Senior Operational Buyer

Vanderlande•Marietta, GA

About The Position

As a subsidiary of Toyota Industries (TICO), Vanderlande North America is enjoying rapid growth and extraordinary market demand. Vanderlande is a global market leader in material handling system manufacture, design, installation, and service. Vanderlande systems employ the latest in robotic, mechanical, and software technology. Vanderlande’s customers are household names in e-commerce, package delivery, and air transportation. Job overview: Senior Operational Buyer The Senior Operational Buyer is responsible for the procurement of all equipment & services, subcontracting of 3rd party designed equipment and site installation labor of material and baggage handling systems in USA, Canada, and Mexico. As the Senior Operational Buyer, your focus will be to continuously secure and assure material availability to the factories, our customer projects as well as resolving shortages. The Operational Buyers in VOICE (Pune, India) will closely work together with you on this. Key Performance Indicators will give you insight in the status, so you are able to pro-actively analyze and report regularly on material availability. Updating key interfaces on status, progress, impact, and performance are an important task of the role. When necessary, you start up and drive supplier escalation. You are the first point of contact for our internal customers as well as suppliers for solving possible stagnations and issues. As a Senior Operational Buyer you manage the short-term material availability performance of your suppliers. You make sure that your suppliers deliver and execute according to existing agreements. This includes coaching and training suppliers to increase maturity level and correct use of Vanderlande designed systems, portals, processes, procedures, and tools. Monitoring the Supplier Delivery (RLIP/CLIP1/CLIP2) is a weekly task. As a Senior Operational Buyer you actively participate in cross-functional teams. You have a central role in managing the supplier relationship and partnering with the Sourcing department. The Senior Operational Buyer will participate in (supplier) improvement projects together with colleagues from other disciplines. You are responsible for actively managing Item Master Data for your supplier categories (with help of the Sourcing Manager) to ensure a smooth Supply Chain operation. Pro-active Supply Management of a portfolio of items by understanding and clarifying sources and potential impact of demand changes throughout the supply chain is also part of the role. You are able to translate trends at supplier-side into concrete actions, targeting weak spots (e.g. supply investigations, optimizing replenishment strategies).

Requirements

Ability to work in a team, team player
Must have the ability to communicate verbally and in writing
Knowledge and Ability to work well with Excel
Ability to adapt to different situations/Flexible
Must have great customer service
Must have negotiating and procurement skills
Ability to handle multiple tasks in a high energy office environment
Must be hands on and have a “take charge mentality”
Must be confident
Continuous Improvement mindset
Self-reliant and ability to work independently
Ability to coach, guide, and train lower level buyers
BS, BA degree
4+ years of experience as an Operational Buyer or equivalent
In this role it is of high importance to be a highly organized and structured worker
High level of organization and detail oriented
Experience with entering and expediting purchase orders
Experience with ERP systems (JD Edwards E1 preferred)
Good computer skills; MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
Technical / Mechanical training or experience
Good verbal and written communication skills.
Ability to read engineering drawings

Responsibilities

Overseeing purchase orders created though engineer to order (ETO) specifications.
Consult sourcing to redirect orders when there is an issue with the default supplier.
Managing factory shortage messages and translating these into purchase orders.
Coordinating and monitoring the internal order approval process.
Monitoring and entering order acknowledgements.
Integrate (new) suppliers to the Vanderlande process.
Place RFQs
Monitor exceptions (date, quality SCAR, logistics SCAR, RMA, and Item Master Data)
Item Master Data evaluation in ERP system.
Ensure that orders meet the deadlines outlined in the Equipment Delivery Program (EDP).
Report status of the Open Orders to Supply Chain Coordinators and communicate possible solutions to mitigate risks.
Coordinating resolutions to questions from suppliers or lead time delivery or quality issues.
Coordinating resolutions to receiving and payment issues.
Manage and maintain open order report to keep all orders up to date in JDE and ensure on time delivery.
Drive Escalations
Prepare Business Review Meetings
Monitor supplier Delivery Performance
Manage supplier continuous improvements.
Support Operational Buyers in escalations and risks
Further develop suppliers to mitigate delivery delays, risks
Supplier Knowledge, understanding Supplier Capacity
If required, create feedback stream to internal stakeholders (Sourcing/control tower)
Compares and negotiates price deals to produce cost savings for standard products and/or with established and approved suppliers
Submits claims in case suppliers deviate from agreed terms and conditions
Identifies recurring problems
Improves own way of working and identifies aspects that need improvement