Responsibilities Include:Sourcing for New Products and Risk Mitigation:Partnering with Product Design and Engineering to understand material and component requirements in detail.  Utilizing that in-depth understanding to investigate alternatives for commercial supply, including make/buy proposals and risk mitigation strategies.Identifying and assessing candidate suppliers for materials, components and services.Preparing and evaluating requests for proposal (RFPs) and requests for quotation (RFQs).  Generating recommendations for supplier selection that balance operational and commercial considerations.Vendor Management: Ensuring that suppliers provide raw materials on-time and within specification to align with our production and inventory management plans.Tracking vendor performance in the areas of quality, delivery and cost and driving vendor improvement plans.Negotiating commercial terms and resolving issues with suppliers including material defects and supply disruptions.Identifying and pursuing opportunities for improvement in production purchasing and logistics.Supply Chain Planning: Collaborating with Demand Planning, Production and Customer Service to coordinate material purchases and to pursue emerging market opportunities.Providing analytical support for production scheduling, inventory management and order fulfillment strategies.Exploring transportation modes, order quantities, lead times and replenishment triggers to optimize tradeoffs between time, carrying cost, inventory risk and production efficiency.Leveraging a deep understanding of which business processes can be implemented through Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and which processes should remain offline.Continuous Improvement: Soliciting and analyzing feedback from internal and external stakeholders to drive improvements in supply chain performance.Partnering with Quality, Production and Engineering to identify the root cause of raw material quality issues and working cross-functionally to propose and implement solutions that uphold quality, delivery and cost performance.Generating and assessing proposals for supply chain improvements including changes in suppliers, commercial terms, buying patterns and inventory management to support business growth.