Team Leadership

• Supervise, coach, and develop Buyer Planners through regular performance reviews, one-on-ones, mentoring, and cross-training.
• Assign workloads based on commodities, projects, volume, and team capabilities.
• Establish performance expectations and monitor inventory and purchasing KPIs.
• Ensure Buyer Planners effectively use ERP/MRP systems for purchasing, planning, item data, and exception management.
• Identify team skill gaps and support professional development, including APICS CPIM and CSCP certification.
• Maintain coverage plans to ensure projects and supplier relationships remain supported during absences or turnover.

Material Planning & Project Support

• Align material plans with project schedules, production requirements, and committed ship dates.
• Participate in project kickoffs to review BOMs, long-lead materials, supply risks, and material availability.
• Provide supply-chain input for lead-time commitments and order acknowledgements.
• Lead escalation of material shortages that could affect production or delivery.
• Review the project portfolio regularly and identify actions needed to protect delivery commitments.
• Ensure quick-ship and configure-to-order programs have appropriate finished goods and material availability.

Sales & Demand Planning

• Provide Sales with material lead times, supplier capacity information, and supply-risk assessments during quoting.
• Participate in Sales, Inventory & Operations Planning (SIOP) activities.
• Use sales pipeline and demand information to anticipate material requirements and engage suppliers early.
• Support customer-specific stocking programs, blanket orders, and consignment inventory arrangements where applicable.
• Communicate supply constraints clearly when proposed delivery dates are not achievable.

Strategic Supply Management

• Develop positioning strategies for critical or long-lead materials.
• Manage inventory planning for components such as specialty breakers, bus assemblies, power electronic modules, custom enclosures, and transformers.
• Identify single-source and sole-source risks and develop mitigation plans involving dual sourcing, safety stock, supplier-managed inventory, and LTAs.
• Support commodity strategies using supplier performance, consumption, and demand data.
• Implement approved supplier agreements, pricing frameworks, and contract requirements.
• Lead facility-level make/buy analysis and present recommendations to leadership.
• Monitor commodity pricing, supply constraints, geopolitical conditions, and tariff impacts that may affect cost or availability.

Inventory Management

• Own inventory performance, including inventory turns, excess and obsolete (E&O) inventory, days of supply, and working capital.
• Work toward a target of 10 inventory turns per year while maintaining material availability.
• Lead monthly E&O reviews and coordinate disposition through supplier returns, project redeployment, or write-off recommendations.
• Establish inventory policies covering safety stock, reorder points, lot sizes, and cycle counts.
• Lead the annual physical inventory process and reconcile results.
• Balance inventory investment, material availability, and working capital using data-driven decisions.

Supplier Management

• Track supplier performance using on-time delivery (SOTD), quality/PPM, lead-time accuracy, and responsiveness.
• Conduct quarterly business reviews with key suppliers and establish measurable improvement plans.
• Escalate supplier issues that threaten production continuity.
• Partner with Quality Engineering on SCARs, root-cause analysis, corrective actions, and closure.
• Support qualification of new suppliers in coordination with Quality Engineering and Application Engineering.
• Negotiate or oversee pricing agreements, blanket purchase orders, and long-term agreements (LTAs).
• Maintain supplier agreements and related information within the ERP system.

ERP / MRP & Data Management

• Own supply-chain data accuracy for the facility, including item masters, BOMs, supplier lead times, and planning parameters.
• Establish ERP usage standards and eliminate off-system purchasing and planning workarounds.
• Review MRP output and correct issues involving parameter drift, demand signals, and BOM accuracy.
• Partner with IT and ERP administrators on system improvements, reporting, and configuration changes.
• Promote accurate system data as a foundation for effective supply-chain decisions.

Reporting & Continuous Improvement

• Prepare weekly supply-chain dashboards covering:
  • Material availability
  • Shortages
  • Supplier SOTD
  • Inventory turns
  • E&O exposure
  • Present monthly KPI reporting with trends, root-cause analysis, and forward-looking risks.
  • Lead improvements involving ERP parameters, supplier lead times, receiving, inventory, and material flow.
  • Apply Lean and 5S principles to warehouse and stockroom operations.
  • Evaluate supply-chain performance against industry standards and develop improvement plans.

Success in this role will be evaluated using metrics including:

• Inventory Turns: Target of 10 turns/year.
• Material On-Time Availability: Target of 98% by required-on-floor date.
• Supplier On-Time Delivery: Target of 95% of PO lines delivered by promise date.
• Purchase Price Variance (PPV): Favorable or neutral versus standard cost.
• Excess & Obsolete Inventory: Reduce E&O quarter-over-quarter and address items over 90 days.
• Shortages: Prevent production interruptions caused by avoidable material shortages.
• Supplier Quality: Improve incoming quality/PPM and close SCARs within 30 days.
• Strategic Material Positioning: Maintain agreed safety levels for critical long-lead materials.

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Operations Management, Engineering, or a related field; advanced degree is a plus.
• 7–10+ years of progressive supply chain experience in manufacturing, including at least 3 years supervising or leading buyers, planners, or Buyer Planners.
• Experience managing material planning and procurement in an electromechanical, electrical equipment, or industrial manufacturing environment.
• Power distribution industry experience strongly preferred.
• Advanced experience with ERP/MRP systems, such as SAP, Oracle, Epicor, Infor, IFS, or comparable platforms.
• Ability to diagnose and resolve MRP planning issues.
• Demonstrated success improving inventory turns while maintaining or improving material availability.
• Experience managing supplier performance, including QBRs, SCARs, and supplier development.
• Ability to balance daily shortage management and team leadership with strategic sourcing, inventory, and supply-risk planning.
• Strong cross-functional experience with project management, sales, engineering, production, and finance.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain supply-chain issues clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel and data-analysis tools for inventory, spending, and supplier reporting.

• APICS CPIM or CSCP, or ISM C.P.M. or CPSM certification.
• Experience with power distribution products including PDCs, STSs, RPPs, switchgear, UPS systems, and related electromechanical components.
• Familiarity with UL, ANSI, NEMA, NEC, and IEC standards relevant to power distribution equipment.
• Experience developing commodity strategies for breakers, bus duct, transformers, enclosures, and power electronics.
• Lean/Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt certification.
• Experience leading Kaizen events in supply chain or warehouse environments.
• Experience with VMI, consignment inventory, supplier-stocked buffers, blanket POs, or call-off programs.
• Experience with import compliance, customs, and international suppliers.

• Supply Chain Leadership
• Buyer & Planner Development
• Strategic Sourcing & Material Positioning
• Supply Risk Management
• MRP/ERP Systems & Data Governance
• Inventory Optimization
• Supplier Performance Management
• Project-Based Material Planning
• Demand Planning & Capacity Awareness
• Escalation & Issue Resolution
• Continuous Improvement
• Cost & Commercial Management
• Executive Reporting

• On-site position; remote or hybrid work is not available.
• Regular presence in manufacturing, warehouse, and receiving areas.
• Exposure to moderate noise, industrial equipment, and electrical assemblies.
• Up to 20% travel for supplier visits, sourcing reviews, industry conferences, and occasional customer engagement.
• Must be available to address escalated supply-chain issues outside standard business hours when production continuity is at risk.
• Ability to walk manufacturing areas, access storage locations, and participate in physical inventory activities.