Materials Manager

Scope of Position:

The Materials Manager is a key leader in our custom HVAC manufacturing environment, responsible for ensuring the seamless flow of materials to support uninterrupted production.

This role blends tactical execution (such as creating and managing purchase orders, inventory control, and supplier coordination) with strategic responsibilities in sourcing, production scheduling, and capacity planning. The ideal candidate will bring expertise in commodity markets, ERP systems, and lean principles to drive efficiency and continuous improvement in a dynamic, engineered-to-order operation.

We seek a hands-on, detail-oriented professional with strong leadership potential--someone eager to grow into higher-level roles and help shape the future of our organization.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Material Planning & Commodity Management
• Own material availability to support production schedules and customer commitments.
• Manage commodity assignments, purchasing priorities, and material planning activities.
• Create, review, approve, and maintain purchase orders as required to support business needs.
• Actively communicate with suppliers regarding order status, shortages, expedites, and delivery commitments.
• Coordinate with Production, Engineering, and Operations to resolve material constraints and supply risks.

Supplier & Vendor Management

• Develop and maintain strategic relationships with suppliers and service providers.
• Monitor supplier on-time delivery, lead-time performance, quality, and responsiveness.
• Lead supplier performance reviews and corrective actions when expectations are not met.
• Support supplier selection, sourcing strategies, and risk mitigation efforts.
• Drive supplier improvement initiatives focused on cost, quality, lead time, and service.

Inventory Management & Control

• Maintain inventory accuracy through cycle counting, reconciliation, and audit activities.
• Lead inventory replenishment activities to ensure material availability while controlling inventory investment.
• Monitor inventory levels, usage trends, excess inventory, and obsolete materials.
• Develop inventory control processes and visual management systems.
• Partner with the Warehouse Lead to improve inventory accuracy, organization, and material flow.

Leadership & Team Development

• Maintain a visible and consistent presence on the production floor and in the warehouse to understand operational challenges, verify material flow, support employees, and drive timely problem resolution.
• Lead and develop the Buyer, Warehouse Lead, and Warehouse team members.
• Establish department priorities, workload balancing, and performance expectations.
• Support employee training, cross-training, and professional development.
• Promote accountability, teamwork, customer service, and continuous improvement.
• Conduct performance coaching, employee development, and staffing activities as needed.
• Nonconforming Material Management
• Oversee containment, disposition, and resolution of supplier-related material issue
• Coordinate supplier corrective actions and replacement material activities.
• Partner with Quality and Engineering to minimize production disruptions caused by defective materials.
• Monitor supplier quality trends and recurring issues.
• Support supplier recovery and chargeback efforts when applicable.

Safety, Systems, & Continuous Improvement

• Promote and support a safe work environment and compliance with company safety policies and procedures.
• Ensure accurate and effective use of the ERP system to support purchasing, inventory control, material transactions, reporting, and decision-making.
• Develop, maintain, and improve materials, purchasing, inventory, warehouse, and planning procedures.
• Support ISO compliance activities, internal audits, external audits, corrective actions, and documentation updates.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives focused on inventory accuracy, material flow, supplier performance, ERP utilization, and operational efficiency.

Production Planning & Capacity Coordination

• Develop and maintain production schedules that balance customer commitments, material availability, labor capacity, and manufacturing constraints.
• Review and schedule new customer orders into the production plan while communicating impacts to Operations, Sales, and Customer Service.
• Coordinate material availability and production priorities to support on-time delivery performance.
• Analyze production capacity, material constraints, and resource requirements to identify risks and recommend corrective actions.

Participate in forecasting, capacity planning, and recovery planning activities to support business objectives.

Conforms to all Quality and Environmental Management Systems policies, objectives, and obligations.

Performs any other related duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Position Requirements:

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain management, Business, Industrial Engineering, or related field. Equivalent combination fo education and experience may be considered.
• o APICS/CPIM or similar certification is preferred.
• 5+ years in purchasing, materials management, inventory control, production planning, or supply chain leadership within a manufacturing environment.
• Previous leadership experience managing buyers, warehouse, personnel, planners, or similar team members preferred.
• Experience with ERP/MRP systems and inventory management processes required.

Knowledge & Skills

• Strong understanding of purchasing, material planning, inventory management, supplier management, and warehouse operations.
• Ability to manage multiple commodity groups and supplier relationships.
• Working knowledge of production scheduling, capacity planning, and manufacturing processes.
• Ability to analyze data, identify trends, and make sound business decisions.
• Strong problem-solving, prioritization, and decision-making skills.
• Effective communication skills with the ability to collaborate across Operations, Engineering, Production, Quality, and Finance.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and ERP systems.

Leadership & Growth Potential

• Be physically present on the production floor and in the warehouse to verify material flow, understand operational challenges, support employees, and drive timely problem resolution
• Demonstrated ability or potential to assume responsibility for production scheduling, material planning, and capacity coordination.
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize competing business demands and allocate resources effectively.
• Ability to balance service, cost, inventory, quality, and operational requirements.
• Proven ability to lead, coach, and develop team members.
• Ability to hold employees accountable while maintaining positive working relationships.
• Strong sense of ownership and follow-through on commitments.
• Ability to lead continuous improvement initiatives and drive organizational change.