CAPEX and MRO Buyer

Krones Inc

About The Position

The Buyer executes corporate commodity strategies across CAPEX and MRO, including capital equipment, machinery, maintenance and repair materials, spare parts, facility-related equipment, and associated technical services. The role contributes to developing and implementing sourcing and commodity strategies that support operational requirements and long-term business objectives. The Buyer identifies, evaluates, qualifies, implements, and manages suppliers in the assigned commodity portfolio. This includes supporting supplier performance evaluations, conducting supplier reviews and audits, and developing alternative and competitive sources to reduce risk and improve supplier performance. The role leads commercial negotiations covering pricing, payment terms, delivery conditions, warranties, terms and conditions, supply and service agreements, and confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements. The Buyer manages sourcing and procurement for assigned CAPEX and MRO materials and services, from competitive bidding and commercial evaluation through contract negotiation, purchase order execution, supplier implementation, and ongoing contract and supplier management. The position works with Engineering, Maintenance, Manufacturing, Facilities, Project Management, Quality, Finance, and other internal stakeholders to understand requirements and develop effective sourcing solutions. It also supports procurement projects, supplier development, purchasing process improvements, market and spend analysis, and corporate and plant-level commodity strategy execution.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree, or a high school diploma with at least 5 years of related business experience.
Knowledge of SAP applications, Power BI, and the MS Office Suite.
Knowledge of business administration and of policies, directives, guidelines, and standards.
General social skills and capacity for teamwork.
Customer orientation, learning aptitude, and problem-solving competence.
General project management, time and self-management, coordination, and organizational skills.
Communication and negotiation skills.

Nice To Haves

A minimum of 2 years in a purchasing environment with commodity responsibility is preferred.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute CAPEX and MRO sourcing strategies.
Manage RFQs/RFPs and competitive bidding processes.
Negotiate pricing, commercial terms, warranties, and service agreements.
Identify and implement cost-reduction and cost-avoidance opportunities.
Support CAPEX projects from sourcing through equipment delivery and implementation.
Improve MRO spend visibility and drive supplier and SKU consolidation.
Develop alternative sources to reduce supply, cost, and operational risks.
Monitor supplier performance, quality, delivery, and commercial competitiveness.
Support standardization of equipment, parts, and suppliers where practical.
Ensure compliance with corporate procurement policies and approval requirements.
Provide internal customer service while balancing cost, quality, availability, lead time, and operational risk.
Develop suppliers early in procurement projects, including internal development, customer sales-phase, and investment projects.
Continuously improve purchasing processes and tools and implement purchasing tools and processes.
Negotiate prices in cooperation with buyers of each business unit and negotiate terms and conditions.
Develop supplier agreements and contracts.
Continuously develop suppliers according to Lead Buyer/Commodity Manager targets and supplier quality assurance requirements.
Perform continuous market analysis.
Propose plant-level commodity strategies in alignment with the Department Manager Purchasing and support development of corporate commodity strategies within the commodity team.
Derive and communicate plant strategies in alignment with corporate commodity strategy, in coordination with business unit buyers, and realize those strategies.
Continuously develop the supply base and monitor supplier performance.
Secure delivery dates for plant demands and handle claims and invoice deviations in escalated cases.
Plan, execute, and follow up on supplier meetings and negotiations.
Backfill business unit buyers as needed.
Create local spend analyses by commodity and supplier within affiliates or subsidiaries and consolidate and map the analyses into group reporting.
Support the commodity manager in corporate commodity management kickoff meetings, benchmarking, total cost of ownership benchmarking in SRM, commodity strategy reviews, and preparation of negotiations and contract management materials with business unit buyers.