Materials Manager

Position Summary

The Materials Manager leads the Michigan City plant's materials function, including planning, scheduling, inventory control, customer support, and material flow. This role ensures materials are available on time, in the right quantity, and at the best total cost to support customer delivery and plant goals.

• Materials Planning & Production Support Lead materials planning, scheduling, and production support to meet customer and plant requirements. Manage planners, schedulers, and related materials team members to maintain production flow. Review forecasts, EDI, demand changes, and schedules to identify risks and recovery actions. Coordinate material readiness for launches, engineering changes, line moves, and production changes. Set replenishment strategies that balance availability, inventory, space, and delivery needs.
• Inventory Management & Control Improve inventory accuracy through audits, transaction discipline, root cause analysis, and follow-up. Improve turns, reduce excess and obsolete inventory, and support working capital goals. Use Kanban, pull systems, min/max levels, supermarkets, and visual controls where appropriate. Analyze slow, obsolete, excess, and high-risk inventory and lead reduction actions. Collaborate with the Shipping and Receiving Manger to.
• Supplier & Procurement Coordination Partner with Sourcing, Purchasing, Supplier Quality, and Supply Chain to resolve supplier issues. Monitor supplier delivery and lead escalation, recovery plans, and corrective actions. Ensure vendor releases, schedules, and purchase orders support production and delivery needs. Develop contingency plans for high-risk suppliers, constrained materials, and supply interruptions. Support supplier development focused on delivery, responsiveness, quality, and cost-effective supply.
  
  Collaborate with the Shipping and Receiving Manger to partner on inventory levels and turns.
• Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement Champion Operational Excellence, lean practices, standard work, and daily management. Lead improvement projects in inventory, flow, productivity, and delivery. Use root cause analysis, PDCA, A3, Kaizen, 5S, value stream mapping, and visual management. Eliminate waste in planning, picking, staging, and reporting. Partner with Operations and Engineering to improve line-side presentation, flow, replenishment, and handling productivity.
• KPI Management & Performance Improvement Own materials KPIs, including inventory accuracy, turns, supplier and customer delivery, schedule adherence, premium freight, shortages, productivity, obsolete inventory, and variances. Set KPI targets and lead daily, weekly, and monthly performance reviews. Create KPI action plans with owners, due dates, and verified corrective actions. Use dashboards, accountability meetings, and visual management to drive focus. Convert KPI trends into actions that improve plant financial and operational performance.
• ERP Systems, Data Integrity & Materials Discipline Ensure effective ERP/MRP use for planning, inventory, procurement, receiving, shipping, and reporting. Drive transaction accuracy and master data discipline. Partner with IT, Finance, Operations, Shipping and Receiving, and Supply Chain to improve systems, reporting, and controls. Use data to support decisions, prioritize actions, and identify recurring issues. Develop standard work and training for consistent ERP/MRP execution.
• Leadership, Culture & Talent Development Lead and develop the materials team with focus on accountability, collaboration, service, and continuous improvement. Set expectations, provide feedback, and support performance and development discussions. Build team capability in planning, inventory control,…