Material Buyer/Planner

Job Title: Material Buyer/Planner

Location: 2119 E Kansas City Rd, Olathe, KS 66061 USA (Onsite).

Work Schedule: Onsite, 5 days a week | 7:30 AM – 3:30 PM (Flexible start time)

Contract Duration: 6-Month Contract (Potential Extension)

Client/Domain: Allegion

Interview Mode: TBD

Job Summary:

The Material Buyer/Planner will be responsible for purchasing, planning, and scheduling material deliveries from suppliers to ensure component availability and prevent production delays. This role involves managing inventory levels, monitoring supplier performance, tracking overseas shipments, coordinating with third-party logistics (3PL) providers, and supporting supply chain operations.

Key Responsibilities:

Procure production, inventory, and MRO materials based on ERP requirements and established inventory levels.

Review purchase requisitions, determine material quantities, specifications, and delivery requirements.

Coordinate with suppliers to ensure timely and cost-effective material deliveries.

Monitor inventory levels, safety stock, and replenishment methods such as Kanban, Min/Max, VMI, and consignment.

Track overseas purchase orders and vendor direct shipments from origin to final domestic delivery.

Coordinate with freight forwarders, 3PL providers, customs brokers, and logistics partners to monitor shipment status, ETDs, and ETAs.

Monitor international shipping documentation and customs clearance to avoid delivery delays and additional freight costs.

Identify potential material shortages, investigate root causes, and coordinate corrective actions.

Expedite critical deliveries and work with production planners to resolve supply and scheduling issues.

Monitor supplier performance and address delivery, quality, and pricing concerns.

Coordinate with Quality Assurance, Accounting, and other internal teams to resolve supplier-related issues.

Maintain accurate material planning data, supplier forecasts, replenishment plans, and inventory parameters.

Analyze material availability and provide customer delivery commitments.

Identify opportunities for cost reduction, improved productivity, and better inventory management.

Develop and maintain automated reports and track productivity improvements.

Required Skills & Qualifications

3–5 years of experience in material planning, supply chain planning, or inventory control within a manufacturing or distribution environment.

3–5 years of hands-on experience working with ERP systems. Microsoft Dynamics is preferred.

Excellent Microsoft Excel skills, including advanced functions such as XLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, and Dynamic Arrays.

Experience with report publishing, workspace management, and scheduled data refreshes.

Ability to extract, clean, and combine large datasets from multiple sources, including ERP, WMS, flat files, and SQL databases.

Experience in automating recurring operational reports and developing self-updating reporting workflows

Experience with vendor direct shipments, overseas order tracking, and international logistics.

Experience coordinating with third-party logistics (3PL) providers, freight forwarders, and customs brokers.

VBA/Macro writing experience is a strong plus.

Soft Skills

Strong analytical and root-cause problem-solving skills.

Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain technical and data-related information to non-technical stakeholders.

Self-starter with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.