Buyer/Planner

Build a career powered by innovations that matter! At Novanta, our innovations power technology products that are transforming healthcare and advanced manufacturing—improving productivity, enhancing people’s lives and redefining what’s possible. We create for our global customers engineered components and sub-systems that deliver extreme precision and performance for a range of mission-critical applications—from minimally invasive surgery to robotics to 3D metal printing.

Novanta is one global team with over 26 offices located in The Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Looking for a great place to work? You have found it with a culture that embraces teamwork, collaboration and empowerment. Come explore Novanta.

Position Details Summary
This job is a specialized position where a plethora of challenges awaits. We are seeking a motivated Buyer / Planner to create schedules and coordinate materials to build our products on-time, at optimal cost and at the highest level of quality. The role includes evaluation and analysis of data, resolving issues with inventory (materials shortages and excess), and implementing countermeasures to avoid recurrence. The position is also responsible for establishing a supply and demand balance that cares for our customers while achieving internal business goals.

Primary Responsibilities
• Manage vendors to ensure provided materials meet quality and delivery standards
• Direct support of the factory, ensuring continuous supply of product 
• Resolve and countermeasure line-down situations
• Work directly with purchasing / procurement team to ensure best practices and greatest leverage in sourcing from low cost region sourcing, supplier assessment and management
• Support and sustain Materials Lean Conversion by implementing VMI, Kanban, Stocking Agreements, just-in-time, postponement and other materials strategies to reduce inventory while improving delivery to our customers
• Manage the control of inventory through cycle-counts and root cause analysis of discrepancies
• Participate and initiate continuous improvement through use of Novanta Business System lean tools 
• Establish and maintain materials 5S (Kanban card management, labeling, Oracle audits, etc)
• Establish, maintain and adhere to Buyer / Planner standard work, and provide training to others on the same (as applicable) 

General Tasks
• Strict compliance with the quality, occupational safety and environmental regulations.
• Implementation of the instructions of the quality / environmental management representative and the occupational safety specialist.

Required Experience, Education, Skills, Training and Competencies
• 1 to 3 years of related experience
• Proven ability to problem solve complex issues that arise from inventory.
• High level of proficiency in Excel (advanced formulas, pivots, if/then)
• Self-starter who seeks out ways to improve processes and drive standard work
• Ability to be effective in a fast paced, metric driven environment
• Solid understanding of materials flow and inventory signals (MRP, Kanban, Min/Max)
• Excellent verbal and written communication (role is vendor and internal customer-facing)
• Bachelor’s degree business; manufacturing supply chain or directly related field a plus
• Experience with ERP system fundamentals
• Demonstrated ability to be a Continuous Improvement change agent a must
Preferred:
• Experience working directly in mechanical, electrical or engineering environments
• Knowledge of lean manufacturing principles and tools (Kaizens, improvement workshops, etc.), and continuous improvement techniques
• Use of Oracle (R12) 
 
Travel Requirements
• Less than 10%

Physical Requirements
• None

Compensation and Benefits
• The base pay for this position ranges from $72,976 up to $94,637 depending on the geographic market.
• Dependent on the position offered, annual bonusses and other forms of compensation may be provided as part of the compensation package.
• Novanta supports all aspects of your life’s needs. This position provides a full range of medical, financial, and other benefits to make your quality of life better.
 

Novanta is proud to be an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action workplace. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, military and veteran status, disability, genetics, or any other category protected by federal law or Novanta policy.

Please call +1 781-266-5700 if you need a disability accommodation for any part of the employment process.