Position Summary: Responsible for providing effective verbal and written communications with internal and external customers to support manufacturing plant, new product development and raw material selection, market intelligence, pricing strategies, supply and demand, risk, vendor relationships and proper inventory levels. 

What You Get To Do:

• Analyses current purchasing opportunities at the plant level. 
• Contributes towards management of existing and new supplier relationships as directed by Manager. 
• Nurture and expand network of suppliers. 
• Responsible for establishing and recommending material buying strategy. 
• Becoming the expert matter in all raw materials (RM) and suppliers. 
• Consultation of Market Intelligence tools towards understanding trends of raw materials and feedstocks and communicating to Management. 
• Support raw materials pricing forecasting
• Provide input to Management that allows for aggressive negotiation with suppliers and continuously evaluates how to achieve best pricing and service. May be called upon to negotiate directly with suppliers following strategy guidelines provided by Management. 
• Responsible for assisting in Cap-Ex bidding process and negotiations that pertain to Supply Chain. 
• Negotiates payment terms to benefit cash flow. 
• Reviews NDA, Supply Agreements, Insurances, and Terms and Conditions for existing and new suppliers. 
• Work closely in collaboration with Marketing, Product Management and R&D on new product introductions, packaging changes and RM qualifications.
• Assists in vendor quality assurance program. 
• Supports getting Raw Material Specs (RMS) approved by vendors. 
• Communicating and updating RMS as needed for plants to use. 
• Important role in the vendor approval process for all RM. 
• Works closely with buyers and plants on inventory management to ensure the right inventory and the right time and price is available. 
• Accelerates the new product cycle related to packaging and raw materials. 
• Creates and maintains a supply contract database via Outlook. 
• Oversight of monthly Slow Moving Inventory analysis of Raw Materials (RM) and Finished Goods (FG) and recommend improvement action plans. 
• Identifies process improvements and recommends changes to the proper functional partner. 
• Promotes the quality system through adhering to the elements of and being familiar with the philosophy, quality statement, quality manual, and procedures.
• Facilitating of reports from ERP system, which support SC strategies and metrics.
• Promotes health, safety and environmental regulations by ensuring that standards, policies, and procedures are adhered to in compliance with corporate, federal, state, and local requirements. 
• May be called upon to back up Plant Buyers on an as needed basis. 
• Responsible for Management and backup of New Supplier Set up Process and tax management tasks. 
• Direct supervision of the Supply Chain’s Administrative Assistant & Supply Chain Analyst I as applicable. 
• Performs other duties as required. 
• Needs to be an excellent communicator to all levels of Management. 
• Needs to “own” the process and the financial results associated to the daily decisions made by the position. 

What You Bring To The Team:

• Problems solving capabilities.
• Understands the structure of contracts and business terms and conditions for suppliers and vendors. 
• Strong, effective interpersonal skills. 
• Strong communication skills: written and oral. 
• Professional phone skills. 
• Forecasting experience.
• Analytical thinker. 
• Detail-oriented with data-entry and order taking accuracy. 
• Ability to travel up to 25%. 

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Skilled in use of Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, Project, Outlook, and PowerPoint. 
• Experience in MRP systems preferred. 
• Power BI 
• AS-400 or other enterprise-wide system experience preferred. 
• Previous experience in an ISO-9001 environment highly desired. 
• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in Supply Chain Management, Industrial Engineer or similar.
• Minimum of five years of experience immersed in the Logistics/Procurement function in a manufacturing environment or minimum of 10 years experience without a bachelor’s degree.