Merchandise Buyer jobs in Mississippi

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Job Summary:

The Buyer will be responsible for the Purchasing of assigned product from “cradle to grave” (i.e. new product development, sustaining and obsolescence). They will be responsible for a “heavy” product load and must be able to work with minimal supervision to effectively manage assigned product.

Proactively analyzes and interprets information from ERP SAP system and determines if purchase requisitions should be processed (i.e. converted to a purchase order) or whether ad hoc purchase orders need created in order to fulfill the forecast for the period. This individual will make day-to-day decisions that demonstrate a basic understanding of financial business drivers including balancing minimum order quantities against the impact to excess and obsolete inventory, expediting inventory and deliveries, negotiating low risk price discrepancies directly with suppliers, pushing out delivery dates if the forecast changes, and knowing when to escalate issues to manager or higher when deliveries look like they will be delayed (e.g. due to supplier constraints) impacting overall customer service level satisfaction. To be successful in this role, one must have a solid understanding of the end-to-end Supply Chain process (i.e. how demand planning impacts supply planning, how inventory in the right place at the right time drives order fulfillment and service levels etc.), be able to diagnoses the root cause of problems to minimize interruptions to production and solve low to medium complexity challenges with minimal supervision.

As an integral part of the Supply Team, this person will work directly with Suppliers, Marketing, Sales, Accounting, Operations, Logistics and Engineering to ensure an equitable balance between excellent customer service levels and inventory on hand.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

• Managing inventory for assigned suppliers against the provided forecast (i.e. converting purchase requisitions to purchase orders and managing delivery dates for issued purchase orders with suppliers)
• Provide product availability commitments and forecasts to suppliers so they can plan capacity
• Negotiate with suppliers on low to medium risk materials to achieve the lowest total cost of ownership for the organization.
• Escalating issues or challenges to appropriate functions when price discrepancies, supplier capacity constraints and/or quality issues arise requiring resolution.
• Effectively utilize company recourses
• Accountability for the accuracy and impact of supply decisions
• Owning the material master data for the materials that you own in the ERP system to ensure appropriate MRP signals and integrity of the data
• Coordinating Forecasts for assigned products and materials with the supplier, Sourcing, Demand Team and Marketing, Sales etc.
• Work with New Product teams to develop effective product launch plans.
• Effectively manage product with a shelf life or expiration date to minimize obsolescence from expired product
• Creating, disseminating and communicating supplier performance reporting to relevant stakeholders
• Comply with Government, Regulatory and Highridge Medical Policies and Procedures.

This is not an exhaustive list of duties or functions and may not necessarily comprise all of the "essential functions" for purposes of the ADA.

Expected Areas of Competence (i.e., knowledge, skills, and abilities)

• Ability to quickly and accurately generate action requirements based on MRP outputs, supplier information etc.
• Excellent Spreadsheet skills and proficient use of Microsoft Office products (Excel, PowerPoint, Word) and ERP systems experience required.
• Understanding of MRP and master data principles and concepts required.
• Excellent communications skills required with the ability to communicate appropriately with all levels (able to communicate equally well with production line workers and the Company President).
• Must be a self-starter, self-managed, an effective team player and possess excellent analytical / problem solving skills.
• Must have the ability to handle problems of medium complexity, make sound decisions and work independently under the pressure of a heavy workload with significant time restrictions.
• Good understanding of the manufacturing process (from raw materials to finished product), basic accounting principles, inventory control and paperwork flow necessary to be able to function responsibly in this position.
• A basic understanding of a quality management system and how it impacts the manufacturing environment, requirements, documentation etc. needed to ensure regulatory compliance.

Education/Experience Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required, APICS certification preferred
• 3 to 5 years of Planning in a manufacturing environment, experience in Medical Device Manufacturing preferred.
• Supplier collaboration/purchasing experience required.
• Work experience with Lean Manufacturing and Six-sigma preferred.

Travel Requirements

Up to 10%