ORGANIZATION: Miles, Inc. Elkhart, Indiana

JOB FUNCTION/PURPOSE

Purchase assigned materials at the lowest total cost for the ***, quality, and delivery required. Coordinate all supplier contacts and act as team leader on supplier related projects. Communicate promptly any material problems and lead in finding solutions. Establish accurate production materials standard costs and monitor them. Understand and maintain the computerized procurement system to provide accurate information to all dependent departments.

PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES/OBJECTIVES

Develop and maintain responsible suppliers for those commodities assigned to the Buyer. Know the key personnel at each major supplier, understand his production processes, and his internal systems. Establish Miles' position with these suppliers so that the company enjoys a preferred position if supply problems arise.
Purchase requirements of assigned materials at the lowest long-term cost for the ***, quality, and delivery required. Expedite materials when required and handle any rejections or other problems on materials purchased.
Obtain the lowest possible long-term cost through negotiation, *** bidding, and market and supplier knowledge. Analyze and evaluate quotations from potential suppliers. Aggressively seek and recommend cost savings possibilities based upon new sources, ***, improved systems, or new items.
Communicate problems to affected areas and the Manager of section. Lead project teams on supplier projects. Monitor, coordinate, and control supplier contacts with the company. Coordinate related purchases with using areas for purchase consolidation. Meet with sales representatives to evaluate services, products, and seek out cost reductions, quality improvements, and new products.
Provide accurate production materials standard costs which make up the majority of a product's direct manufacturing cost. Monitor standard costs throughout the year and work with the minimum goal being to achieve the target so divisions and products do not exceed budgets.
Understand the computerized procurement system and its relationship to the various interfacing systems. Maintain all purchasing data bases to ensure dependent departments have prompt, accurate information. Use generated reports and screens for control and purchasing decisions.
NATURE AND SCOPE

The Buyer reports to the Section Purchasing Manager. He is responsible for purchasing all assigned materials in the most economical sizes, compositions, quality, ***, and combination, while considering the total cost of usage, including internal labor. The Buyer's purchasing assignments may be grouped by commodity, division, or suppliers. A complex network of interdepartmental contacts is required. In-depth knowledge of suppliers is necessary, dictating travel to familiarize the Buyer with product and production processes, supplier order handling, shipping capabilities, and personnel. The Buyer directs the activities of the Purchasing Assistant assigned to him, and is expected to implement performance improvement plans for that Assistant as necessary. He must possess honesty and integrity as he is "Miles" to the suppliers with whom he deals. He must adhere in all respects to the General Purchasing Policies and Organization Manual.

KNOW-HOW

A B.S. or B.A. degree in any field is preferred. Purchasing or business experience is required as immediate effective performance is necessary. High human relations skills are a primary requirement as the Buyer must communicate effectively with all management levels both at his suppliers and within the company. He must be able to logically convince and persuade others in order to accomplish his objectives and negotiate effectively. He is expected to both lead and operate as a team member on projects, negotiations, and committees. He must be able to delegate to the Purchasing Assistant supporting him. Specialized skills required are (but not limited to) knowledge of business law, economics, negotiations, finance, materials requirement planning, computer operations, inventory control techniques, value analysis, forecasting, cost/price analysis, all internal systems impacting purchasing, construction and use of standard costs, production processes (internal and at the suppliers), accounting, markets impacting assigned products, and short and long range planning.

PROBLEM SOLVING

Many times a problem requires an immediate solution by the Buyer without access to the using department. The Buyer must be able to orient himself to that department's viewpoint and understand its needs to render a correct decision. Often a problem requires an immediate meeting between several disciplines. The Buyer must present the problem, the proposed solutions, and guide the discussion towards a conclusion. The Buyer must be able to recognize impending or potential problems and act to prevent reaction later. He must be inquisitive, able to recognize cost savings, improved quality opportunities, and decide how to accomplish them. Short range problem solving is generally accomplished on the basis of experience and know how while under a high degree of stress. His actions often are without any procedure or precedent and occasionally with limited facts. Long range accomplishments are performed under less stress but based again on experience and know how supplemented with extensive investigation and evaluation. It is expected that over time, when necessary, will be accepted as a part of the problem solving process.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Dimensions: The Buyer directly controls from $2,000,000 to $20,000,000 in purchases annually, depending on the actual assignment. The protection of profit contribution may be the same regardless of the dollars expended. The buyer is free to unilaterally act on individual purchases up to $50,000 without review by higher levels of management. He is free to select any one of several available suppliers for each type of material required. He is totally responsible and accountable for the performance of his selected suppliers, the procurement of his assigned commodities, and controlling the incremental costs of assigned materials. He is responsible for maintaining lowest overall costs since a dollar saved on purchased or internal labor costs equals a dollar of corporate gross profits. A major area of accountability is the establishment and monitoring of accurate production materials standard costs as this is essential to the budgets and profit plans of the divisions. He is held accountable for developing a sufficient number of suppliers to assure continuity of supply, effective ***, required quality and on-time deliveries. He is responsible for materials essential to the manufacture of virtually any or all product lines of the various divisions. Thus, he is instrumental in protecting the profitability of each of these divisions, and the impact to the corporation of proper performance is a primary one.

Name of Facility: East Jefferson General Hospital

City, State: Metairie, LA