Product Availability Specialist

Objective :

The Product Availability Specialist is responsible for general duties surrounding the procurement of inventory for the company, including demand forecasting, purchasing requirements planning, purchase order entry, control of inventory shortages and surpluses, vendor communications, vendor returns tracking, vendor performance tracking, and shipping discrepancy resolution. Additional duties may include work on special projects and purchasing activities for various office needs. This person will interface regularly with vendors and other ADC teams and will work under limited supervision with regular use of discretion and independent judgement.

Responsibilities :

• Monthly purchasing process - which includes but not limited to: filter large orders, forecast analysis, analyze blanket orders, check inventory in different locations, analyze adjusted forecasts, adjust parts that filter through VAS, print and review planning reports, enter purchase orders, review months on hand and adjust order accordingly, cash flow numbers and send orders to vendors.
• Review daily stock status reports to check item allocations, expedites, and backorders
• Prepare vendor report cards
• Expedites on low level and back ordered items - enter expedite purchase order if needed
• Assist with the launch of new parts, duties include but are not limited to; initial setup of parts in various databases, uploading forecast in forecasting system, create sample and initial stocking order (ISO), provide traffic coordinator with ISO ship date, enter any special notes in business system, At the time of launch ensuring inventory is available to sell to our customers.
• Work with vendors to ensure they abide by contractual and non-contractual procurement terms such as lead times, acknowledgement of orders, shipping terms, etc.
• Update business systems as needed, examples being, order confirmations, shipping documents, notepads detailing pertinent information, etc.
• Use open PO reports to check estimated ship dates to customers (ESD)
• Assist with the procurement of general office supplies
• Assist with resolving receiving and inventory discrepancies, ship holds, vendor returns
• Attend team meetings, cross team meeting and best practice meetings
• Assist with purchasing company logo items
• Communicate with vendors and internal customers on a daily basis via email, chat, online/internet meeting tools, phone
• Vendor meetings including but not limited to: preparing reports for conference calls, in house meetings, travel, etc.
• Prepare, distribute, review monthly/quarterly projects such as ABC analysis, backup inventory, excess inventory, vendor return and CDL spreadsheets, etc.
• Work with the team to help improve our processes.

Qualifications :

• Minimum of high school education or equivalent required
• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration or equivalent degree preferred
• Minimum 4 years’ experience in either procurement, demand planning, forecasting or supply chain management required
• Proficiency in MS Excel and Outlook required
• Proficiency in MS Teams preferred
• Experience with Demand Solutions, Epicor and purchasing and forecasting software preferred
• Experience in a catalog or retail operation focused on inventory control preferred
• Familiarity with ADC products and understanding of Product Availability processes is a plus