Material Availability Analyst

Caterpillar; Chennai; On-site; INR 900,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid annual leave

Flexi leave

Medical and insurance

Job summary

Caterpillar is seeking a procurement and materials planning specialist in Chennai, India. The role focuses on coordinating material flow, planning, scheduling, and supplier collaboration to ensure timely availability of materials for production.

Responsibilities include developing procurement plans, monitoring inventories, and negotiating with suppliers to meet quality and delivery targets. This position requires onsite work as part of Caterpillar’s global manufacturing operations.

Qualifications

• Requires attention to detail and accuracy in all tasks.
• Basic understanding of accuracy importance and error consequences.
• Analytical thinking; ability to identify root causes and propose solutions.
• Basic understanding of distribution center roles and processes.
• Familiarity with forecasting concepts and demand planning.
• Knowledge of inventory management principles and reporting basics.
• Familiarity with MRP concepts and BOM usage.
• Problem-solving discipline and escalation practices.
• Understanding supplier management concepts and typical contractual terms.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate material flow within the manufacturing facility and transfer materials between inventory and production.
• Develop and execute material planning for a product line to meet timelines.
• Schedule and control release of materials; monitor plant and supplier inventories.
• Build and monitor procurement plans to align with business objectives.
• Track supplier performance and negotiate with suppliers to meet material requirements.

Skills

Material planning

Supplier negotiation

Inventory management

Scheduling

Analytical thinking

Job description

Job Summary

Responsible for scheduling, planning, and oversight of material procurement, production, and delivery.

What You Will Do:

• Coordinating flow of materials within the manufacturing facility. Coordinating transfer of materials (premium freight) to and from inventory or warehouse.


• Developing and executing material planning for a product line. Ensuring that all material requirements for assigned programs are satisfied within the allocated time frame.


• Scheduling and controlling the release of materials. Monitoring material inventory in the plant, in the warehouse, and by critical suppliers.


• Building up and following up procurement plan realization to ensure they align with business objectives.


• Tracking and analyzing supplier performance metrics. Collaborating and negotiating with supplier to deliver materials per requirements.

What You Have:

Accuracy and Attention to Detail: Understanding the necessity and value of accuracy; ability to complete tasks with high levels of precision.

Level Basic Understanding:

• Explains the importance of accuracy in own function or unit.


• Identifies tasks or outputs that require accuracy and detail-level attention.


• Identifies the procedures for making sure that results are mistake-free.


• Describes consequences of errors within own unit or function.

Analytical Thinking: Knowledge of techniques and tools that promote effective analysis; ability to determine the root cause of organizational problems and create alternative solutions that resolve these problems.

Level Basic Understanding:

• Names specific tools or techniques that can be used to support the analytical thinking process.


• Describes specific software applications or products used for business analytics.


• Gives examples of how analytical thinking has been used to resolve problems.


• Helps others research and learn more about business analytics tools and applications.

Distribution Center Management: Knowledge of distribution center management; ability to operate a warehouse or distribution center that handles the flow of goods from supplier to production to customer.

Level Basic Understanding:

• Describes the role of a distribution center in the supply chain.


• Cites examples of disruptions to the distribution process and common resolutions to these.


• Explains basic performance measurements for a distribution center.


• Demonstrates understanding of the processes for managing an inventory distribution center.

Forecasting: Knowledge of forecasting tools, approaches and practices; ability to determine product demand and estimate production requirements and loads.

Level Basic Understanding:

• Identifies common forecasting tools and techniques.


• Describes the roles and responsibilities of demand forecasting staff.


• Explains sources of information for forecasting demand.


• Names several forecasting indexes or measurements.

Inventory Management - MFG: Knowledge of processes and methods of inventory management; ability to effectively manage local or distributed inventories of raw materials, work-in-progress and finished goods.

Level Basic Understanding:

• Identifies basic tools and approaches for inventory management.


• Describes basic functions and reports needed for inventory management.


• Cites examples of seasonal considerations and adjustments to planned versus actual inventory.


• Describes basic benchmarks for inventory management.

Manufacturing Requirements Planning (MRP): Knowledge of the processes, practices and systems used in manufacturing requirements planning (MRP); ability to optimize planning for manufacturing cycles and ensure capacity and materials availability.

Level Basic Understanding:

• Describes basic concepts of materials and capacity management processes and procedures.


• Describes product life cycle and associated MRP cycle.


• Identifies parameters and considerations used in making decisions about production runs.


• Describes the use of bills of materials and other documentation needed to provide supplies.

Problem Solving: Knowledge of approaches, tools, techniques for recognizing, anticipating, and resolving organizational, operational or process problems; ability to apply knowledge of problem solving appropriately to diverse situations.

Level Basic Understanding:

• Explains the value of a disciplined approach to problem solving.


• Describes problem reporting and escalation practices.


• Utilizes accepted procedures for problem analysis and resolution.


• Identifies key aspects of problem-solving techniques used in own area.

Supplier Management - MFG: Knowledge of processes and methods to effectively manage business relationships and transactions with suppliers of raw materials or product components; ability to apply related knowledge, experience and skills into real practice.

Level Basic Understanding:

• Describes the typical tasks associated with using and managing suppliers.


• Defines common terms and conditions of agreements with suppliers.


• Explains the organizational process for soliciting and selecting suppliers.


• States the roles and responsibilities of one's own and suppliers' staff.

Additional Information:

This role requires to work in shift either 4:00 PM to 12:30 AM or 6 PM to 2:30 AM. Caterpillar is not currently hiring individuals for this position who now or in the future require sponsorship for employment visa status; however, as a global company, Caterpillar offers many job opportunities outside of India which can be found through our employment website at www.caterpillar.com/careers.

What You Will Get:

Our goal at Caterpillar is for you to have a rewarding career. Our teams are critical to the success of our customers who build a better world. Here you earn more than just wage, because we value your performance, we offer a total rewards package that provides day one benefits along with the potential of a variable bonus. Additional benefits include paid annual leave, flexi leave, medical and insurance (prorated based upon hire date).

About Caterpillar

Caterpillar Inc. is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. For nearly 100 years, we've been helping customers build a better, more sustainable world and are committed and contributing to a reduced-carbon future. Our innovative products and services, backed by our global dealer network, provide exceptional value that helps customers succeed.

This position requires working onsite five days a week. Visa Sponsorship is not available for this position.

Caterpillar is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants of any age are encouraged to apply.

There's more to work at Caterpillar than just the work itself. We hire smart, friendly people and it shows in our culture.

We hold ourselves to high standards and make sure our values of integrity, excellence, teamwork, commitment and sustainability come to life in the way we work. We make sure our employees feel continuously challenged while also supported. We provide professional growth opportunities, including leadership programs. We celebrate the diversity of our team, while also working together as one Caterpillar.

Our culture, like everything at our company, is made possible by each employee’s contribution. Person by person, we create the environment we work in, and we are proud of the Caterpillar we’ve built.