Planning and Purchasing Lead / Supervisor

Responsibilities

As the Planning and Purchasing Lead / Supervisor, you will:

• Coordinate production planning and purchasing activities across the Planning and Buying team to ensure business priorities and production requirements are met.
• Allocate and prioritize workload among yourself, Planners/Buyers to support schedule adherence, material availability, and customer delivery commitments.
• Develop and maintain production plans and schedules that align manufacturing capacity with customer demand.
• Oversee direct/indirect material planning and purchasing activities to ensure timely procurement of production requirements.
• Monitor inventory levels and drive actions to maintain optimal stock holdings while minimizing excess and obsolete inventory.
• Coordinate with suppliers to ensure on-time delivery, manage supply issues, and mitigate risks to production continuity.
• Collaborate with Manufacturing, Engineering, Quality, Variable Configuration and Supply Chain teams to manage production priorities and resolve material/order-related constraints.
• Support new product introductions by ensuring planning, procurement, and material readiness requirements are met.
• Maintain the integrity of planning and purchasing data within ERP systems and ensure adherence to planning processes.
• Identify supply chain risks and develop mitigation plans to prevent disruptions to manufacturing operations.
• Analyze planning, purchasing, inventory, and supplier performance metrics, providing recommendations to improve operational performance.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives focused on planning accuracy, inventory optimization, procurement efficiency, and process standardization.
• Act as a subject matter expert for planning and purchasing processes, providing guidance and support to team members and stakeholders.
• Ensure compliance with company procurement policies, planning procedures, quality standards, and regulatory requirements.

Qualifications

• You are an experienced supply chain professional with strong planning and purchasing expertise gained within a manufacturing environment. You are highly organized, commercially aware, and capable of coordinating multiple priorities across a team while maintaining a strong focus on delivery, inventory performance, and operational efficiency.
• You will also bring:
• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain, Operations, Business, Engineering, or a related discipline (or equivalent experience).
• 5+ years' experience in manufacturing, production planning, purchasing, supply chain, or materials management roles.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including data analysis and reporting.  Has the skill to debug visual basic codes related to the templates currently used in daily activities (development capabilities for bridging data and ERP systems will be highly regarded).
• Strong knowledge of production planning, master scheduling, inventory management, procurement, and supplier management processes.
• Experience coordinating planning and purchasing activities across multiple stakeholders and competing priorities.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and guide team activities without direct people management responsibility.
• Experience using ERP/MRP systems (SAP experience highly regarded).
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities.
• Experience managing supplier performance and material availability in a manufacturing environment.
• Ability to identify operational risks and implement practical solutions to support production continuity.
• Continuous improvement mindset with experience driving process improvements and operational efficiencies.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to perform effectively in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.

Keys to Success

• Building collaborative relationships
• Decision making
• Drive results
• Foster innovation
• Personal energy
• Self-leadership