Purchasing and Inventory Planning Manager

About the role

Manages daily purchasing, inventory management, and production planning. Leads ERP use and management reporting to inform decisions and improve operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Supervises the purchasing and inventory planning team.

Responsibilities

• Manages day-to-day purchasing and inventory management activities and oversees the team’s daily work.
• Directs procurement and planning policies governing the purchase and delivery of all items within budget and time constraints.
• Works across departments to balance customer service, inventory investment, and manufacturing productivity, pursuing the highest service levels and productivity with the minimum inventory needed to support those objectives.
• Responsible for monitoring and reducing purchase price variances to meet profit objectives.
• Expedites operations and suppliers that delay schedules and alters schedules to meet unforeseen conditions.
• Works closely with Sales, Manufacturing, and Engineering to balance customer responsiveness with capacity and material constraints.
• Responsible for managing inventory net working capital.
• Leads ERP use, data accuracy, and process improvement in purchasing and inventory planning. Develops management reports on inventory, purchase price variances, supplier delivery, and planning performance; analyzes trends and recommends corrective actions.
• Assists in managing vendor and supplier selection. Evaluates selection options based on price, quality, support, capacity, and reliability.
• Develops and maintains relationships with key suppliers and vendors.
• Manages, supervises, mentors, develops, and motivates the purchasing and inventory planning team.
• Coordinates material or product requirements with supervisors across departments.
• Leads team to deliver corporate goals for this department in the areas of: Safety, 6S, Inventory, Scrap and On-time shipments.
• Proactively identifies and manages supply chain risks to the organization.
• Assures that the compliance of import and export requirements are met.
• Other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field required.
• 7–10 years of material and inventory management/purchasing experience, including management of thousands of unique part numbers.
• 5 years of management and/or supervisory experience leading a high-performing purchasing team, including responsibility for day-to-day supervision, coaching, employee development, and performance management.
• 3–5 years of import, export, and domestic freight forwarding experience or similar experience.
• Required expertise in information systems management, ERP workflows, data accuracy, and reporting; MAPICS experience preferred.
• Demonstrated success improving purchasing and inventory planning processes through ERP systems.
• Strong expertise in ERP data extraction and validation, report development, and purchasing and inventory trend analysis to guide management action.
• Proficient computer skills in: MS Outlook, Word, Excel, and Access.
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.

Skills

• Familiarity with Lean Continuous Improvement and Six-Sigma.