Assistant Buyer

Pay Range $21.99hr - $26.99hr

Job Overview:

Under the general supervision of the Purchasing Supervisor, the responsibilities of this role are to ensure all purchases follow inventory guidelines in order to support regular business operations. The position also drives timely fulfillment by preparing and submitting orders based on lead times and back orders. The Buyer will ensure the facility maintains all inventory levels and vendor information in required systems for accurate reporting measures. As part of the Purchasing team, the Buyer is expected to work collaboratively with other team members and continuously improve purchasing processes that positively impact customer service and growth.

Duties and Responsibilities:

This information is intended to be descriptive of the key responsibilities of the position. The following examples do not identify all duties performed by any single incumbent.

• Coordinate and process all purchasing activities in support of operations, including but not limited to vendor management, inventory stock outs, development of usage tools, invoicing, returns, and audits.
• Process purchase orders per inventory needs, timely fulfillment, and purchasing schedule.
• Track and address back order issues, and all other manual reporting; audit as necessary.
• Establish and maintain professional communication with internal and external customers, and vendors.
• Manage vendors by establishing new relationships, negotiating rates, and identifying alternative vendor support options.
• Update and maintain accurate records in Solomon, including mandatory maintenance of recent vendor costs, vendor source, lead times, and vendor codes.
• Collaborate with interdepartmental teams and vendors to determine lead times or any other measures that may impact purchases.
• Notify the leadership team of escalated issues such as inventory coverage changes, vendor cost increases, or purchase order dates that may negatively impact customers.
• Trace inbound and outbound shipments and on-time deliveries; follow up with vendors on past due shipments.
• Participate in continuous improvement activity, including the development of new tools for usage review and proposals for maximizing efficiency in reordering points and quantities.
• Route debit memos and product returns to the correct departments and/or vendors.
• Perform other duties as assigned by the manager.

Minimum Qualifications:

2-3 years of purchasing experience or related field.

High school diploma or GED.

• Knowledge of purchasing and inventory best practices.
• Knowledge and experience with improving processes.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong organizational, problem-solving, and analytical skills.
• Ability to manage priorities, workflow, and implement actions.
• Proficient with MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Systems literate Microsoft Dynamics, SAP is preferred.

Working Conditions:

Manufacturing/Warehouse environment.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally exposed to wet and/or humid conditions, moving mechanical parts, fumes or airborne particles, outside weather conditions, extreme cold, extreme heat, and vibration. The noise level in the work environment is usually loud. Forklifts are used to load and offload trailer-loaded manufacturing materials. Forklifts also move material to designated places in the warehouse.

Physical Requirements(Due to nature of job, The candidate must have):

• Ability to speak or hear.
• Ability to stand, walk, sit, reach with hands and arms, climb or balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl, and taste or smell.
• Ability to perform physical labor as necessary.
• Ability to lift 40 pounds.
• Ability to see close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and adjust focus.
• Ability to sit approximately 80% of the day and stand approximately 20% a day.
• Ability to work in wet and/or humid conditions.
• Ability to work around moving mechanical parts.
• Ability to work around fumes or airborne particles.
• Ability to work in outside weather conditions.
• Ability to work in extreme cold.
• Ability to work in extreme heat.
• Ability to work around vibration.
• Ability to work in a loud environment.
• Ability to work around forklifts.