Planner/Buyer – Direct Procurement, Paper Packaging

Ruiz Food Products•Frisco, TX

10d•Onsite

About The Position

Ruiz Foods is seeking a driven, detail-oriented Planner/Buyer to join their Direct Procurement team, focusing on the Paper Packaging category. This role is crucial for ensuring the availability of corrugated boxes, folding cartons, and other paper packaging components at the right cost and with optimal inventory control, thereby supporting the company's manufacturing operations. Ruiz Foods, a family-owned company since 1964 and one of the largest Hispanic-owned companies in the U.S., is the maker of El Monterey frozen Mexican food and Tornados roller grill taquitos. The company offers career development opportunities and is committed to its team members and consumers. The Planner/Buyer will support material planning, purchase order execution, supplier follow-up, inventory management, and packaging change implementation, balancing production service, working capital, warehouse space, and obsolete material risk. This position reports to the Packaging Procurement Category Leader and involves collaboration with suppliers and internal teams across Commercial, Scheduling, Regulatory, Transportation, Warehousing, Quality, R&D, Operations, and Procurement. The role manages a visible paper packaging portfolio for well-known food brands and large-scale manufacturing, influencing production service, supplier performance, working capital, warehouse utilization, and obsolete material reduction. The company emphasizes innovation, quality, safety, integrity, respect, and teamwork.

Requirements

At least three years of experience in a consumer goods environment; food or beverage manufacturing experience is strongly preferred.
Associate’s degree in Supply Chain, Finance, Engineering, Business, or a related field; five years of relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
Experience with material planning, buying, inventory management, purchase order execution, and supplier follow-up.
Strong analytical ability, financial acumen, and comfort using data to make sound planning and purchasing decisions.
Excellent attention to detail, follow-through, and ability to manage competing priorities in a dynamic environment.
Clear written and verbal communication skills with the ability to build effective relationships with suppliers and cross-functional partners.
A proactive, continuous-improvement mindset with the confidence to challenge the status quo and recommend better ways of working.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office and common ERP/MRP systems; experience with Infor M3 is highly preferred.
Ability to travel up to 15%, primarily domestic.

Nice To Haves

Professional certifications in supply chain, procurement, planning, or continuous improvement are a plus.

Responsibilities

Plan and buy more than $20 million in paper-based packaging materials across a portfolio of more than 200 SKUs supporting four U.S. manufacturing plants.
Translate production demand and MRP signals into timely purchase orders, supplier confirmations, and delivery plans that support manufacturing schedules.
Manage on-hand, supplier-held, and off-site inventories while balancing service levels, cash flow, warehouse space, and obsolete material exposure.
Partner with suppliers to monitor on-time delivery, order confirmations, responsiveness, lead time adherence, and recurring service issues.
Support packaging transitions, new item launches, commercialization activities, and controlled runout of existing inventory in partnership with Commercial, Regulatory, Operations, Quality, R&D, and Procurement stakeholders.
Identify opportunities to improve order quantities, lead times, safety stock, inventory flow, supplier performance, and material availability.
Work closely with Warehousing, Transportation, and Planning to optimize warehouse utilization and off-site storage needs.
Help deliver business goals related to schedule adherence, production service, purchase price variance, on-time and in-full deliveries, cash flow, and obsolete material reduction.
Provide backup support for other Planner/Buyers across flexible film, labels, ingredients, commodities, and other packaging or raw material categories as needed.
Live the company’s mission, vision, and values while performing all responsibilities safely, ethically, and collaboratively.
Remain available outside regular business hours when time-sensitive supply, schedule, or delivery issues require attention.
Perform other duties as assigned.