Connie Lee Chew

I began my career at Byer California in 1990 as an Inventory Distributor and progressed through a succession of advancements to responsibilities such as Merchandiser (1991-1997), Executive Assistant (1998-1999), Merchandise Planner (2000-2001), Sales Manager (2002-2005), and Production Manager (2006-2013). I currently hold two positions: Sourcing and Purchasing Manager, Social and Labor Compliance Manager. My most notable accomplishments include redesigning the internal procedure for acquiring sundries, reducing the staff from four to one, and saving over 50% on payroll expenses. I employed a consolidated shipping plan for overseas couriers, saving around $400K in freight costs annually. In addition, I used volume purchases with suppliers for trims and sundries, which reduced average pricing by 15%. Another milestone was the implementation of a materials and testing methodology, which decreased production failure rates from 25% to less than 1%.

Interfaced with overseas factories and managed production. Managed delivery, costing, sourcing of raw materials, quality issues, testing and compliance issues. Interfaced daily with multiple teams such as sales, design, merchandising, technical design, purchasing depts to trouble shoot and keep the production cycle on schedule.

In this role, I assisted the senior Buyer in developing and implementing merchandising strategies to meet sales, margin, and inventory targets. Besides, I established collaborative working relationships with internal and external partners to support office needs and analyze sales trends to determine marketing, pricing, and inventory strategies.