Sr. Material Planner

Spartan Emergency Response (Spartan ER) is a leading designer, manufacturer, and distributor of custom emergency response vehicles, cabs, and chassis. Driven by a commitment to quality and innovation, Spartan and its portfolio of brands—Spartan Fire Apparatus and Chassis, Smeal Fire Apparatus, and Ladder Tower (LT)—offer a broad range of apparatus to meet the specific requirements and demands of the fire service industry. With over 250 years of combined experience in fire apparatus manufacturing, Spartan Emergency Response is part of Terex Corporation, a global designer and manufacturer of specialized vehicles and equipment.

About the role

The Sr. Material Planner is responsible for the procurement of production parts, monitoring production schedules, ensuring on-time delivery performance of suppliers, and controlling inventory levels. This role ensures the optimal flow of parts from suppliers through delivery using established processes.

Responsibilities

• Manage assigned parts and their respective suppliers, including all problem resolutions.
• Develop suppliers to ensure improved delivery performance and inventory control.
• Coordinate engineering changes and build schedules with suppliers and production to meet customer expectations while minimizing surplus exposure.
• Analyze MRP daily and weekly to produce supplier releases.
• Launch, schedule, defer, expedite, and cancel purchase orders to maintain inventory levels while supporting production material requirements.
• Monitor and update supplier lead-times for system accuracy.
• Verify suppliers receive weekly reports and understand expectations, including part quantities and required delivery timing.
• Proactively confirm delivery schedules against purchase orders and take action if necessary.
• Monitor shortage reports and collect firm tracking and expected delivery timing.
• Obtain realistic delivery dates on shortages; follow up as appropriate.
• Validate and perform root cause analysis for missed deliveries.
• Assist with processing material requisitions from internal personnel for parts, repair of parts, equipment, or special engineering projects.
• Proactively identify parts shortages and implement appropriate actions internally and externally to mitigate the risk of potentially disrupting production.
• Work with Purchasing, Operations, Finance, and vendors to determine and implement appropriate inventory levels, minimum order requirements, economic order quantities, delivery offsets, and supplier lead times.
• Assist in supporting packaging projects and implementing returnable packaging programs.
• Monitor and manage freight/logistics costs.
• Assist in all activities pertaining to inventory accuracy and inventory reduction, including VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory), Kanban cards, or Min/Max systems, where applicable.
• Participate in and support lean activities, including GEMBA walks.
• Follow established procedures; initiate and implement improvements.
• Perform inventory trend analysis, including forecasting inventory levels, reconciliation of inventory variances, and assisting in determining appropriate inventory levels related to manufacturing volume changes.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience with purchasing, inventory, or related functions.
• Bachelor’s degree in Inventory Management, Supply Chain Management, or a related area.

Skills

• Knowledge of MS Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, SharePoint) and the ability to learn company enterprise systems.
• Strong knowledge of warehouse management software.
• Organized, able to prioritize, set and keep deadlines, and adapt to changing work environments.
• Strong ability to work independently, use sound judgment, and make thoughtful decisions in a timely manner.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including following instructions.
• Ability to work effectively in group settings through collaborative, solutions-oriented, and win-win approaches.

Physical Demands

• Must be able to perform within physical requirements, including but not limited to a 40 lb. single lift; walking, kneeling, squatting, and standing for long periods of time.

Work Environment

Office environment.