As an Operational Purchaser, you step in after the negotiation phase. The supplier is selected, agreements are in place — and now it’s up to you to make sure everything runs as planned. You are fully in charge of the operational relationship with your suppliers and act as the central link between suppliers, planning, manufacturing and other internal stakeholders.
You ensure material availability by placing and managing purchase orders, aligning deliveries with production planning and proactively steering suppliers on performance. You are in the driver’s seat until issues are resolved and deliveries are secured.
Key Responsibilities
Place, manage and monitor purchase orders to ensure timely availability of raw materials and components
Coordinate and follow up on deliveries in close alignment with production and factory planning
Act as the primary operational contact for suppliers: you direct, challenge and support them where needed
Proactively communicate with internal stakeholders such as demand planning, manufacturing and logistics
Make purchasing decisions with commercial insight, balancing logistics performance, cost and total cost of ownership
Identify risks, bottlenecks and deviations early and take ownership to resolve them
Drive continuous improvement in purchasing and supply chain processes by identifying root causes and proposing structural improvements
Ensure accurate administration and data quality in SAP / ERP systems
