Supply Chain and Procurement – Summer Intern
At Hypertherm Associates, we design and build innovative industrial cutting solutions that help our customers succeed, and we believe resilient supply chains are created when data, supplier collaboration, technical understanding, and thoughtful sourcing decisions come together We are a 100% associate-owned company headquartered in Hanover, NH, with a global presence in 26 countries. For over 50 years, we’ve been recognized as a top employer and a leader in industrial cutting technology.
This summer internship at our Kent, Washington is designed for students who are curious about how procurement, inventory management, supplier risk, commodity markets, and emerging AI tools shape decisions in a real-world manufacturing environment.
The Supply Chain and Procurement intern will support Hypertherm Associates’ Waterjet business through two project-based assignments focused on inventory optimization and practical applications of agentic AI. The intern will work with Procurement, Planning, Engineering, Quality, Operations, Finance, and other stakeholders to analyze business data, improve decision-making, and develop repeatable tools.
Suggested Final Deliverables
- 1–2 page executive summary for each core project (see below)
- Supporting Excel, Power BI, or other analytical tools
- Inventory segmentation and replenishment recommendation
- Two tested agentic AI prototypes with documented assumptions and limitations
- Source appendices, test cases, output templates, and human-review requirements
- 6–8 slide final presentation to Supply Chain and Waterjet leadership
- Recommended implementation actions, owners, and next steps
Who You Are and What You Bring:
- Pursuing a bachelor’s or master’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations, Business, Engineering, Analytics, Economics, Industrial Engineering, or a related field.
- Entering the third or fourth year of undergraduate study or currently pursuing graduate study.
- Experience analyzing data and translating findings into recommendations.
- Working knowledge of Microsoft Excel, including pivot tables, lookups, filtering, and basic data visualization.
- Interest in procurement, inventory, commodity markets, supplier management, artificial intelligence, or business-process improvement.
- Strong research, critical-thinking, source-validation, written, and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to organize ambiguous information and distinguish evidence from assumptions.
- Curiosity about technical products and industrial manufacturing.
- Ability to collaborate across functions and appropriately handle business-confidential information.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience with Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, Power Platform, Power BI, Tableau, SQL, Python, or another analytical or AI tool.
- Coursework or experience in inventory management, sourcing, commodity economics, operations research, statistics, cost analysis, or responsible AI.
- Familiarity with ERP or MRP systems such as Oracle or SAP.
- Exposure to Lean, Six Sigma, root-cause analysis, or project-management methods.
- Experience presenting analytical findings to a business or academic audience.
Location: Kent, Washington
Key Projects & Deliverables:
Project 1: Inventory and Replenishment Optimization Analyze selected groups of purchased components and recommend inventory or replenishment policies that balance continuity of supply with working-capital efficiency.
- Analyze historical usage, estimated annual usage, unit cost, supplier lead time, order frequency, minimum-order quantities, and existing inventory.
- Segment inventory based on value, demand variability, supply risk, and purchasing frequency.
- Compare Kanban, MIN/MAX, blanket-order, quarterly-buy, and supplier-stocking strategies.
- Identify slow-moving, high-cost, long-lead-time, or excess inventory.
- Assess and recommend replenishment methods and initial planning parameters for selected parts or supplier programs.
- Evaluate the effects of demand changes, supplier lead times, minimum-order quantities, and safety stock on inventory exposure.
- Create a repeatable Excel or Power BI analysis tool that can be applied to additional suppliers, categories, or parts.
Potential deliverables:
- Inventory segmentation model and recommended Kanban versus MIN/MAX candidate list
- Proposed MIN/MAX quantities or purchasing frequencies
- Inventory and working-capital opportunity estimate
- Excel or Power BI tool for ongoing review
- Executive summary and implementation recommendations
Project 2: Agentic AI for Commodity Intelligence and Supply Chain Risk Assessments Help develop, test, and document two agentic AI applications for the Waterjet business: a Commodity Intelligence Agent and a Supply Chain Risk Assessment Agent. The objective is to convert research-intensive analysis into structured AI-assisted workflows while maintaining appropriate human review and decision-making. Commodity Intelligence Agent
- Define the commodity families and specific grades most relevant to Waterjet, including selected metals, engineering plastics, wood products, and other purchased materials.
- Develop a repeatable workflow for monitoring commodity benchmarks, producer and distributor announcements, energy and freight inputs, capacity changes, trade actions, and other market indicators.
- Track historical and current pricing movements, identify short- and long-term trends, and distinguish broad commodity changes from grade-, form-, region-, or supplier-specific movements.
- Identify leading indicators of potential supply constraints, including mill or plant outages, capacity reductions, allocation, extended lead times, low inventories, geopolitical events, regulatory changes, and concentrated sources of supply.
- Analyze prior price spikes and valleys to explain likely drivers, duration, recovery patterns, and potential implications for Waterjet purchases.
- Provide recurring alerts or summaries identifying material pricing changes, emerging risks, data confidence, and recommended Procurement actions.
- Test the agent against selected historical commodity cycles and current Waterjet material categories, with Procurement validating the conclusions.
Supply Chain Risk Assessment Agent
- Define a repeatable framework for selected Waterjet suppliers, components, product families, or sourcing decisions.
- Evaluate sole-source dependency, financial condition, geographic and geopolitical exposure, lead time, capacity, quality, delivery, obsolescence, cybersecurity, regulatory requirements, and natural hazards.
- Distinguish verified facts, analytical indicators, assumptions, and unresolved data gaps.
- Develop risk ratings, mitigation recommendations, source traceability, and confidence indicators.
- Test the agent on representative Waterjet sourcing scenarios and compare results with subject-matter-expert reviews.
Agent development and governance
- Map current-state processes and identify repetitive or research-intensive steps.
- Define required inputs, approved data sources, decision rules, and expected outputs.
- Develop agent instructions, prompts, templates, and evaluation criteria.
- Create test cases and assess accuracy, consistency, hallucination, source quality, data security, and overreliance risks.
- Define required human-review, approval, and escalation points.
- Document limitations, conditions of use, user instructions, and opportunities for future expansion.
Potential deliverables:
- Two functioning agent prototypes
- Current-state and future-state process maps
- Approved data-source map, agent instructions, prompt libraries, input forms, and output templates
- Commodity trend dashboard, pricing alerts, and supply-risk indicators
- Evaluation scorecard and test-case results
- Human-review, governance, and escalation criteria
- User guide, standard work for maintenance, and demonstration using representative Waterjet scenarios
Stretch Goal: Supplier Compliance and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Based on project progress and business priorities, support supplier compliance and CSR activities for the Waterjet supply base using Assent and related internal processes.
- Review supplier records for contact accuracy, engagement status, and missing compliance information.
- Support supplier outreach and follow-up for responsible sourcing, material compliance, packaging, and other CSR requirements.
- Track supplier response status and identify records requiring Procurement follow-up or escalation.
- Help improve reporting for supplier engagement and outstanding actions.
- Document process gaps and recommendations for maintaining supplier compliance data after the internship.
Skills:
Hypertherm Associates is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer, and we welcome all applications. We recruit, employ, train, compensate, and promote without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.
At Hypertherm Associates, we are committed to building an inclusive diverse, flexible, and collaborative environment. If our mission resonates with you, but you don’t meet all posted requirements, we encourage you to still apply. We will evaluate your application materials and may suggest alternative roles that better leverage your strengths and talents. For positions with multiple levels, we will evaluate your prior experience to determine the level within our organization you are best aligned based upon the job applying.
CURRENT ASSOCIATES OR TEMPORARY ASSOCIATES: Please apply via your internal Workday career account.
$0.00-$0.00 HourlyThis is the base pay range that an applicant can expect to make upon hire. Pay within this range will vary based upon relevant experience, skills, and education among other factors.
