Supply Chain & Materials Manager – Manufacturing
Location: Marietta, OH Job Type: Full-Time, Direct Hire Travel: Up to 20%
Position Overview
We are seeking an experienced Supply Chain & Materials Manager to lead material planning, purchasing, inventory, and supplier performance for a manufacturing operation. This is an on-site leadership position responsible for keeping materials aligned with production and project requirements while improving inventory performance, supplier reliability, and supply chain resilience.
The position directly supervises a Buyer Planner team and works closely with Project Management, Sales, Engineering, Production, Quality, Finance, and Supply Chain leadership.
Power distribution industry experience is strongly preferred.
What You'll Do
Team & Materials Planning
- Lead, coach, and develop Buyer Planners while establishing clear performance expectations and KPIs.
- Balance workloads across commodities, projects, and production requirements.
- Ensure Buyer Planners effectively use ERP/MRP systems for purchasing, planning, item master maintenance, and exception management.
- Support professional development, cross-training, and certification opportunities such as APICS CPIM and CSCP.
- Maintain coverage plans to ensure continuity during absences and staffing changes.
Production & Project Support
- Partner with Project Managers to align material availability with project schedules and production release dates.
- Participate in project kickoffs for engineered-to-order (ETO) programs to review BOMs, identify long-lead materials, and assess supply risks.
- Provide material availability and lead-time information to support realistic customer commitments.
- Lead shortage escalations and coordinate corrective actions with suppliers and internal teams.
- Review the active project portfolio regularly and align material critical paths with project schedules.
- Support configure-to-order (CTO) and quick-ship programs through appropriate inventory and material planning.
Sales & Demand Planning
- Provide Sales with supply chain input on material availability, supplier capacity, and realistic lead times before commitments are made.
- Participate in Sales, Inventory & Operations Planning (SIOP) activities.
- Use sales pipeline and backlog information to anticipate material requirements and reduce supply risk.
- Support customer-specific stocking programs, blanket orders, and consignment inventory arrangements.
Strategic Supply Management
- Develop positioning plans for critical and long-lead materials.
- Manage inventory strategies for components such as specialty breakers, bus assemblies, power electronic modules, custom enclosures, and transformers.
- Identify single-source and sole-source risks and recommend mitigation strategies, including dual sourcing, safety stock, supplier-managed inventory, and LTAs.
- Support commodity strategies using supplier performance, consumption, and demand data.
- Execute approved supplier and commodity strategies at the facility level.
- Lead facility-level make/buy analysis and provide recommendations to supply chain and operations leadership.
- Monitor commodity pricing, supply constraints, geopolitical risks, tariffs, and other factors affecting material cost or availability.
Inventory Management
- Own facility inventory performance, including inventory turns, excess and obsolete (E&O) inventory, days of supply, and working capital.
- Drive toward a target of 10 inventory turns per year.
- Lead monthly E&O reviews and coordinate disposition actions such as supplier returns, project redeployment, and write-off recommendations.
- Establish inventory policies covering safety stock, reorder points, lot sizing, and cycle counts.
- Lead the annual physical inventory process.
- Balance inventory investment, material availability, and working capital using data-driven decisions.
Supplier Performance
- Manage supplier performance using on-time delivery (SOTD), quality/PPM, lead-time accuracy, and responsiveness metrics.
- Conduct quarterly business reviews with key suppliers and establish measurable improvement plans.
- Escalate supplier issues that could affect production continuity.
- Partner with Quality Engineering on SCARs, root-cause analysis, corrective actions, and supplier qualification.
- Support new supplier qualification with Quality Engineering and Application Engineering.
- Negotiate or oversee pricing agreements, blanket purchase orders, and long-term agreements (LTAs).
ERP/MRP & Reporting
- Maintain accurate ERP/MRP data, including item masters, BOMs, supplier lead times, and planning parameters.
- Establish consistent ERP usage standards and eliminate off-system planning workarounds.
- Review MRP output and resolve issues involving parameter drift, demand signals, BOM accuracy, and planning logic.
- Partner with IT and ERP administrators on system improvements, reporting, and configuration changes.
- Prepare weekly supply chain dashboards and monthly KPI scorecards for leadership.
- Lead continuous improvement initiatives involving ERP optimization, supplier lead-time reduction, dock-to-stock improvements, and inventory reduction.
- Apply Lean principles, including 5S, throughout receiving, warehouse, stockroom, and material-handling processes.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Operations Management, Engineering, or a related field; advanced degree is a plus.
- 7–10+ years of progressive supply chain experience in manufacturing, including at least 3 years in a supervisory or team lead role overseeing buyers, planners, or Buyer Planners.
- Experience managing material planning and procurement in an electromechanical, electrical equipment, or industrial manufacturing environment.
- Power distribution industry experience strongly preferred.
- Advanced proficiency with ERP/MRP systems, including SAP, Oracle, Epicor, Infor, IFS, or comparable systems.
- Ability to diagnose and resolve MRP planning issues, not simply report them.
- Demonstrated success improving inventory turns while maintaining or improving material availability, with the ability to quantify previous results.
- Experience managing supplier performance programs, including QBRs, SCARs, and supplier development.
- Ability to operate effectively at both tactical and strategic levels.
- Strong cross-functional experience working with project management, sales, engineering, production, and finance.
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate supply chain information into actionable recommendations.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Excel and data analysis tools for inventory, spend, and supplier performance reporting.
Preferred Qualifications
- APICS CPIM or CSCP certification.
- ISM C.P.M. or CPSM certification.
- Experience with power distribution products such as PDCs, STS, RPPs, switchgear, UPS systems, and associated electromechanical components.
- Familiarity with UL, ANSI, NEMA, NEC, and IEC standards relevant to power distribution equipment.
- Experience developing commodity strategies for breakers, bus duct, transformers, enclosures, and power electronics.
- Lean/Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt.
- Experience leading kaizen events in supply chain or warehouse environments.
- Experience with VMI, consignment agreements, supplier-stocked buffers, and blanket PO/call-off arrangements.
- Experience with import compliance, customs, and international supplier management.
Core Skills
- Supply Chain Leadership & Team Development
- Strategic Material Positioning & Risk Management
- Cross-Functional Collaboration
- MRP/ERP Mastery & Data Governance
- Inventory Optimization
- Supplier Relationship & Performance Management
- Project-Aligned Material Planning
- Demand Sensing & Capacity Awareness
- Escalation & Crisis Management
- Continuous Improvement
- Commercial & Cost Management
- Executive Communication & Reporting
Work Environment
- On-site position; not remote or hybrid.
- Daily presence on the manufacturing floor is required.
- Regular work in production, warehouse, and receiving areas with exposure to moderate noise, industrial equipment, and electrical assemblies.
- Up to 20% travel for supplier visits, strategic sourcing reviews, industry conferences, and occasional customer engagement.
- Must be available to address escalated supply chain issues outside standard business hours when production continuity is at risk.
- Must be physically able to walk manufacturing areas, access storage locations, and participate in physical inventory activities.