Buyer Planner

Wabtec•Kansas City, MO

6h•Onsite

About The Position

This role involves managing the buying process for a defined set of products, ensuring compliance with sourcing policies, and interfacing with external suppliers and internal Wabtec companies to achieve quality, cost-effectiveness, and on-time delivery. The daily efforts will ensure a consistent supply of buy parts to support production demand, optimize inventory, minimize premium transportation costs, and improve supplier performance. The Buyer Planner will also collaborate with the Sourcing Commodity Manager on cost-out initiatives and supplier selection to support the commodity sourcing strategy.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree from an accredited university or college in Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, Industrial Engineering or related field or at least 5 years of procurement or sourcing experience in a manufacturing environment.
Proven experience working effectively with suppliers, managing purchase orders and ensuring supplier on-time delivery to meet production requirements.
Experience in the supplier selection process and managing supplier partnerships using performance KPI metrics.
Ability to generate a comprehensive Supplier Request for Quotation package.
Ability to perform accurate and thorough cost analysis comparing current total cost to new supplier quotations total cost.
Proven supplier negotiation techniques.
Foundational proficiency in supply chain management principles and commodity sourcing strategies.
Ability to work with complex material flows.
Strong understanding of ERP MRP fundamentals, including purchase order signals, purchase order reschedule signals, planning parameters and the importance of transactional accuracy and its impact on inventory control.
Ability to interpret and work with technical specifications, drawings, and quality requirements.
Understanding of Bill of Material framework and BOM costs.
Proficiency in Microsoft Suit (Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint) and ability to learn software quickly.
Professional and concise verbal and written communication skills required for effective interaction with suppliers and internal stakeholders.
Strong interpersonal and leadership skills to build effective and trusted supplier and team relationships.
Organized and possess a drive for continuous improvement.
Ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities under tight deadlines.

Nice To Haves

Experience in railroad, aerospace, automotive or other heavy industrial manufacturing or remanufacturing sectors.

Responsibilities

Manage the buying process for a defined set of products and maintain compliance with Wabtec sourcing policies.
Interface with external suppliers and internal Wabtec companies to ensure quality, cost effectiveness, and on-time delivery.
Ensure consistent supply of buy parts to support production demand.
Optimize inventory levels.
Minimize premium transportation costs.
Improve supplier performance.
Collaborate with the Sourcing Commodity Manager on cost-out initiatives and supplier selection.
Evaluate MRP to understand buy part supply/demand signals and create purchase orders.
Establish appropriate stocking strategies and maintain buy part planning parameters.
Manage supplier relationships to ensure purchase orders are acknowledged, PO dates are maintained, and shipments are executed on-time.
Expedite supplier parts when unexpected shortages occur or demand is short cycled.
Work closely with suppliers on recovery plans.
Manage new supplier set-up and supplier maintenance (HICX portal).
Manage ERP Sourcing Rules and Quotation accuracy to facilitate Auto-PO, where applicable.
Communicate daily with production on shortages and recovery plans.
Manage transportation costs, working to avoid premium air shipments.
Right-size inventory by reducing excess inventory and evaluate shortages.
Engage with Quality and Engineering to address supplier non-conforming parts.
Assess supplier capabilities and make recommendations for supplier selection.
Collaborate and support the Sourcing Manager in inflation/deflation goals and commodity strategy execution.
Serve as the primary accounts payable/receivable contact for your supply base.
Support warehouse by ensuring healthy inventory levels are maintained to meet demand.
Execute occasional buy part inventory counts and physical inventory adjustments in the ERP system.
Maintain key product indicators in fulfillment, planning, and inventory.