Buyer / Material Planner

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Buyer / Material Planner to join a global manufacturing business with multiple sites across the UK. Based in High Wycombe, this role offers a salary of up to £35,000 along with the flexibility to work from home two days per week.

The Purchasing & MRP Coordinator is responsible for coordinating operational purchasing, material requirements planning, supplier performance and inventory availability across the manufacturing sites. The role combines hands-on purchasing with materials planning. The successful candidate will use ERP/MRP systems, analyse production demand, interpret bills of materials, maintain accurate planning data and ensure materials are available to support production and customer requirements. Working closely with the Group Purchasing & Supply Chain Manager, the role holder will take ownership of day-to-day purchasing as well as material planning.

The role requirements of the Buyer / Material Planner:

Purchasing

• Take operational responsibility for day-to-day purchasing
• Manage purchase requisitions, purchase orders, supplier acknowledgements, delivery schedules and expediting.
• Maintain supplier relationships and support alternative-source identification and evaluation.
• Support supplier negotiations, sourcing exercises and purchasing cost reductions

Material Resource Planning (MRP)

• Review MRP recommendations and planned orders to determine material requirements and required dates.
• Interpret bills of materials (BOMs), including component quantities, sub assemblies and multilevel structures.
• Calculate component requirements against production orders, forecasts, stock, open purchase orders and allocations.
• Identify material shortages and production constraints; take proactive action to secure supply.
• Maintain lead times, minimum order quantities (MOQs), order multiples, safety stock and reorder points.
• Maintain accurate MRP data and improve planning processes.

Inventory Management

• Maintain material availability while minimising excess inventory and working capital.
• Analyse consumption, purchasing history, lead times and forecast demand to support replenishment.
• Identify slow-moving, obsolete and excess stock and recommend corrective actions.
• Escalate potential shortages before they affect production or customer demand.

Data Analysis

• Use Microsoft Excel to analyse purchasing, inventory, supplier and manufacturing planning data.
• Extract, clean, reconcile and analyse ERP/MRP exports to identify shortages, discrepancies and requirements.
• Prepare purchasing, supplier delivery, stock and material availability reports.
• Use formulas, lookup functions, PivotTables and other Excel tools to support planning decisions.

Skills and experience required of the Buyer / Material Planner

• At least three years' practical experience in purchasing, materials planning or supply chain operations, including direct purchasing responsibility.
• Hands-on use of an ERP/MRP system in manufacturing, assembly or engineering
• Experience reviewing MRP recommendations and converting requirements into purchase orders or delivery schedules.
• Ability to interpret BOMs, including quantities and multilevel assemblies.
• Understanding of demand, stock, open orders, lead times and safety stock in material planning.
• Intermediate proficiency in using Excel (SUM, SUMIF, COUNTIF) using XLOOKUP & VLOOKUP and creating PivotTables
• Experience purchasing components, raw materials, manufactured products or assemblies.
• Understanding of lead times, MOQs, purchasing costs and inventory management.

This role would suit an individual who has worked in manufacturing / engineering environments in purchasing or material departments and in positions such as Buyer, Senior Buyer, Junior Buyer, Material Planner, Material Coordinator, MRP Planner, MRP Controller

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