Customer Support Specialist

Job Summary

The Customer Support Specialist is a full-time, salaried position responsible for providing exceptional customer service and comprehensive sales support in a fast-paced steel manufacturing and distribution environment. This role requires strong administrative skills, sound decision-making, effective communication, and a working knowledge of steel products, customer quality requirements, and computer systems.

The Customer Support Specialist manages all sales support activities to ensure customer demand is met accurately and efficiently. This position plays a critical role in order management, customer inventory management, customer communication, and collaboration with outside sales, production, and quality teams. A strong commitment to exceeding customer expectations and delivering superior service daily is essential.

Talk/hear (Communicate, Detect, Converse with, Discern, Convey, Express one's, Exchange information), See (Detect, Determine, Perceive, Identify, Recognize, Judge, Observe, Inspect, Estimate, Assess)

Sedentary Work - Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally, and/or a negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required only occasionally, and all other sedentary criteria are met.

Duties and responsibilities

• Accurately enter sales orders, work orders, and part profiles with all required specifications.
• Receive and review customer purchase orders to confirm they are accurate, clearly defined, and contain all details required for Mid West to purchase and process material for their order.
• Verify work orders against customer purchase orders to ensure accuracy, including size, grade, pricing, delivery dates, packaging, customer specifications, and customer receiving hours.
• Enter and process credit memos in OnBase as necessary.
• Monitor blanket orders and Just-In-Time (JIT) shipment material requirements to ensure on-time delivery.
• All customer and internal requests specific to assigned accounts must be addressed by the end of each business day.

• Review inventory availability for new and existing orders.
• Track and follow up on material due in from mills for ongoing and new orders.
• Select inventory strategically to optimize material utilization, using older material first where applicable.
• Verify warehouse stock ahead of cutting coils, ensuring all suitable inventory options are assessed so material is chosen appropriately for the order.
• Coordinate with other inside sales representatives to identify orders that can use remaining coil balances.
• Track, monitor, and report inventory levels to ensure adequate finished goods availability for customer demand.

• Serve as a primary point of contact for customer inquiries, quotes, order requests, and material applications.
• Communicate effectively with customers regarding order status, lead times, delivery schedules, and required documentation.
• Build and maintain strong customer relationships through proactive communication and follow-through.
• Send mill test reports and other required documentation to customers in a timely manner.
• Collect information related to customer complaints or rejections and collaborate with the Quality Department to resolve issues promptly.
• Monitor on-time delivery and past‑due orders and follow up with Outside Sales on aging material.

• Ensure outside sales representatives are consistently informed about open orders, quotes, delivery delays, pricing changes, material availability, and deliveries.
• Support outside sales by providing accurate data, reports, and updates as requested.
• Collaborate with production to ensure orders are processed on time to meet customer delivery requirements.
• Regularly update customers, the sales team, and sales management on plant lead times, schedules, inventory levels, and deliveries.

• Create customer‑specific and internal…