Purchasing Manager

The Purchasing Manager is responsible for leading and developing a team of six Purchasing Planners supporting. This role owns purchasing execution, inventory planning performance, supplier alignment, and cross‑plant coordination to ensure uninterrupted production and customer fulfillment.

The manager is accountable for inventory health, service levels, backorder reduction, supplier performance, and talent development, while aligning planning activities with corporate inventory, cost, and service goals across all manufactured equipment product lines.

Essential Functions:

• Directly manage, coach, and develop six Purchasing Planners responsible for mechanical and electrical purchasing and inventory planning.
• Set clear performance expectations, objectives, and priorities aligned to business and corporate supply chain goals.
• Conduct regular 1:1s, performance reviews, development planning, and talent assessments.
• Build a high performance team culture emphasizing accountability, collaboration, urgency, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure coverage, workload balance, and succession planning across planners and product categories.
• Own overall inventory planning and purchasing execution for the APT business across all supported manufacturing plants.
• Ensure inventory levels, turns, service levels, and backorders align with KPIs and corporate targets.
• Oversee purchasing strategies for mechanical and electrical categories, ensuring alignment with capacity, demand, and supplier constraints.
• Partner with Category Manager to align sourcing strategies, supplier selection, and risk mitigation plans.
• Lead supplier engagement strategy in collaboration with planners, including:
• Capacity planning
• Lead time management
• Inventory positioning
• Escalation and recovery planning
• Serve as an escalation point for supplier performance, shortages, or critical supply risks.
• Drive continuous improvement with suppliers to support reliability, responsiveness, and cost objectives.
• Act as the primary procurement planning interface between:
• Manufacturing plants
• Supply base
• Category Management
• Logistics and Warehousing
• Ensure effective communication regarding plant requirements, supplier capacity, and demand changes.
• Partner with plant leadership to validate inventory targets and production support needs.
• Ensure planners prepare effectively for demand variability and forecast accuracy.
• Lead procurement planning input into monthly SIOP meetings, ensuring risks, constraints, and mitigation plans are visible and actionable.
• Oversee development and execution of recovery plans for material shortages and backorders.
• Ensure expediting, logistics coordination, and material movement are executed effectively and consistently.
• Define, monitor, and drive performance against KPIs including:
• Inventory turns and value
• Backorder levels
• On time delivery to plants
• Supplier performance
• Use data and analytics to identify trends, gaps, and improvement opportunities.
• Champion process standardization, automation, and best practices across the planning team.
• Ensure compliance with RGA processes and act as point of accountability for audit readiness.

Qualifications

Education:

Bachelor’s degree required; Supply Chain, Business, Operations, or Engineering preferred

Experience:

• 10 years of progressive experience in purchasing, inventory planning, or supply chain.
• 7 years of people management experience, preferably managing planners or buyers.
• Strong background in manufacturing, equipment, or industrial supply chains.
• Working knowledge of inventory financials, working capital, and cost drivers.
• Ability to balance service, inventory, and cost tradeoffs at a portfolio level.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex supplier networks and multi‑plant inventory models.
• Proven experience working in matrixed, fast‑paced environments, with high SKU variety and low volumes
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Navision
• Advanced Excel skills (planning models, analysis, reporting).
• Ability to leverage ERP and reporting tools for KPI management and decision making.