Inventory Control Manager

The Opportunity

The Purchasing Materials Manager is responsible for ensuring the accuracy, integrity, and optimization of inventory across the manufacturing operation. This role leads all purchasing activities, including physical inventories, inventory reconciliation, and reporting of discrepancies. The Purchasing Materials Manager partners closely with Operations, Production, Supply Chain, Purchasing, Finance, and Shipping teams to ensure accurate inventory transactions, efficient material flow, and strong internal controls.

This leader develops and maintains purchasing management processes that support operational excellence, customer service, financial accuracy, and continuous improvement. The role requires strong system expertise, analytical capability, and the ability to lead a team and inventory specialists in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.

Safety is the foundation of all activities within this role. The Purchasing Materials Manager promotes safe work practices, compliance with company policies, and a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

Maintain world-class purchasing standards through disciplined inventory processes.

Investigate, reconcile, and resolve discrepancies in a timely manner.

Perform root cause analysis on inventory variances and implement corrective actions to prevent recurrence.

Ensure accurate inventory transactions related to receiving, production consumption, scrap, transfers, adjustments, and shipping activities.

Monitor inventory integrity across raw materials, work-in-process (WIP), finished goods, packaging, and MRO inventory.

• Purchasing
• Materials Management
• Inventory assistance
• Inventory assistance
• Material variances
• Provide regular reporting and analysis to plant leadership, operations, finance, and plant and corporate teams.
• Identify trends, risks, and opportunities through data analysis and recommend improvement actions.

• Establish clear expectations, accountability, and purchasing performance standards.
• Train employees on processes, transaction accuracy, and system requirements.
• Foster a culture of ownership, attention to detail, continuous learning, and operational excellence.

• Serve as the site subject matter expert for purchasing processes within the system.
• Ensure proper transaction flow and data integrity throughout the manufacturing process.
• Partner with IT, Finance, and Supply Chain teams to optimize system functionality and inventory controls.
• Support implementations, upgrades, testing, and process improvements as needed.
• Develop and maintain standard operating procedures (SOPs) related to purchasing management.

• Lead initiatives to improve purchasing accuracy, material flow, transaction discipline, and process efficiency.
• Utilize Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement methodologies to eliminate waste and reduce errors.
• Support plant initiatives related to productivity, cost reduction, and operational excellence.
• Participate in cross-functional projects to improve supply chain and manufacturing performance.

• Ensure compliance with company policies, accounting standards, audit requirements, and inventory control procedures.
• Support internal and external audits by providing accurate documentation and reporting.
• Maintain strong controls to minimize inventory loss, shrinkage, and financial risk.

• Bachelor’s degree, Operations Management, Business, Accounting, Logistics, or related field preferred.
• Equivalent combination of education and manufacturing experience may be considered.

• 5+ years of warehouse, supply chain, or manufacturing experience.
• 2+ years of leadership experience managing inventory teams or cycle counting functions.
• Experience with ERP systems such as SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, JD Edwards, Infor, Epicor, or similar systems required.

• Strong understanding of manufacturing inventory flows, material transactions, and inventory accounting principles.
• Advanced system…