have an in-depth understanding of customer problems and align the organization around creating desirable outcomes for customers and the business in the Americas.

You will lead cross-functional teams consisting of marketing, engineering, sales, operations, etc. to deliver world-class products and make an impact in the organization.


Position Duties and Responsibilities:


Activity & Essential Function Identification

• Create the company's VFD product vision and strategy and be the champion that drives the acceptance and successful execution of the associated tactics across the organization.
• Plans and implements all activities associated with the complete product lifecycle, including development, launch, growth, maturity, and sunset. This includes defining pricing, product messaging, training, certification and regulatory requirements, product distribution, etc.
• Define product requirements and specifications according to the market or customer need and work closely with the development team to develop high quality, high value products.
• Engage customers to identify specific problems, personas, and challenges faced by existing and prospective customers. Identify the value of solving these customer pain points and translate them into product development or feature enhancement opportunities.
• Lead and drive discussions with stakeholders to define the scope of work, justify the investment, and manage the development process, prototyping, and customer testing.
• Work closely with Product Marketing on product positioning, value proposition, and market segmentation to ensure successful product launches.
• Perform competitive and market analysis to identify unique differentiations, competitive pricing levels, competitive strengths and weaknesses, and anticipate market and customer trends that may affect the product design.
• Collaborate with Marketing Communications to create collaterals such as product presentations, overviews, selection guides, sales brief, manage web content, etc. Ensure content is aligned with product messaging and value proposition.
• Regularly conduct pricing, competitive and profitability analysis. Identify opportunities for pricing harmonization, profitability improvements, and recommend relevant countermeasures to management.
• Influence parent company's actions by leveraging personal relationships, persuasive arguments, and data driven analysis producing favorable outcomes that allow Mitsubishi Electric to effectively compete in the Americas.
• Leads and manages projects in conjunction with peers from other functions such as sales, business development, service, corporate marketing, and legal to ensure a cohesive approach to the product strategy and growth. Proactively remove challenges and resource issues and escalate as appropriate to ensure goals are met.
• Help Distributors and Partners with joint activities and support the sales team with customer visits and presentations.
• Serve as internal and external PR spokesperson for Mitsubishi VFDs and Motors
• Be the VFD and Motor advocate.
• Other duties as assigned.

Supervisory / Management Responsibilities

• No direct reports.

Travel Requirements

• 25% travel within the Americas and occasionally Japan.

Essential Education, Skills and Experience

• BS in Engineering or Business equivalent.
• Technical/commercial knowledge of industrial automation products, including one or more of the following: Variable Frequency Drives, Servo/Motion, PLC, HMI, CNC, Robot and Various Industrial Networks
• Ability to handle multiple and concurrent priorities. Strong prioritization and problemsolving skills.
• Effective listening, negotiation, and consensus building skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills and presence to deal effectively with internal and external customers at all levels.
• Excellent writing, oral, and presentation skills.
• Computer Skills/Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).

Beneficial Education, Skills and Experience

• Experience in Japanese business culture environment.
• Familiarity with SAP ECC/SAP CRM

Why choose us?

You would be joining:

• A successful team of smart, dedicated professionals who are not only the best in their respective fields but are committed to a tra