Purchasing Agent (Service)

Panasonic Automotive North America; Farmington Hills (MI); On-site; USD 65,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Great Medical/Dental Benefits

Annual Bonus Program

Educational Assistance

Job summary

Panasonic Automotive North America is seeking a procurement professional to manage service repair and remanufacturing parts planning, purchasing, cost analysis, and supplier management. The role emphasizes customer-facing material status communications and cross-functional collaboration to support repair/remanufacturing materials strategies.

You will lead PO placement, supplier negotiations, and pricing analysis, while monitoring supplier performance, delivery, and budget adherence.

Qualifications

• Four-year college degree in management or related field with 1+ year purchasing/supply chain experience.
• Proven experience in materials analytics.
• Excellent negotiation and communication skills.
• Ability to build relationships with suppliers and internal teams.
• Automotive industry purchasing experience strongly desired.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and Windows databases.

Responsibilities

• Analyze demand and create short-term forecasts to plan coverage and issue POs.
• Coordinate with program management and engineering to ensure on-time deliveries.
• Monitor product lifecycles and purchase trends for demand analysis.
• Collaborate with suppliers and Service Division to improve performance.
• Attend weekly customer, care, and factory meetings to address issues.

Skills

Negotiation

Communication

Materials analytics

Microsoft Office Suite

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

Microsoft Office Suite

Job description

Overview

Responsible for Service repair and remanufacturing parts planning and purchasing materials, cost and price analysis, cost control, supplier problem solving, negotiation, purchase order placement, long-term contracts, supplier quality, supplier delivery, forecasting, engineering change implementation, and supplier discipline. This role involves Customer facing material status communications. KPI/Metric creation, tracking, root cause identification and resolution. May lead cross-functional teams to support Company's Repair/Remanufacturing Materials strategies.

Overview

Responsible for Service repair and remanufacturing parts planning and purchasing materials, cost and price analysis, cost control, supplier problem solving, negotiation, purchase order placement, long-term contracts, supplier quality, supplier delivery, forecasting, engineering change implementation, and supplier discipline. This role involves Customer facing material status communications. KPI/Metric creation, tracking, root cause identification and resolution. May lead cross-functional teams to support Company's Repair/Remanufacturing Materials strategies.

Responsibilities

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

• Analyzes customer demand and creates short term forecast considering repairability and available shelf stock to plan coverage for customer demand at 98% on time to fill date. Issue Purchase orders to direct suppliers and factories and negotiation/problem solve to avoid late deliveries. Analyze inventory for obsolete and scrap planning. Monitor and report planned purchases to budget.
• Coordinates with program management and engineering to identify finished goods and repair parts needed for service are delivered on time.
• Monitors life cycle of product to select trend used for demand analysis.
• Works closely with suppliers and other Service Division members to facilitate and improve the parts supply and overall performance of Service.
• Adheres to guidelines to procure customer requirements for repair parts for Reman units, and Float Stock as determined by the customer.
• Participates in cost and pricing analysis, including collection and monitoring of cost for labor and parts to repair and core loss.
• Interfaces and reports service related items to internal departments for any issues with shipments, returns, field failures, etc.
• Monitors purchase orders for payment processing and works with finance to ensure invoices are submitted and processed in accordance with payment terms.
• Monitors and verifies part number revisions, delivery dates, quantity counts and prices to ensure accuracy.
• Required to attend weekly Customer meetings to report PO status and support any Action Items.
• Required to attend weekly Customer Care meetings for the Customer to learn and advise Customer of new developments.
• Required to attend Factory meetings to resolve any delivery issues in advance of due dates.
• Advises the internal group of new Customer requirements. Administers contacts/purchase orders from Placement to completion.
• Analyzes supplier performance using appropriate rating system. Ensure customer scorecards are accurate and any impacts are reduced in advance of issue. Resolves purchase order/contract differences and quality problems with suppliers.
• Expedites deliveries with logistic suppliers and conducts follow-up procedures when necessary.
• Provides input into preparation of a Service department budget. Resolves payment problems with suppliers.
• Verifies that purchasing practices comply with established laws, policies, and ethical principles.
• Participates in developing forecasts in the light of economic trends and conditions that affect procurement.
• Ensures that materials are distributed to user departments. Responsible for routing and tracing inbound.
• Organizes, controls the storage of material and resolves delivery/receiving problems.
• Determines sources of and reconciles inventory discrepancies.

Must Haves

• Four-year college degree in management, business, education, operations, industrial or a related field and one (1) year related purchasing/supply chain experience or a minimum of three (3) years related purchasing/supply chain experience required or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Proven experience in materials analytics.
• Must have excellent negotiation and communication skills.
• Must be able to develop/manage effective relationships with suppliers and internal departments.
• Automotive Industry purchasing experience strongly desired.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Windows based databases as appropriate to the position and assignment.

Benefits & Perks - We're All About You

• Great Medical/Dental Benefits
• Company-Matched 401K Retirement Savings
• Annual Bonus Program
• Educational Assistance
• Relaxed Dress Code
• PASATalks Speaker Summits
• Leadership & Mentorship Programs
• High5 Reward Recognition Program
• Onsite Happy Hours
• And many more benefits & perks found within the 'Our Culture' section…

Who We Are

At Panasonic, our technology and engineering expertise delivers innovation across diverse industries. It's all about the consumer experience and making sure that we find ways to enhance that experience, either through audio enhancements or through safety enhancements inside the vehicle. Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America (PASA) is an industry-leading global supplier to Automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM's) for infotainment systems and advanced connected car solutions. Our clients include Ford, GM, Chrysler, Daimler, Fiat, Tesla, Honda, Toyota.

We Take Opportunity Seriously

Panasonic is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to: race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, genetic information, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristics protected by law. All qualified individuals are required to perform the essential functions of the job with our without reasonable accommodations. Due to the high volume of responses, we will only be able to respond to candidates of interest. All candidates must have valid authorization to work in the U.S. Thank you for your interest in Panasonic Automotive Systems of America.