Orquidea Rodriguez is the Regional Category Manager at Schaeffler. She is instrumental in successfully completing projects
through supplier management. For each project, she must research the supplier base based on scope of works provided,
ensure clear communication between key players, lead the team, monitor progress, identify risks, mitigate obstacles, identify
the availability of resources, meet the project timeline, achieve targets, and above all, develop and implement a strategy. Orquidea
works efficiently between different sourcing priorities for various manufacturing locations and communicates project status to internal customers.
Orquidea strives to include minority-owned companies on projects that can lead to significant cost savings and selects suppliers
aligned with Vitesco’s core values, including sustainability and making a positive social impact. She focuses on the social and
economic dimensions of supply chain sustainability while ensuring potential suppliers comply with the organization’s Supplier Code
of Conduct. Orquidea champions a comprehensive supplier commercial and technical evaluation that includes questions on the supplier’s
strategy, organization, technical capabilities, service-product-process knowledge, communication, deliverable performance,
service level, ability to adapt to changes, and more.