Manufacturing Buyer

Role Summary

The Buyer II is a site-facing procurement professional who owns an assigned portfolio of direct and indirect materials, with emphasis on steel, chemicals, and component hardware, for high-volume manufacturing. The role operates with greater autonomy than Buyer I and leads sourcing events, multi-supplier negotiations, supplier performance improvement, cost improvement, inventory optimization, and supply-risk mitigation.

The Buyer II uses JD Edwards or Oracle, MRP, plant-level Kanban, advanced Excel analytics, and tier-board visibility to protect production continuity and manage supplier OTIF, purchase-price variance, inventory turns, backorders, and data integrity through the Oracle transition. Core Responsibilities

1. Strategic Sourcing and Supplier Management

• Own end-to-end sourcing for assigned categories, including market research, RFQs, cost analysis, award recommendations, and contract execution.
• Lead supplier quarterly business reviews and set measurable price, OTIF, quality, and responsiveness goals.
• Drive supplier corrective actions and escalate or transition chronic underperformance.
• Develop multi-source, dual-source, safety-stock, and expediting strategies for critical commodities.

1. Planning, Ordering, and Production Protection

• Convert MRP and Kanban signals into on-time purchase orders.
• Manage open orders daily, including acknowledgments, reschedules, expedites, and cancellations.
• Manage backorders and shortages with Production, Scheduling, and Receiving.
• Protect the weekly SIOP build plan and prevent line interruptions.

1. Cost, Inventory, and Analytics

• Deliver year-over-year purchase-price variance and total-cost improvement.
• Use price analysis, should-cost thinking, price-break analysis, freight trade-offs, and logistics optimization.
• Set reorder points and Kanban quantities and reduce excess and obsolete inventory.
• Build Excel, Power Query, or Power BI models for demand, lead-time, expedite, and hot-list visibility.

1. Master Data and System Discipline

• Maintain accurate item-master and vendor-master data.
• Manage lead times, minimum-order quantities, economic-order quantities, price breaks, calendars, and ship-from and ship-to data.
• Use JD Edwards or Oracle purchasing and MRP systems and support the Oracle transition.
• Reduce system noise through disciplined master-data integrity.

1. Compliance, Quality, and EHS

• Follow procurement SOPs, ethical standards, and applicable regulations.
• Support conflict-minerals, safety-data-sheet, chemical-handling, and EHS vendor requirements.
• Partner with Quality and EHS on supplier nonconformances and corrective-action requests.
• Support safe handling and transportation of materials.

1. Continuous Improvement and Functional Leadership

• Lead or co-lead Kaizen events for material flow, receiving efficiency, and inventory accuracy.
• Apply RCCM, PDCA, root-cause analysis, and standard work to recurring shortages and process gaps.
• Coach Buyer I employees and Coordinators on purchase-order hygiene, follow-up cadence, and supplier communication.
• Serve as backup for the Procurement Manager when needed. Leadership Expectations
• Operate with autonomy, urgency, and disciplined open-order management.
• Use data and advanced analytics to anticipate demand, supply, cost, and risk.
• Lead effective supplier negotiations and performance reviews.
• Coach less-experienced procurement employees and model strong supplier communication.
• Escalate quickly when production continuity is at risk.
• Demonstrate flexibility and adaptability during the Oracle transition. Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Business, Engineering, or a related field, or three to five or more years of progressive manufacturing-purchasing experience.
• Proficiency in JD Edwards or Oracle purchasing and MRP systems and Kanban workflows.
• Strong Excel capability, including lookups, pivots, and basic modeling; Power Query or Power BI preferred.
• Success managing metals, chemicals, or other long-lead or high-volatility commodities.
• Experience running RFQs, negotiating sourcing awards, and managing suppliers to performance indicators.
• Knowledge of price-break analysis, total cost of ownership, purchase-price variance, and freight and lead-time trade-offs.
• Strong open-order, expedite, RCCM, PDCA, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Ability to maintain regular manufacturing-floor presence and follow PPE and safety requirements.
• Ability to travel approximately 5% to 10% to suppliers, ASD sites, or corporate locations. Position Impact This role directly affects supplier delivery, purchase cost, inventory, master-data quality, and uninterrupted manufacturing execution. Success requires strong sourcing discipline, daily purchase-order management, validated cost improvement, reliable supplier performance, early shortage mitigation, and effective support of the Oracle transition. Performance Metrics Framework Category Key Performance Indicator Target / Expectation Purpose / Commentary Supplier Supplier OTIF to SIOP Build Plan At least 95% monthly Measures delivery on the acknowledged date and quantity required for weekly builds. Cost PPV / Total Cost Productivity Meet or exceed the annual plan for assigned categories Measures Finance-validated purchased-cost improvement. Inventory Inventory Turns with Service-Level Compliance 14 days of supply or less Measures inventory efficiency without chronic expedites or line stops. Shortages Backorder and Expedite Reduction Month-over-month reduction with corrective actions for recurring SKUs Measures reduction of shortage lines and expedites. Data Integrity Item and Vendor Master Accuracy At least 98% Measures lead-time, pricing, MOQ, and master-data accuracy.