Job Description

Buyer / Planner

Employment Type: Full-Time, Salaried Position
Schedule: Monday–Thursday, 4-Day Workweek (10-hour shifts)

Position Summary
The Buyer / Planner is responsible for coordinating material planning, purchasing, and production readiness to support MMG's manufacturing schedule. This position serves as a key link between Purchasing, Scheduling, Production, Engineering, Quality, and suppliers.

The Buyer / Planner will use SyteLine ERP/MRP daily to manage material requirements, purchase orders, supplier commitments, job requirements, shortages, and planning exceptions. The position will work closely with the Master Scheduler to ensure jobs are properly released, materials are available when required, and potential constraints are identified before they impact production or customer delivery.

The ideal candidate is highly organized, comfortable working within an ERP system, able to analyze changing priorities, and proactive in resolving material and scheduling constraints.

Primary Responsibilities

Material Planning & SyteLine

• Own the buy/plan cycle for assigned purchased components and materials within SyteLine.

• Review SyteLine MRP requirements and action messages daily.

• Review demand generated by customer orders, forecasts, jobs, and other system requirements.

• Validate material availability against scheduled and planned production requirements.

• Identify current and future material shortages and communicate risks before they impact production.

• Review past-due requirements, reschedule-in/reschedule-out messages, quantity changes, and other MRP exceptions.

• Maintain accurate supplier lead times, order quantities, planning parameters, and other applicable item/vendor information within SyteLine.

• Support item master and planning data accuracy.

• Investigate discrepancies between SyteLine requirements and actual production needs.

• Maintain accurate PO dates and supplier commitments so SyteLine reflects realistic material availability.

• Assist in identifying inventory, transaction, or planning-data issues that create inaccurate MRP signals.

Purchasing & Supplier Management

• Create, issue, and maintain purchase orders for assigned materials and components.

• Follow up with suppliers on open and past-due purchase orders.

• Obtain and maintain accurate supplier commit dates.

• Expedite materials when required to support production and customer requirements.

• Communicate changes in demand, quantities, and required dates to suppliers.

• Monitor supplier on-time delivery and escalate recurring delivery issues.

• Support purchase price variance and cost-improvement initiatives.

• Work with Quality and Engineering to resolve supplier-related material or technical issues.

• Develop effective working relationships with key suppliers.

Production Planning & Scheduler Support

• Work directly with the Master Scheduler to ensure the production schedule is supported by available material.

• Review upcoming scheduled jobs for material availability and readiness.

• Identify jobs at risk due to shortages, supplier delays, incorrect inventory, missing components, or planning issues.

• Assist the Master Scheduler with determining which jobs are ready to release to production.

• Release jobs to production when authorized and required.

• Print or prepare jobs, routers, and supporting production documentation as needed.

• Perform job maintenance within SyteLine as required.

• Verify demand and material requirements associated with production jobs.

• Issue material to jobs or support correction of material transactions when required.

• Communicate material constraints to the Master Scheduler before jobs are placed into the active production schedule.

• Assist with production schedule changes caused by material availability.

• Help identify alternative jobs that can be run when scheduled work is constrained by material.

• Support daily production meetings with accurate information regarding shortages, inbound material, supplier commitments, and job readiness.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Work closely with Scheduling, Production, Shipping, Engineering, Quality, and Customer Service to support on-time delivery.

• Communicate critical shortages and supply risks to appropriate stakeholders.

• Participate in daily or weekly production and planning meetings as required.

• Assist in resolving discrepancies involving inventory, jobs, purchase orders, demand, or material transactions.

• Support continuous-improvement efforts related to material flow, inventory accuracy, purchasing, scheduling, and ERP processes.

• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Key Performance Indicators

• Material availability / job readiness

• Purchase order past-due reduction

• Supplier on-time delivery

• Shortage reduction

• Schedule disruptions caused by material shortages

• MRP exception closure

• Purchase price variance

• Inventory and planning-data accuracy

• Production schedule support

• On-time delivery performance

Qualifications

• 2+ years of experience in purchasing, material planning, production planning, scheduling, supply chain, or manufacturing operations preferred.

• Experience working within an ERP/MRP system required; SyteLine / Infor CSI experience strongly preferred.

• Understanding of MRP, BOMs, routings, purchase orders, inventory, jobs/work orders, and manufacturing lead times.

• Strong Excel and data-analysis skills.

• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.

• Strong follow-up, communication, and problem-solving skills.

• Ability to work cross-functionally with Production, Scheduling, Engineering, Quality, Shipping, and suppliers.

• Strong attention to detail and commitment to ERP data accuracy.