Karen Owens has over 20 years of experience in supply chain operations and procurement roles. She is currently the Manager of Procurement Supply Chain Operations at Pactiv, where she is responsible for defining and implementing supply chain strategy and driving cost savings. Previously, she held various planning, procurement, and inventory control roles at multiple packaging and food manufacturing companies, where she consistently improved inventory accuracy, reduced out-of-stocks, and increased inventory and raw material turns.

1. KAREN OWENS, 8151 168th Place 3E, TINLEY PARK, IL, (708) 790-1903, KOWENS324@YAHOO.COM
WORK EXPERIENCE
1999 to Present PACTIV (previously Prairie Packaging) Bedford Park, IL
Manager Procurement Supply Chain Operations
Principal responsibilities include establish, implement, and manage standardized supply chain optimization
for corrugated and bags. The position is responsible for defining and implementing Supply Chain strategy for
corrugated and bags, establish policies & procedures within the business unit while working closely with our
consumer division to ensure leverage is applied to drive savings for the business. Thus drive competitive
advantage and cost savings for Pactiv by driving supply chain optimization, continual improvement projects,
and the effective execution of supply chain commodity planning processes.
Capacity Planner
Maintained executive S&O to check capacity on a global level and maintain proper levels of working capital.
Approve capacity requests by other Business Units and our Consumer Division. Held monthly S& O review
meetings attended by peers, managers, directors and VP’s. Created individual capacity models to determine
regional/plant capacity by resource. Sent down line alignments to 5 plants by resource which drives resin
purchases and labor requirements.
S&O Planner
Analyze forecasts to improve forecast accuracy. Diligently work with the S&O plan to maintain appropriate
inventory levels. Relentlessly chase every case to ensure high customer service levels. Prepare one-off
capacity models for short-term planning. Also work with packaging by maintaining vendor agreements and
providing packaging costs for new items for 6 plants for corrugate and film.
Deputy Director of Planning, member of ERP core implementation team
Manage a staff of 2 direct reports. Responsibilities include: creating the MPS, weekly production schedules,
capacity & material planning. Work continuously with sales force to create & maintain forecasts, work daily
with customer service& logistics to prevent out-of-stocks. Point person for discussions on capacity for new
products and purchasing of additional production machinery.
Planning Manager
Responsibilities included scheduling of all areas of manufacturing: foam thermoforming, sheet
thermoforming, injection molding, extrusion & printing. Identifying forecast & capacity issues, investigation
of inventory discrepancies, coordinated transfers of raw materials & finished goods between plants and
warehouses.
1997 to 1999 SOLO CUP CO., (previously CLEAR SHIELD NATIONAL) Wheeling, IL
Materials Manager
Responsibilities included managing a staff of 3 direct reports and overseeing the following: raw material
procurement, cycle-count program and scheduling for the Wheeling facility.
Production Planner/Buyer
Responsibilities included scheduling 19 extruders & 33 secondary operation machinery. Procurement of raw
materials for all departments, coordination of transfers of finished goods & raw materials between plants,
investigation of inventory discrepancies and resolution of invoicing issues pertaining to raw materials.
Increased finished good turns by 5%. Increased raw material turns by 7% while reducing out-of-stocks by
10%.
1996 to 1997 SUN PROCESS CONVERTING Mt. Prospect, IL
Inventory Control/Receiving Supervisor
Responsibilities included restoring inventory accuracy through creation & implementation of procedures for
material handlers, receiving personnel, production planners and production staff. Also responsible for all
receiving functions including inspection & documentation of both purchased & customer-supplied materials.
Estimator
Responsibilities included determination of job cost through the efficient use of materials, machinery & labor
in a job-shop environment via the creation of the job router. Duties required constant interaction &
negotiation with suppliers and production staff.

2. 1993 to 1996 REDI-CUT FOODS, INC. Franklin Park, IL
Production Planning & Inventory Control Supervisor
Central Purchasing Agent – Plant Supplies
Responsibilities included preparing the daily production schedule for the Franklin Park & Bensenville plants
determining optimum finished goods inventory levels, maintaining accurate inventories and analyzing
variances, forecasting finished goods production. Also responsible for projecting raw material, packaging
material and plant supply requirements, purchasing plant supplies and assuring accurate receipt of incoming
supplies. Brought out-of-stocks down to less than 1% while increasing inventory turns 25%.
EDUCATION: Bachelor of Arts, Psychology/English. Augustana College, Rock Island, IL.