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My client is a growing manufacturer of building products made primarily using steel and aluminium. They are growing at 20 YoY and require a Materials Controller/Buyer to join their team.
Profile
Experienced Buyer / Material Controller to manage purchasing, inventory and supplier relationships for a UK manufacturing operation, ensuring materials are available to meet production and customer commitments while minimising cost and waste.
About the Role
You will own end-to-end purchasing and material control activities: forecast and replenish stock, raise and manage purchase orders in the ERP/MRP system, monitor supplier performance, and work closely with production, planning and logistics to align supply with demand. The role requires strong commercial judgement, accurate data control and practical problem solving under tight lead-time pressures.
Key Responsibilities
- Purchasing: Source and place purchase orders for raw materials, components and services; negotiate price, terms and lead times; maintain approved supplier list.
- Material control: Maintain target inventory levels using demand forecasts, production schedules and safety stock rules; perform cycle counts and support physical stock takes.
- Order management: Track order progress, expedite late deliveries, manage changes and resolve discrepancies with suppliers and internal stakeholders.
- Supplier management: Monitor supplier on-time delivery, quality and cost; develop corrective actions and supplier improvement plans.
- Systems & records: Accurately input and maintain purchase orders, goods receipts, supplier invoices and stock records in ERP/MRP system; produce regular inventory and purchasing reports.
- Cost & continuous improvement: Identify cost-saving and process-improvement opportunities (procurement, packaging, lead-time reduction, waste reduction).
- Compliance: Ensure purchasing activities meet company policies, quality standards, and regulatory requirements.
Skills, Experience & Qualifications
- Experience: 5 years in purchasing, procurement or material control within a manufacturing environment; experience with MRP/ERP systems essential.
- Technical skills: Proficient with ERP/MRP systems (e.g., SAP, Sage, Microsoft Dynamics) and Excel for data analysis.
- Commercial skills: Strong negotiation, vendor management and cost-control experience.
- Analytical skills: Accurate numerical skills, ability to forecast demand and set safety stock levels.
- Personal attributes: Organised, decisive, good communicator, able to prioritise and work to deadlines.
- Qualifications: GCSEs (or equivalent) in English and Maths; Accreditation in Supply Chain, Business or related field desirable; CIPS qualification is an advantage.
