Buyer Planner

About the role

The Buyer Planner will plan production schedules in accordance with IPS business systems and customer demand to ensure a controlled flow of work and materials through manufacturing to effectively balance supply and demand. This position will procure a variety of domestic and imported raw materials and components. The Buyer Planner's responsibility is to issue, process and maintain work orders and purchase orders in a timely manner ensuring the best quality, service, delivery, and total cost of ownership in accordance with organizational objectives and sourcing strategies. This position must support IPS business goals to ensure service level and inventory turns by carefully controlling production and purchasing activities.

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

• Review daily demand for assigned products and generates work orders to satisfy demand while balancing targeted inventory levels.
• Identify material and resource constraints, and coordinates and expedites their resolution with responsible parties.
• Schedule work orders as necessary to present the correct requirements to manufacturing and procurement.
• Ensure on time delivery of customer orders by monitoring schedule adherence, identifying key root causes for deviation and takes improvement action to update work order schedules for validity and accuracy.
• Develop a working knowledge of the company's products and processes to ensure optimal master schedule stability, order creation, rescheduling, and level loading.
• Inform management when demand cannot be met and recommend alternatives on how the requested demand could be satisfied.
• Minimizes inventory write-offs of finished goods inventory, intermediates and raw materials.
• Review critical master data and work with Master Data Analyst to correct errors.
• Maintain auditable purchase orders.
• Validate purchase requisitions, focusing on price, supplier performance, and risk.
• Cook up purchasing activities by working with Strategic Procurement Manager, Director of Supply Chain, and Buyer Planner group to maintain inventory at planned levels.
• Expedite or delay orders as may be needed to ensure proper inventory levels.
• Resolve any errors that arise with suppliers during the purchasing process including incorrect invoices, shipping errors, cancellation of orders, non-conformance materials, and engineering changes.
• Understand general budgeting/standard costing management strategies in order to adequately plan and carry out procurement functions.
• Review open order reports weekly.
• Provide feedback to suppliers with regard to quality and production complaints and monitor performance of suppliers, reporting all evaluations to the Strategic Procurement Manager.
• Aid inventory managers in minimizing excess inventory and eliminating obsolete materials.
• Travel up to 10%.

Education and Experience Requirements

• Undergraduate degree in Supply Chain, Business, or a related field preferred; or a minimum of 5 years of relevant experience.
• Master's degree in Business or related field is a plus.
• 3+ years’ experience in similar or related role.
• ASCM (Association for Supply Chain Management) CPIM or CSCP is a plus.
• Certification in Six Sigma (at least green belt) is a plus.
• Preferred Manufacturing Scheduling / Planning / Buying experience.
• Working knowledge of JD Edwards (Oracle), Basic Lean Principles.
• Strong organizational and managerial skills are required.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, and Outlook).
• Must be ready and willing to work in a fast-paced environment and display the ability to handle multiple priorities and demonstrate strong problem-solving skills.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills (English is required), and proven people and organizational skills are required.
• Must have exceptional listening skills.
• Able to internalize performance metrics and exceed expectations is required.
• Effective interpersonal skills.
• Able to travel to suppliers of high spend items.