Purchasing Specialist

About the Role:

Drive parts availability for air compressor manufacturing and field service operations. You'll manage internal parts requirements, coordinate service work orders, and support the purchasing team to keep production and technicians supplied. While you'll handle some external customer parts inquiries, the primary focus is internal: manufacturing, service, planning, and inventory. ERP and Excel are required to manage data, track WIP, and report on performance.

Responsibilities:

• Purchasing & Supply Chain Operations

• Process internal parts requests from manufacturing, service, and warehouse teams

• Look up air compressor parts and components using BOMs, technical catalogs, and engineering drawings

• Send purchase requests to buyers for parts needing to be sourced; expedite critical shortages

• Track open sales orders and open work orders to ensure parts availability for production and service

• Collaborate with Supply Chain and Parts Warehouse to develop processes for managing part shortages and supplier communication

• Issue parts to internal work orders and manufacturing orders for order completion

• Assist with inventory counts, cycle counts

• Maintain and follow up on all open sales orders tied to service jobs and internal demand

• Service & Manufacturing Support

• Receive work requests from internal teams and external customers, open work orders for Breakdown and Shop

• Maintain dashboard for all customer service activities from first call to work completion

• Assist Scheduling Supervisor with service technician work schedules to achieve response targets

• Track Work in Progress (WIP) to support decision-making and ensure work orders reach completion phase

• Participate in daily & weekly cross-functional meetings to advise on status of critical items and report on service performance metrics

• Proactively identify issues impacting production or service delivery and recommend mitigation steps

• Assist with service issues escalated to management attention

• Customer & Vendor Interface - Limited

• Answer correspondence for parts from external customers as needed: phone & email

• Process external customer invoices for parts & equipment when required

• Build and maintain relationships with key clients through status updates on work orders and parts availability

• Communicate order and parts status to internal stakeholders and, when necessary, customers

• Systems, Data & Process

• Daily ERP use required - sales orders, work orders, inventory transactions, receipts, invoicing, reporting

• Advanced Excel required - WIP tracking, open order reports, vendor performance, pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, cost/schedule analysis

• Understand current SOPs and suggest revisions to streamline purchasing and service workflows

• Develop comprehensive understanding of air compressor product lines and service offerings

• Participate in "on call" rotation schedule if needed to support after-hours production/service needs

• Expected to participate in training programs provided by ACS

Qualifications & Education Requirements:

• High school diploma or GED required
• 2-3 years' experience in purchasing, materials planning, scheduling, dispatching, parts, or supply chain within manufacturing
• ERP system experience required - order management, inventory, work orders, reporting
• Excel skills - data analysis, pivot tables, dashboard/report building
• Strong attention to detail and organizational skills; thrives in fast-paced environment with competing priorities
• Independent self-starter able to proactively prioritize requirements and manage multiple tasks to deadlines
• Solid analytical skills for cost and schedule analysis
• Proficient in full MS Office Suite
• Physical requirements: Use of hands/fingers; stand, walk, sit, climb, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch; lift/move up to 50 lbs, occasionally 100 lbs with assistance; climb equipment/ladders; work in areas of extreme temperatures
• Military experience with honorable discharge is a plus