Materials Planner

A Material Planner (Buyer/Planner) is required by CareerWise Recruitment for our Galway based client. The Material Planner is an active team member in planning and scheduling the delivery of material from suppliers. This highly tactical position is responsible to monitor the flows of buy items, guarantee availability of components in order to avoid material shortages and production downtime, as well as to manage inventory levels to meet our customer service and inventory targets.

THE ROLE:

• Perform timely, cost-conscious procurement of production/inventory/MRO items.
• Receive and analyze requisitions to determine quantity, specifications and delivery requirements.
• From approved supplier list, recommend and select suppliers to fulfill scheduled plant deliveries.
• Responsible for the on-boarding of new selected suppliers relative to material planning.
• Ensure up-to-date ABC classification is maintained for planning, and other key inputs into the Plan for Every Part (PFEP) process
• Ensure optimal inventory levels and safety stock are maintained for their parts
• Coordinate with Quality Assurance to resolve quality issues with suppliers.
• Maintain proactive shortage identification and management - help flag root causes & corrective actions.
• Identify total cost and cash flow opportunities with suppliers.
• Analyze and select parts for KanBan and Supplier replenishment.
• May lead and direct others to accomplish desired organizational objectives.
• Expedite deliveries to meet and exceed scheduled critical requirements.
• Maintain material plan at the time fence to ensure continuity of supply.
• Coordinate with production planners for solutions when parts cannot be delivered as promised.
• Maintain and continuously evaluate supplier performance and escalate to Procurement when issues occur.
• Resolve invoicing discrepancies with suppliers and accounting.
• Analyze material and capacity availability to provide customer promise dates for sales orders.
• Maintains item master lead time information based upon process improvements, current constraints, total current demand by product family, and priority information.
• Manage internal and SOMI/VMI material to meet schedules.
• Interface with required functional groups to resolve challenging delivery requirements.
• Communicate forecasts and replenishment plans to supplier.
• Review open requirements, monitoring vendor performance and expediting where necessary. Ensure that problems relating to delivery, quality or pricing are promptly conveyed to the supplier and resolved in a timely manner.
• Productivity: identify and implement cost reduction/productivity projects to meet the corporate initiatives/goals. Maintain pipeline and financial records for reporting and tracking productivity.

REQUIREMENTS:

• BA/BS degree or 3+ years minimum planner/buyer manufacturing experience.
• APICS (CPIM) or equivalent certification preferred.
• Considerable knowledge of industry related supply base.
• Skilled in production and supplier scheduling.
• Knowledgeable of supplier processes and capabilities.
• Able to provide direction and training to peers as needed.
• Computer proficient with ERP and Microsoft Office applications
• Basic mathematical skills
• Experience with rate based or flow line (non-MRP) and job shop manufacturing environments.
• Experience in operations, inventory management, MRP and lean manufacturing processes.
• Experience with visual management systems.