Purchasing Specialist

Summary of the Position                                                                                         The Purchasing Specialist is responsible for the planning and purchasing of materials and products to support production schedules, sales forecasting, and inventory schedules as well as the transfer of materials in support of customer demands. Additional responsibilities include supporting Principal Managers with supplier needs and requirements, and supporting Account Managers with customer needs to facilitate business growth and profitability.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities*                                                                                                                                                                       

Supplier Relations

•   Form close working relationships with key contacts to ensure the efficient delivery of material

•   Effectively communicate with suppliers as required regarding commercial issues, pricing, package size changes and minimum order quantity (MOQ) adjustments with the goal of maximizing profitability for the division

•   Communicate customer opportunity updates and technical product inquiries to suppliers

•   Distribute supplier literature and documentation, facilitating the sharing of product knowledge with the sales team

•   Notify customers of supplier, product, and documentation changes via appropriate communication platforms

•   Provide regular updates to sales, customers service, and other relevant stakeholders on risks or opportunities.

•   Stay apprised of and maintain an understanding of new and existing regulations that may impact the

organization’s products and processes. Ensure compliance with regulations.

Costing and Pricing

•   Provide support for determining customer pricing to the sales team

•   Ensure costs categories are accurately applied and landed cost are accurate within system

•   Create, maintain, and update costing templates (including freight, duty, tariff, fees, tax, etc.) and budgetary price lists

•   Coordinate with operations team to determine input costs for new product development projects and conduct periodic cost and pricing analysis

Product and Inventory Management

•   Working with operations, monitor inventory levels and the replenishment process to ensure stock levels are adequate based on regular/seasonal requirements as well as contractual agreements (both domestic and overseas)

•   Update supplier lead times in Datacor/Overdrive

•   Manage custom sourcing projects on an as needed basis as directed by and overseen by principal management and operations.

•   Create new product codes in the ERP and collaborate with regulatory, commercial, and operations to ensure compliance

•   Coordinate special product labeling, repackaging, and blending with internal teams and create work orders as required

•   Monitor slow moving items for return, disposal, or special sale

•   Interact with Customer Service to achieve 100% on time/in full shipments

•   Point of contact for cross-sell and sourcing for other divisions

•   Track Net Working Capital and Gross Profit performance and provide support as needed for improvement on these metrics

Reporting

•   Identify unacceptable margins, and investigate reasons why margins might fall outside of expected levels

•   Collaborate with Accounting to ensure supplier rebates are accurate and ensure correct and timely payment information.

•   Generate other reports as needed

Systems

•   Serve as an in-house expert in navigation, interpretation, and processing of inventory and orders within various systems such as Datacor and Overdrive

•   Complete knowledge of the PO receipt process and serve as a resource for the logistics team.

•   Utilize Vizion, Overdrive, Barentz Relationship Management (BRM), & Datacor systems to run reports on inventory, and support for sales

Other

•   Support and lead by example, Barentz’ strategies, culture, and fundamentals

•   Participate in ongoing professional development opportunities

•   Perform other duties as requested

 Required Education, Experience, Knowledge, and Skills                                                                                                                                                                           

•   Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required

•   Previous industry experience desired working with customer and suppliers in a product or sales capacity

•   Software knowledge of Microsoft Office including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams

•   Familiarity with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software

•   Effective written and verbal communication skills, and ability to adapt communication style to the audience

•   Good judgment and professionalism when dealing with customers, suppliers, and internal team members

•   Dynamic personality with an ability to work effectively independently and as part of a team

•   Detail oriented with sound analytical and problem-solving capabilities

•   Strong organization skills with the ability to work in a fast paced, deadline driven environment

•   Ability to adapt to changing priorities and balance workload to meet new business requirements

•   Ability to negotiate win-win situations

•   Self-motivated, high energy, and engaging level of enthusiasm and positive outlook

•   Act legally and ethically in all professional relationships in adherence with Barentz’ Code of Conduct