Materials & Purchasing Planner

Applied Information, Inc. – Alpharetta, Georgia
Department: Production / Supply Chain / Operations
Reports Directly To: Director of Production

Position Summary

The Materials & Purchasing Planner is the primary owner of daily production planning and execution for Applied Information’s electronics manufacturing operations.

Although not titled as a Production Manager, this role runs day-to-day production planning, sets work order priorities, and directs the flow of work on the production floor in close coordination with the Director of Production and the Production Supervisor.

This position also serves as the sole Buyer and Materials Planner, responsible for ensuring that materials, components, and subassemblies are available to support the production plan.

This is a production-driven leadership role, not a logistics, freight, or import and export position. Success in this role requires hands-on experience running production schedules, releasing work orders, and reacting in real time to material and build constraints in an electronics manufacturing environment.

Key ResponsibilitiesProduction Planning and Execution Leadership (Primary Responsibility)

• Lead and run daily production planning, acting as the planning authority for the production floor.

• Develop, release, and adjust daily and weekly work orders based on material availability, production capacity, and customer delivery commitments.

• Set build priorities and production sequencing for the manufacturing team.

• Direct production flow to ensure maximum throughput and on-time completion.

• Actively resolve production blockers related to materials, bill of materials accuracy, or component constraints.

• Partner daily with the Director of Production and the Production Supervisor to manage output, staffing alignment, and schedule changes.

Materials Planning and Purchasing (Buyer and Planner Ownership)

• Serve as the only Buyer and Materials Planner for the organization.

• Convert production plans and material requirements planning signals into actionable purchase orders.

• Procure electronic components including printed circuit boards, integrated circuits, semiconductors, connectors, power supplies, antennas, enclosures, and assemblies.

• Manage long-lead-time, allocation-controlled, and high-risk components.

• Maintain planning parameters including supplier lead times, safety stock levels, and order quantities.

• Track end-of-life notifications, approved alternates, and substitutions in coordination with Engineering.

Production Floor Leadership (Without Direct Reports)

• Provide daily direction to production technicians regarding build priorities and sequencing.

• Lead daily production planning discussions and material readiness reviews.

• Coordinate with the Production Supervisor to ensure labor is aligned with the production plan.

• Escalate risks, constraints, and mitigation plans directly to the Director of Production.

Inventory and Production Control

• Balance inventory levels to support uninterrupted production while minimizing excess and obsolete inventory.

• Monitor material shortages, aging inventory, and inventory exposure risks.

• Ensure accurate enterprise resource planning system transactions for work orders, kits, receipts, and material issues.

• Support cycle counts and inventory accuracy initiatives.

Supplier and Cross-Functional Coordination

• Manage supplier relationships and delivery performance.

• Communicate production forecasts and demand changes to suppliers.

• Support new product introductions by ensuring material readiness.

• Participate in engineering change orders to ensure production continuity.

Systems and Process Discipline

• Maintain accurate production and purchasing data in enterprise resource planning and material requirements planning systems such as NetSuite, Epicor, SAP, or Oracle.

• Use Microsoft Excel and system reporting tools to manage production plans and shortages.

• Support compliance with International Organization for Standardization quality system requirements, such as ISO 9001 or ISO 13485, as applicable.

• Continuously improve production planning and materials execution processes.

Required QualificationsExperience

• Five to eight years of experience in production planning, materials planning, or buyer and planner roles within an electronics or hardware manufacturing environment.

• Demonstrated experience running daily production schedules and work orders.

• Experience acting as the production planning lead in a manufacturing operation.

• Strong hands-on experience using enterprise resource planning systems tied directly to production execution.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing, Engineering, or a related field

• (or equivalent hands-on experience)

Technical and Leadership Skills

• Strong understanding of:

• Production scheduling and work order execution

• Electronics bill of materials structures and revision control

• Material constraints and lead-time management

• Inventory control in a production environment

• Strong decision-making and prioritization skills.

• Comfortable directing production activity without formal people management authority.

• Confident, hands-on presence on the manufacturing floor.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in high-mix, low-volume electronics manufacturing.

• Familiarity with electronics assembly standards and processes.

• Certification from the Association for Supply Chain Management, such as Certified in Planning and Inventory Management or Certified Supply Chain Professional.

• Experience supporting manufacturing environments certified to International Organization for Standardization standards.

Key Performance Indicators

• Production schedule adherence

• Work order completion and manufacturing throughput

• Line stoppages and downtime caused by material shortages

• Inventory turns and reduction of excess and obsolete inventory

• Supplier on-time delivery performance

• Accuracy of material requirements planning output

Work Environment

• Onsite role supporting both office and manufacturing floor operations.

• Fast-paced, production-driven electronics manufacturing environment.

• Daily interaction with production leadership and manufacturing technicians.

Candidate Clarity StatementThis role runs daily production planning and execution. Candidates whose experience is limited to logistics, freight forwarding, import and export compliance, or supply chain analytics without direct production ownership will not be aligned with this position.