Sr Buyer
Vertiv · Pelzer
Position Summary
The Senior Buyer is responsible for the execution and management of material procurement activities supporting the Pelzer manufacturing campus. This position plays a critical role in ensuring purchased material is available to support the production plan while maintaining strong supplier performance, accurate ERP/MRP data, appropriate inventory levels, and effective working-capital management.
The Senior Buyer will manage an assigned portfolio of suppliers and commodities from purchase-order placement through delivery. The role requires proactive management of material requirements, supplier commitments, shortages, lead times, capacity constraints, and purchase-order accuracy.
This is a hands-on position within a fast-paced and rapidly growing manufacturing environment. The Senior Buyer will work closely with Planning, Manufacturing, Warehouse Operations, Engineering, Quality, Project Management, Finance, Order Management, and Procurement to identify material risks and drive them through resolution before they impact production or customer commitments.
The successful candidate must demonstrate strong ownership, analytical capability, supplier-management skills, and the ability to operate effectively in an environment with changing production priorities and significant material complexity.
Key Responsibilities Procurement & Purchase Order Management
- Manage procurement activities for assigned commodities, suppliers, and material categories supporting Pelzer production.
- Review MRP requirements and convert demand into appropriate purchasing actions.
- Create, release, maintain, and manage purchase orders within Oracle in accordance with production requirements and established procurement policies.
- Maintain accurate PO quantities, pricing, required dates, promise-by dates, lead times, and supplier commitments within the ERP system.
- Ensure purchase orders provide appropriate coverage against current and future production demand.
- Identify parts without sufficient PO coverage and take corrective action before requirements become production constraints.
- Review changes in demand and appropriately expedite, defer, increase, decrease, or cancel purchase orders.
- Prevent unnecessary inventory exposure by balancing material availability with inventory and working-capital objectives.
- Maintain clear ownership of open purchase orders from placement through receipt and closure.
MRP & Material Planning Execution
- Review MRP exception messages and material requirements daily and take appropriate purchasing actions.
- Maintain purchasing data integrity required to support accurate MRP and shortage reporting.
- Ensure supplier promise dates accurately represent the latest supplier commitment.
- Investigate demand and supply misalignment and partner with Planning and other functions to resolve system or material discrepancies.
- Support the continued development and stabilization of MRP processes across the Pelzer operation.
- Escalate inaccurate or incomplete demand signals, BOM issues, Sales Order alignment concerns, or other system conditions affecting procurement execution.
- Partner with Planning to ensure purchased material aligns with the Master Production Schedule and current manufacturing priorities.
Supplier Management
- Serve as the primary operational contact for assigned suppliers.
- Establish clear expectations with suppliers regarding delivery, communication, quality, capacity, and responsiveness.
- Obtain and maintain supplier confirmations against open purchase orders.
- Conduct regular reviews of supplier performance, open orders, past-due material, future requirements, and capacity constraints.
- Identify supplier risks early and establish recovery plans before production is impacted.
- Drive suppliers to provide realistic recovery dates and documented commitments for constrained material.
- Escalate supplier performance concerns through Procurement and Materials leadership when appropriate.
- Work with strategic procurement teams on sourcing decisions, supplier transitions, capacity requirements, and commercial escalations.
- Develop strong supplier relationships while maintaining appropriate commercial and operational accountability.
Shortage & Production Support
- Proactively identify material shortages and potential production constraints.
- Maintain clear status and recovery plans for critical shortages.
- Work directly with suppliers to expedite material required to protect production schedules and customer commitments.
- Participate in daily and weekly shortage reviews, production meetings, Tier meetings, and material escalation discussions as required.
- Communicate material risk clearly, including part number, requirement date, current supply position, supplier commitment, recovery plan, and potential production impact.
- Partner with Planning, Warehouse Operations, Quality, and Production to verify material availability and resolve discrepancies.
- Support urgent requirements while maintaining appropriate procurement controls and avoiding unnecessary premium freight or uncontrolled purchasing activity.
- Escalate risks early rather than waiting until material becomes a production stoppage.
Inventory & Working Capital
- Support inventory objectives by ensuring purchase-order quantities and delivery dates align with actual production requirements.
- Review excess, obsolete, slow-moving, and potentially unnecessary material within assigned commodities.
- Identify opportunities to defer or cancel material when demand changes.
- Support inventory-reduction and working-capital initiatives without introducing unnecessary production risk.
- Partner with Materials and Planning teams to investigate inventory discrepancies that may be creating incorrect purchasing signals.
- Understand the impact of BOM accuracy, consumption, inventory transactions, and demand changes on MRP and purchasing requirements.
Cross-Functional Execution
- Partner closely with Materials Planning to maintain alignment between production requirements and material supply.
- Work with Engineering and Change Management teams to understand BOM revisions, engineering changes, new part introductions, and material transitions.
- Partner with Quality to manage supplier quality issues, receiving inspection constraints, and rejected material affecting supply.
- Work with Accounts Payable and Finance to resolve invoice, pricing, receipt, and purchase-order discrepancies.
- Coordinate with Warehouse and Logistics teams regarding inbound material priorities and critical shipments.
- Support Project Management and Operations with accurate material status for major customer programs.
- Participate in new product introduction and production-ramp activities to ensure appropriate supplier and material readiness.
Senior-Level Expectations
The Senior Buyer is expected to operate with a high degree of independence and ownership.
The individual should not simply react to shortages. The expectation is to understand future demand, identify supply risk early, engage suppliers proactively, and establish recovery actions before the risk impacts manufacturing.
The Senior Buyer will also be expected to:
- Manage more complex or higher-risk supplier and commodity portfolios.
- Lead supplier recovery and escalation activities.
- Mentor and support less-experienced Buyers and Planner/Buyers.
- Identify systemic purchasing and supplier-performance issues.
- Drive improvements in PO accuracy, supplier confirmations, MRP data, and material availability.
- Provide Materials leadership with concise and accurate assessments of supply risk.
- Challenge inaccurate information and drive issues to factual resolution.
- Maintain accountability for assigned suppliers and materials from demand signal through delivery.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Business, Operations, Engineering, or related discipline preferred; equivalent relevant experience will be considered.
- 5+ years of purchasing, procurement, materials, supply chain, or manufacturing experience preferred.
- Demonstrated experience managing suppliers and purchase orders within a manufacturing environment.
- Strong understanding of MRP, purchasing, inventory management, and production planning principles.
- ERP experience required; Oracle experience strongly preferred.
- Experience managing material shortages, supplier recovery plans, and production-critical requirements.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving capability.
- Ability to interpret demand, supply, inventory, and purchase-order data and translate information into actions.
- Strong supplier negotiation, communication, and relationship-management skills.
- Ability to manage multiple suppliers, priorities, and escalations simultaneously.
- Strong Excel and Microsoft Office skills.
- Ability to communicate effectively with operational teams, suppliers, and senior leadership.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience within a high-volume or complex manufacturing environment.
- Experience supporting engineered-to-order, configure-to-order, or project-based manufacturing.
- Experience with Oracle ERP/MRP.
- Experience with supplier capacity planning and recovery management.
- Experience supporting new product introductions and rapid production ramps.
- Knowledge of BOM structures, engineering changes, lead-time management, inventory control, and production scheduling.
- Experience with supplier-performance metrics and continuous improvement.
- APICS/ASCM, CPSM, or related supply-chain certification is beneficial but not required.