Maintenance Buyer

Job Description

The Maintenance Buyer is responsible for the strategic procurement and management of Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO) materials supporting a highly automated USDA-regulated beef stick manufacturing facility. This role manages a multi-million-dollar annual R&M budget and ensures uninterrupted plant operations by maintaining optimal inventory levels, supplier performance, and cost control across critical spare parts, consumables, and services.

• Develop category strategies for high-spend MRO segments (e.g., automation components, OEM parts, electrical, controls, packaging systems).
• Balance OEM vs. aftermarket sourcing to optimize cost without increasing downtime risk.
• Build redundancy in critical supply chains (dual sourcing for high-risk/long-lead items).
• Establish and manage supplier scorecards
  • On-Time-In-Full (OTIF)
  • Lead time adherence
  • Quality/reject rates
  • Responsiveness during downtime events
• Negotiate long-term agreements (LTAs), blanket POs, and consignment programs to reduce working capital and expedite availability.
• Manage vendor escalation during line-down events (expedited freight, priority production, aftermarket solutions).

• Lead criticality analysis with Maintenance & Reliability
  • Identify “zero-fail” components (PLC cards, drives, robotics, proprietary OEM parts).
  • Define stocking strategy: on-site, regional, vendor-managed, or non-stock.
• Set and continuously refine
  • Min/Max levels
  • Safety stock based on failure rates and lead times
  • Reorder points tied to usage patterns and predictive maintenance insights
• Eliminate obsolete and duplicate SKUs while standardizing parts across lines where possible.
• Implement kitting strategies for
  • Preventive Maintenance (PMs)
  • Planned shutdowns
• Improve inventory accuracy and cycle counting discipline (≥98% target in high-performing plants).

• Act as embedded partner to Maintenance, Reliability Engineers, and Planners
  • Align procurement with weekly/daily maintenance schedules
  • Pre-stage parts for planned work vs. reactive purchasing
• Support predictive and condition-based maintenance programs
  • Ensure availability of failure-prone components before predicted end-of-life
• Participate in root cause failure analysis (RCFA)
  • Identify recurring part failures and sourcing alternatives
  • Recommend higher reliability or upgraded components
• Coordinate materials for shutdowns, capital installs, and line expansions
  • Sequencing deliveries to match project timelines
  • Preventing overbuying or last-minute shortages

• Directly manage MRO procurement tied to a multi-million-dollar R&M budget with clear accountability for
  • Cost containment
  • Spend visibility
  • Savings delivery
• Identify and execute cost levers
  • Vendor consolidation
  • Specification standardization
  • Cross-plant leverage (if applicable)
  • Repair vs. replace analysis
  • Use of local/regional suppliers vs. OEM pricing
• Track and report
  • Monthly spend vs. budget
  • PPV (Purchase Price Variance)
    Cost avoidance vs. realized savings
• Challenge emergencies and spot buys that drive price premiums and freight costs.

• Operate with urgency in a 24/7, high-speed automated facility where downtime costs are significant
  • Rapid sourcing and logistics coordination for critical breakdown events
  • Identify nearest available inventory (distributors, sister plants, brokers)
• Maintain “ready-now” sourcing playbooks for
  • Motors, drives, sensors, PLC components
  • Robotics and high-value automation parts
• Coordinate expedited shipping, hot-shot delivery, and vendor field service when needed.
• Maintain after-hours supplier contact lists and escalation protocols.

• Own integrity of MRO data in ERP/CMMS
  • Accurate part numbers, descriptions, BOM alignment
  • Supplier records and pricing updates
• Leverage system tools for
  • Spend analytics
  • Demand forecasting
  • Inventory optimization modeling
• Improve purchasing workflows
  • Reduce PR-to-PO cycle time
  • Increase automation (blanket orders, catalogs)
• Drive standard work for
  • Requisition s
  • Emergency purchases
  • Vendor onboarding