Hang Li
Oostmeerlaan 201 Berkel En Rodenrijs, The Netherlands
Summary
Procurement and Category Management professional with nearly 10 years of global experience at dsm-firmenich, managing high-value and business-critical categories including glucose, glycerin, and base chemicals. Recognized for delivering multi-million euro savings, driving strategic value creation beyond price, and ensuring supply continuity in complex, high-risk production environments.
Proven track record in leading global projects, cross-functional initiatives, and post-merger integration efforts, including high-impact transitions such as the yeast extract site closure from in-house to outsourcing. Skilled at aligning procurement strategy with business priorities, budgets, market dynamics, and sustainability goals, while building resilient supplier relationships and influencing stakeholders across functions and regions.
Overview
10
10
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Category Lead - Yeast extract and chemicals
dsm-firmenich
Delft
03.2025 - Current
- Led the transition of yeast extract supply following the closure of the GPB site to external supplier Lesaffre, ensuring smooth supply for internal production and external customers.
- Managed a complex, high-visibility global project, coordinating site leadership, direct operations, supply chain, quality, and internal DSM-Firmenich stakeholders to implement the transition without production disruption or overspend on raw materials.
- Delivered tangible results, including minimal waste, no stock-outs, and seamless integration of the new supplier into existing internal and external supply chains.
- Drove strategic alignment and global communication, providing regular project updates to internal and global stakeholders, ensuring the transition’s impact was managed consistently across all affected regions.
- Balanced operational, quality, and cost objectives, mitigating risks in a high-complexity enzyme production environment while maintaining long-term supplier reliability and continuity.
Category Manager Enzymes Raw Materials Interim
dsm-firmenich
Delft
06.2024 - 02.2025
- Owned the global glucose and glycerin sub-categories, two business-critical raw materials for the enzyme business, ensuring uninterrupted supply under volatile weekly demand and severe storage limitations at legacy sites such as Séclin.
- Managed the broader base chemicals category (€20M+ spend globally) across Europe, China, and the USA, aligning closely with business stakeholders on budgets, pricing updates, and market dynamics to maintain cost competitiveness and supply security.
- Led cross-functional value-creation initiatives, facilitating workshops with supply chain, operations, quality, and R&D to identify 10 high-impact projects (€5M potential savings over 2–3 years), including recipe optimizations, new supplier onboarding, and global sourcing changes.
- Delivered €2M in-year savings through high-risk supplier and recipe changes in enzyme fermentation processes, securing buy-in from site and quality teams despite production constraints, fermentation sensitivity, and operational risks.
- Implemented Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)-based procurement decisions, factoring in logistics, storage, operational risk, and supply reliability, resulting in resilient sourcing, improved site stability, and reduced supply risk.
- Managed complex operational and quality challenges, such as limited tank capacity, stock accuracy issues, and high product variability, by implementing pragmatic solutions and engaging stakeholders to maintain operational continuity
Strategic Buyer Key Chemicals across Business Units
dsm-firmenich
Delft
05.2023 - 07.2024
- Led a global procurement category following the DSM–Firmenich integration, aligning sourcing strategies across legacy business units to unlock scale and synergy. Increased negotiation leverage across business groups, delivering a 30-day payment term extension and €300k in cost savings on liquid ammonia.
- Drove post-merger procurement harmonization by collaborating with global and regional category managers to roll out a unified category strategy across multiple business groups. Negotiated optimized agreements with strategic suppliers, achieving €200k in savings on phosphoric acid and sulfuric acid.
- Created value beyond price through portfolio and payment-term optimization, contributing directly to group-level cash flow improvement while strengthening long-term supplier partnerships.
- Acted as PMO for payment-term extension initiatives (TTH), structuring and tracking multi-workstream projects, steering category managers toward priority key accounts, and ensuring cross-functional alignment with finance and business stakeholders. Successfully delivered annual group payment-term targets.
- Influenced senior stakeholders across business groups to adopt standardized procurement approaches, improving governance, transparency, and consistency in category execution.
Strategic Buyer Business Unit Savory
DSM
Delft
02.2021 - 05.2023
- Led strategic sourcing for base chemicals (€10M+ spend), integrating financial planning, long-term category roadmaps, supplier partnership development, and sustainability priorities into a unified procurement strategy.
- Drove sustained value creation by leading cross-functional sourcing initiatives, leveraging price negotiations, new supplier introductions, and global sourcing strategies to deliver €1M recurring annual savings (~10%).
- Led the transition from local to global sourcing in the ingredients category, aligning SCM, quality, and operations to unlock €200k in incremental savings.
- Built a proactive risk mitigation model across critical raw materials, ensuring uninterrupted production during market disruptions through strong stakeholder engagement.
Supply Chain Planner
DSM
Delft Area
06.2017 - 02.2021
- I excelled in supply chain planning at DSM, where I developed a comprehensive understanding of various planning dynamics.
- Oversaw replenishment and production planning, contributing to efficient supply chain operations across EMEA and APAC.
- Collaborated in the S&OP process to enhance forecasting accuracy and sales management.
- Utilized procurement expertise to drive effective budgeting, supplier negotiations, and risk mitigation strategies.
European Supply Planner
The Kraft Heinz Company
08.2016 - 05.2017
- I successfully enhanced supply chain efficiency as a European Supply Planner at The Kraft Heinz Company.
- Developed and executed short-term and medium-term repack plans for two factories, optimizing inventory management.
- Improved service fill rate by 3% through strategic adjustments in safety stock settings.
- Implemented a production Gantt chart in JDA, streamlining operations and enhancing productivity.
Operational Purchasing Intern
Helloprint
Rotterdam
12.2015 - 05.2016
- Managed daily purchasing operations, overseeing a budget of 10k EUR across 200 purchase orders.
- Supported supplier performance evaluations by analyzing customer feedback.
- Co-designed a KPI dashboard with the IT team to enhance supplier assessment processes.
Education
Master of Science (MSc) - Supply Chain Management
01.2016
Bachelor's degree - International Business Administration
01.2015
Skills
- Category plan
- Supplier Management
- Supplier negotiation
- Total cost ownership
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Global sourcing strategies
- Risk mitigation
- Decision-making
- Analytical thinking
- Cost analysis
- Sourcing strategy
- Risk management
- Supply chain collaboration
- Project management
Certification
- Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt, Certification
- Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, Certification
Languages
English
Advanced (C1)
C1
Chinese (Mandarin)
Native
Native
Accomplishments
TOP PERFORMER 2024
Timeline
Category Lead - Yeast extract and chemicals - dsm-firmenich
03.2025 - Current
Category Manager Enzymes Raw Materials Interim - dsm-firmenich
06.2024 - 02.2025
Strategic Buyer Key Chemicals across Business Units - dsm-firmenich
05.2023 - 07.2024
Strategic Buyer Business Unit Savory - DSM
02.2021 - 05.2023
Supply Chain Planner - DSM
06.2017 - 02.2021
European Supply Planner - The Kraft Heinz Company
08.2016 - 05.2017
Operational Purchasing Intern - Helloprint
12.2015 - 05.2016
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University - Master of Science (MSc), Supply Chain Management
Tilburg University - Bachelor's degree, International Business Administration