Purchasing Planner

thyssenkrupp Materials•Southfield, MI

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Purchasing Planner represents the Purchasing team in the monthly Demand Planning Process, contributing the supply-side perspective on future demand expectations from Buyers, Product Management, and suppliers. In collaboration with Sales, the role helps develop a current and realistic consensus demand plan. The position is part of the Supply Chain Planning team, which is ultimately responsible for delivering the consensus demand plan to the business. This hybrid opportunity may support or work in Southfield, Michigan, or Santa Fe Springs, California. The role manages inventory portfolio decisions based on geographic market needs, including new product onboarding and lifecycle transitions. It supports both standard-stocked items and customer-specific programs, evaluates supplier capabilities and capacity, provides inventory and sourcing reporting, and drives improvements in demand planning and supply chain execution.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Operations, Industrial Engineering, Business, or a related field.
Minimum 5 years of experience in demand planning, S&OP, inventory management, or supply chain planning in a distribution or manufacturing environment.
Demonstrated experience translating demand forecasts into supply plans that balance service-level and working-capital targets.
Hands-on experience managing or supporting customer-specific inventory programs, including purchase requests and approvals through business systems.
Leadership and team-building experience.
Experience collaborating cross-functionally with Sales, Operations, and Procurement to resolve constraints and support customer commitments.
Proficiency with demand planning or forecasting platforms.
ERP literacy, such as SAP or a comparable system.
Working knowledge of Quickbase and Salesforce or similar workflow and CRM tools.
Advanced Excel skills, including pivot tables, lookups, and basic modeling.
Practical understanding of forecasting methods, safety stock, reorder points, lead time and variability, and ABC/XYZ segmentation.
Familiarity with supplier capacity and capability evaluation, including coordination with subcontractors such as plating and toll-slitting partners.

Nice To Haves

Blue Yonder experience is strongly preferred.
Competency with Power BI or a similar visualization tool is a plus.

Responsibilities

Contribute supply-side elements to the demand planning process that are critical to the consensus forecast.
Determine the general inventory portfolio based on geographic market needs, including onboarding new products and managing lifecycle transitions.
Review poor-performing parts and implement corrective actions as needed.
Lead and drive continuous improvement in demand planning processes.
Serve as a liaison between Purchasing, Operations, and Sales to align supply chain strategies with customer requirements.
Support both standard-stocked items and customer-specific programs.
Understand supplier capabilities and supply capacity, and represent supply constraints in the Demand Planning process as needed.
Deliver regular reporting on inventory status, sourcing metrics, and program KPIs.
Drive continuous improvement in supply chain execution.
Meet TKMNA Employee Attributes / Competencies.