SUMMARY

The Raw Ingredient Buyer will be responsible for inventory management and purchasing of raw materials that go into the production of finished goods for their designated manufacturing facility.

The ability to multi task along with excellent planning, organizational and math skills is essential.  He/ she must be proficient in Microsoft Excel and Word. The buyer candidate should have experience negotiating material contracts with knowledge of food commodity buying a plus. The individual should have excellent problem solving and solid business decision making expertise.  Strong communication skills with the ability to work cross functionally with outside suppliers as well as company internal customers is required. The ability to coach and mentor his/her direct reports is imperative.  A general interest and/or experience in food related areas is a plus.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Responsible for replenishment of raw materials. Build trucks from various vendors, located throughout the country, while monitoring lead times, storage requirements and shelf life of all materials.
• Attend vendor plant audits with QA manager periodically
• Accountable for accurate raw material pricing and freight costs.
• Responsible for cost savings driven by review of vendor price brackets, freight differentials as well as alternative supplier qualifications.
• Review the daily exception report with scheduling and expedite materials as needed to cover production.
• Work with Quality in the event of a material issue and be the liaison between company and the vendor for return, discard, and/or re-imbursement of material. Notify Accounting of anticipated credits or payments.
• Work with R&D to help procure new ingredients for customer formulations.
• Be adept at crisis management and have excellent multi-tasking skills when issues arise involving any raw materials used in production at perspective plants.
• Act as key contact between all plant personnel and will be available 24 /7 to handle any issue that would put the plant in jeopardy involving raw materials.
• Facilitate the transfer of raw materials from plant to plant as formulas are shifted between facilities.
• Manage Collect truckloads with the Logistics Department.
• Coordinate with the packaging team and Ryder to make sure all weekly backhauls are utilized
• Work with accounting to resolve discrepant invoices in DocuWare.
• Cover other plants, as needed when buyers are out of office.
• Submit weekly Supplyside variance report to the plant. Confirm re-counts and make adjustments
• Review dead inventory and short shelf raw material reports 
• Manage and facilitate quarterly inventory responsibilities

Education and/or Experience

Bachelor's degree (B. A.) from four-year college or university; with a concentration in business or math a plus; or three to five years related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.