Buyer I

Chelten House Products, Inc. is a fourth-generation, family-owned, food industry manufacturer with facilities in Swedesboro, New Jersey. We are widely recognized for our commitment to creating the finest tasting pasta sauces, salad dressings, salsas, ketchup, and other sauces and blends.

What We Have:

• Competitive pay
• Benefits such as medical, vision, and dental 1st of the month after hire date
• Paid time off and paid holidays
• Annual performance-based bonus and annual performance review for potential merit increase
• Company-wide perks and employee appreciation events
• Supplemental benefits, including life insurance and 401k contributions
• Incentive-based Refer-a-Friend Program
• Team training sessions and advancement opportunities

What we need:

• We are looking for a Buyer to support the procurement strategy development and implementation for all assigned categories. This individual will ensure quality of materials, competitive pricing, and adherence to company policies and procurement processes. This role will be accountable for developing and maintaining a positive relationships with suppliers and oversight for vendor quality programs to meet our high food safety and quality standards.

What you will do:

• Manage inventory levels and demand reports to support production, achieve established targets and minimize obsolescence.
• Place purchase orders, confirming accurate pricing, quantity and availability of product.
• Purchase the highest quality merchandise from established supplier list
• Follow-up, expedite, delay or modify purchase orders as needed based upon inventory levels and scheduling changes
• Coordinate transportation with logistics
• Develop Strategic Supplier Relationships to drive value beyond cost, leveraging supplier capability to develop cost savings/value added initiatives
• Ensure consistent and accurate cost saving tracking to support the Supply chain targets
• Expand on an understanding of supply markets and cost drivers
• Support the commercialization process with product lifecycle management for assigned categories
• Support category strategies that effectively balance business unit requirements and ensure consistent and quality availability of supply
• Ensure all assigned contracts are executed timely and accurately
• Review product specifications, maintaining a working technical knowledge of the goods to be purchased
• Evaluate and monitor contract performance to ensure compliance with contractual obligations and to determine the need for changes
• Handle claims for damaged or non-conforming inventory in a timely manner with Vendors
• Follow orders from purchasing to invoice approval, tracking and documenting the entire process
• Work cross functionally within the organization, including Commercialization, Product Development, Engineering, Operations, and Quality
• Develop scenarios for cost savings, articulate key decisions and recommendations to Supply Chain Leadership team highlighting service, inventory and cost tradeoffs
• Analyze historical and forecasted usage to recommend annual contract volumes
• Manage slow moving and obsolete/end of product lifecycle activities for assigned categories in coordination with the warehouse and quality teams to identify and execute depletion strategies
• Leads continuous improvement projects for assigned categories
• Manage assigned categories throughout the entire supply chain and communicate risks or disruptions to Supply Chain leadership team
• Work with product development team to identify and approve new vendors

What you need:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Supply Chain, Operations Management, or Business required with related work experience or internships in food manufacturing OR equivalent years of experience
• Minimum of 1 year of related procurement, supply chain, or buying experience
• Food manufacturing and ingredient/packaging/indirect buying experience preferred, but will also consider manufacturing experience in other consumer packaged goods industries
• Previous experience with MRP systems is preferred
• Proficient in Microsoft Excel
• Business or Operations experience, with solid quantitative skills
• Ability to build strong supplier relationships and influence long-term supplier technology and resource allocation
• Negotiating skills, consistently achieves win-win outcome in negotiations
• Strong problem solving and analytical skills
• Ability to work independently, multi-task and prioritize under pressure
• Solid communication skills concentrated on data gathering, meeting facilitation and data dissemination
• Good organizational skills and the ability to prioritize workload
• Demonstrates the ability to create and manage cross functional relationships