Buyer - Materials/Parts

Role: Buyer

Location: Farnborough

Duration: 12 Months

Rate: £18 - £20/hour (PAYE)



Role Summary

My client has an opening for a Buying/Procurement Specialist within our Materials Team.

The Buying/Procurement Specialist will be responsible for a range of parts and vendors, ensuring that products are purchased in accordance with the Master Production Schedule (MPS).

The Buying/Procurement Specialist will help develop the Master Production Schedule, interact with vendors to ensure materials are delivered on schedule and of quality, maintain a steady flow of work through the shopfloor and resolve issues through immediate action or short-term planning. You will build and enhance the relationships with your vendors and look for improvement opportunities to guarantee the most profitable outcome for the business.



Essential Responsibilities

• Create and execute procurement plans ensuring all parts are delivered to specification at negotiated price to allow on time release of the Master Production Schedule. This will include determining economic order quantities (EOQ), preparing Requests for Quote (RFQ), performing cost and price analyses, vendor selection, placing purchase orders (PO), monitoring delivery status and expediting when necessary.
• Manage inventory for assigned parts portfolio, aligning material input to support customer requirements while financial inventory objectives are accomplished (safety stock calculation / Make vs. Buy / Slow Moving Inventory (SMI) / MOQs).
• Maintain Materials Master (MM) and Purchase Information Records (PIR) to support product build and purchasing of parts.
• Analyse data and collaborate in the determination and the subsequent application of appropriate order, inventory, and replenishment policies.
• Lead the procurement process for assigned products, communicating with production and all other functions to ensure plans meet all customer commitments.
• Expedite purchase orders that are needed in less than the normal lead time to improve the shortfall between the current plan and requirements to meet or exceed customer expectations.
• Identify root cause of shortage and monitor implementation of related corrective action plans.
• Facilitate Engineering change requests (ECR) implementation and items non-conformance resolution. (Stock at vendor, Open PO, Raw Material, WIP and Finished Goods).
• Write, manage, and update the production control data and working rules and drive cost and cycle time reduction with supplier base using continuous improvement methods such as Six Sigma methodology.
• Pursue continuous improvement for quality and cost reductions in designated area including improving first time yield and reduced inventory levels.
• Promote customer satisfaction and develop positive customer relationships.
• Support Manufacturing Engineering during NPI process to ensure smooth integration of products from design into production and that TG5 and TG6 milestones are met in time.

• Conduct all business activities in accordance with the clients Health, Safety and Environmental policies.
• Handle special projects as assigned.

Qualifications/Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree from an accredited college or significant work experience in manufacturing planning or project management or equivalent knowledge and experience.
• 5+ years procurement, sourcing, master data or similar experience.

• Experience applying stand-alone knowledge of purchasing practices, principles and procedures.

• Ability to read and understand a Bill of Materials.
• Ability to interpret technical specifications and other design details required to accurately procure materials.
• Familiarity or experience with the Planning and Purchasing function in an ERP/MRP system. Knowledge of SAP preferred.
• Intermediate experience manipulating spreadsheet data using filters, functions (VLOOKUP, Pivot, etc.) and worksheet formulas (Excel preferred).
• Willingness and ability to travel up to 10% of the time.

• Strong organizational and time management skills.

• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Strong interpersonal and leadership skills.

• Strong team player.

• Ability to effectively manage changing and conflicting priorities and resolve appropriately.
• Strong decision-making skills.
• Strong negotiation skills.
• Ability to effectively operate in any organizational structure.

• Ability to work in a cross-functional team and demonstrate consistent forward progress.

• Capable of working autonomously.
• Highly self-motivated with methodical approach and good attention to detail.