Strategic Materials Lead: Inventory & SIOP Excellence

Sterling St James LLC; Rockford (IL); On-site; USD 75,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Sterling St James LLC in Rockford, IL seeks a Materials Lead to oversee production material planning, procurement, and inventory control for our precision aerospace manufacturing operations. The role collaborates with Operations, Production, Engineering, Quality, Program Management, and Finance to execute the SIOP process and drive continuous improvement.

Responsibilities include developing material plans, managing supplier relationships, and ensuring accurate ERP/MRP transactions while

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Operations, Business, Engineering, or related field.
• 3-5 years of experience in materials management, supply chain, purchasing, or production planning.
• Experience in aerospace, defense, precision machining, or manufacturing.
• Strong ERP/MRP experience (Epicor, Infor, SAP, Oracle, or equivalent).
• Strong analytical and Excel skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute production material plans aligned with customer demand and master production schedules.
• Manage MRP recommendations and ensure timely release of purchase orders and manufacturing orders.
• Analyze excess, obsolete, and slow-moving inventory and develop reduction plans.
• Establish inventory policies including safety stock and reorder points.
• Negotiate pricing, lead times, and supplier agreements.
• Develop strategic supplier relationships focused on quality, cost, delivery, and responsiveness.
• Coordinate daily material availability with production scheduling.
• Lead shortage meetings and establish recovery plans.
• Support engineering changes and material transitions.
• Ensure material transactions are completed accurately within the ERP system.
• Lead Productivity Projects focused on supplier performance improvement and PPV savings.
• Improve inventory turns and cash utilization.
• Reduce supplier lead times.
• Improve supplier on-time delivery.
• Standardize planning processes across locations.

Skills

Analytical skills

Excel skills

Negotiation skills

Problem-solving

Communication skills

Organizational skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Operations, Business, Engineering, or related field

Tools

Epicor

Infor

SAP

Oracle

Job description

Sterling St James LLC in Rockford, IL seeks a Materials Lead to oversee production material planning, procurement, and inventory control for our precision aerospace manufacturing operations. The role collaborates with Operations, Production, Engineering, Quality, Program Management, and Finance to execute the SIOP process and drive continuous improvement.

Responsibilities include developing material plans, managing supplier relationships, and ensuring accurate ERP/MRP transactions while