Buyer 1

The Buyer I is responsible for purchasing MRO supplies, fabricated components, and outside-processing services required to support plant operations and production schedules. This position coordinates purchasing and material-planning activities with suppliers, production, customer service, quality, shipping/receiving, engineering and other internal departments. The role is also responsible for maintaining accurate purchasing and planning data within the ERP system, supporting inventory accuracy, monitoring supplier performance, and contributing to cost-reduction and continuous-improvement initiatives.

• Perform material planning and scheduling activities in coordination with Production and Customer Service to support established delivery-performance KPI objectives for internal and OEM customers.
• Coordinate with Shipping and Receiving personnel to ensure accurate and timely shipments, production receipts, system transactions, and supporting documentation.
• Maintain the accuracy and integrity of MRP data, supplier records, purchase-order information, and other assigned system data.
• Release and maintain work orders for production and outside processing, where applicable.
• Review approved requisitions and prepare purchase orders for assigned materials, components, supplies, and services.
• Maintain accurate procurement records, including items and services purchased, costs, delivery information, supplier quality or performance, and inventory-related information.
• Monitor open purchase orders and communicate with suppliers and internal departments regarding delivery status, shortages, discrepancies, and other issues that may affect production or customer requirements.
• Work with the Quality department, internal users, suppliers, and other appropriate personnel to investigate defective or unacceptable goods or services, determine the source of the issue, and support corrective action.
• Complete MRO requisition, purchase-order entry, receipt, and related transactional activities.
• Support improvements to MRP, QAD, and related materials-management processes.
• Investigate inventory discrepancies, assist with root-cause identification, and support the implementation of corrective actions.
• Work with Production to maintain and improve Kanban systems and material flow.
• Support plant cost-reduction objectives by identifying and participating in purchasing, supplier, inventory, and process-improvement opportunities.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain Management, Materials Management, Operations Management, or a related field preferred.
• APICS or other recognized supply chain certification preferred, including CPIM, CPM, or CIRM.
• An equivalent combination of education, training, and relevant manufacturing experience may be considered.

• Three to five years of materials, purchasing, planning, or supply chain experience in a manufacturing environment required.
• Material-planning or production-planning experience in a manufacturing environment required.
• Experience with supplier relationship management, supplier improvement, cost-reduction initiatives, and corrective-action processes.
• Experience working with procurement, production control, shipping, receiving, transportation, and inventory processes.
• Experience participating in cross-functional teams and continuous-improvement activities.
• Experience with change management, problem identification, root-cause analysis, and project management.

• Strong working knowledge of MRP and supply chain management, including procurement, production control, inventory management, shipping, receiving, and transportation.
• Experience using QAD or a comparable manufacturing ERP system.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, including Excel, Word, Teams, and Outlook.
• Ability to create, run, maintain, or interpret system queries and operational reports.
• Working knowledge of automatic data collection systems, including barcode-scanning technology.
• Working knowledge of inventory-management and production-reporting systems.
• Understanding of value-stream and end-to-end supply chain processes.
• Understanding of Lean manufacturing principles and tools, including Kanban and Kaizen.
• Knowledge of cycle-counting practices, inventory controls, and good manufacturing practices.