Buyer

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

MRO Buying

•         Source and purchase MRO items: spare parts, tooling, fasteners, bearings, filters, lubricants, PPE, janitorial and facility supplies, and contracted repair services.

•         Process purchase requisitions from Maintenance and Production, confirming specifications, part numbers, quantities and need-by dates before ordering.

•         Obtain quotes, compare price, lead time and quality, and negotiate pricing, terms and freight with suppliers and distributors.

•         Maintain approved-supplier relationships, including OEM, distributor and local vendors, and qualify alternates for critical spares.

•         Work with Maintenance to set min/max levels, reorder points and critical-spares lists for the storeroom, and flag slow-moving or obsolete stock.

•         Manage emergency and line-down buys, including after-hours coordination and expedited freight when needed.

•         Pursue cost reduction through consolidation, blanket orders, vendor-managed inventory, vending programs and standardization of parts.

•         Manage repair-and-return and warranty claims, and process supplier credits and returns.

Intercompany Purchasing and Expediting

•         Place and maintain purchase orders and transfer orders with sister plants and other company business units for raw materials, components and finished goods.

•         Track intercompany orders from release through shipment and receipt, and keep delivery dates current in the ERP system.

•         Expedite late or at-risk intercompany shipments by contacting sister-plant planners, schedulers and logistics, and escalate shortages that threaten production.

•         Confirm intercompany pricing, transfer-price agreements, units of measure and lead times, and resolve discrepancies with the sending plant and Finance.

•         Coordinate carrier selection, freight scheduling and inbound transportation for intercompany loads, and consolidate shipments where it saves cost.

•         Reconcile intercompany receipts and invoices with Receiving and Accounts Payable, and help close open items and variances at month end.

•         Communicate order status, delays and recovery plans to Planning, Production and plant leadership.

•         Review open-order and past-due reports daily and publish an intercompany expedite list.

General Buyer Responsibilities

•         Maintain accurate item, supplier and pricing records in the ERP system.

•         Resolve invoice, receiving and price variances (three-way match issues) with Accounts Payable and Receiving.

•         Follow company purchasing policy, approval limits, safety, environmental and ethics requirements.

•         Track and report purchasing KPIs such as on-time delivery, price variance, spend savings and past-due lines.

•         Support continuous improvement projects, supplier scorecards and audits.

•         Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

•         High school diploma or equivalent; associate or bachelor's degree in supply chain, business or a related field preferred.

•         2–4 years of purchasing, buying or expediting experience in a manufacturing environment.

•         Working knowledge of MRO categories and maintenance terminology, or the ability to learn it quickly.

•         Proficiency with an ERP/MRP system (purchase orders, requisitions, receiving, inventory) and Microsoft Excel.

•         Strong negotiation, follow-up and problem-solving skills, with the ability to prioritize many open orders at once.

•         Clear written and verbal communication with suppliers, plant staff and sister-plant teams.

Preferred

•         Experience with intercompany or multi-plant transfers and transfer pricing.

•         Experience with a storeroom, CMMS or vendor-managed inventory program.

•         Familiarity with freight, Incoterms and basic customs or hazmat shipping requirements.

•         APICS (CPIM) or ISM (CPSM) certification, or progress toward one.

•         Experience in a chemical, coatings or process-manufacturing plant.

Performance Measures, Working Conditions and EEO

Performance measures

•         On-time delivery of MRO and intercompany orders, and number of line-down events caused by a missing part.

•         Purchase price variance and documented cost savings.

•         Past-due lines on the intercompany expedite list, and days to clear them.

•         Storeroom service level and accuracy of reorder points and lead times in the ERP.

•         Timely, clean invoice matching and intercompany reconciliation at month end.

Working conditions and physical requirements

•         Office role with regular walks through the plant, storeroom and shipping and receiving areas; safety glasses are required in those areas.

•         Ability to lift up to 25 lbs occasionally and to sit or work at a computer for extended periods.

•         Occasional after-hours availability for emergency buys and line-down situations.

With over 30 years of industry experience and a footprint spanning 10 United States locations, Creative Liquid Coatings is a powerhouse in integrated manufacturing. We bridge the gap between complex plastic injection molding and world-class automated finishing, utilizing a fleet of over 150 machines ranging from 85 to 5,000 tons. Our versatile paint lines accommodate a wide range of component sizes, providing a seamless, end-to-end production solution that combines massive scale with precision engineering for the most demanding industrial applications.