Buyer – Castings, Forgings & Bar Stock

Position Summary

The Buyer is responsible for strategic sourcing, supplier development, cost management, and procurement of castings, forgings, bar stock, and machined components. The role ensures material availability, cost competitiveness, quality compliance, and supplier performance to support manufacturing and customer delivery commitments.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Sourcing

• Lead sourcing activities for steel castings, investment castings, sand castings, closed-die forgings, open-die forgings, and alloy bar stock.
• Develop and execute commodity sourcing strategies.
• Identify, evaluate, and onboard new suppliers to reduce risk and improve competitiveness.
• Conduct RFQ management, supplier benchmarking, and total cost analysis.

Supplier Development

• Build and maintain strategic relationships with foundries, forging suppliers, and steel mills.
• Conduct supplier capability assessments and audits.
• Drive supplier performance improvements in quality, cost, delivery, and responsiveness.
• Work with suppliers on capacity planning and lead-time reduction initiatives.

Technical Procurement

• Review engineering drawings, material specifications, and BOM requirements.
• Understand ASTM, ASME, DIN, EN, and customer-specific material standards.
• Collaborate with Engineering and Quality teams regarding manufacturing feasibility and supplier capabilities.
• Support alternate material and alternate source qualification projects.

Cost Management

• Negotiate annual contracts and price agreements.
• Monitor commodity trends for steel, alloy steel, stainless steel, duplex, super duplex, and specialty materials.
• Drive value engineering and cost reduction initiatives.
• Analyze purchase price variance (PPV) and develop mitigation plans.

Supply Risk Management

• Monitor supplier capacity and business continuity risks.
• Develop dual-source strategies for critical commodities.
• Proactively identify potential shortages and escalate risks.
• Maintain strategic inventory plans for long lead-time materials.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with:
• SCM & Planning
• SIOP Team
• Engineering
• Quality
• Manufacturing
• Project Management

Candidate Requirements

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, Metallurgical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or Supply Chain Management.

Experience

• 2-4 years of procurement/sourcing experience in manufacturing or engineered products.
• Minimum 2 years sourcing castings, forgings, and raw materials