Ken’s Foods in Marlborough, MA is adding to our team! 

Come join an amazing team in our state-of-the-art facility located in Marlborough, MA.  We are looking for A+ talent to deliver our brand of dressings, marinades and BBQ sauces.  This is a great opportunity to grow your career in procurement!

Ken’s Foods is a family owned business that takes pride in its roots.  Ken's Foods, Inc was incorporated in 1958, and currently has plant operations in Marlborough, Massachusetts, McDonough, Georgia, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Lebanon, Indiana.  In addition, Ken's employs over 1000 employees nationally. To this day, Ken’s is still owned by the same family, as they continue their tradition of flavor obsession.  Joining Ken’s Foods is becoming part of an enthusiastic team.  Whether you’re in our state-of-the-art facilities or in our corporate headquarters, you’ll enjoy a warm company culture and get all the tools you will need to succeed in your career. 

SUMMARY

This New role contributes to Ken’s Foods success by developing and standardizing procurement processes while simultaneously building solid relationships with both internal business partners and external suppliers.  This Buyer will identify, develop, and implement best practices that will provide insight into business trends to help the Ken’s Procurement team drive suppliers to higher levels of performance, as well as establish improved processes across Ken’s cross-functional departments to effectively manage changing requirements.   This Buyer will backfill Operational Buying responsibilities for Packaging or Raw Materials, on an as needed basis.  This Buyer will also manage at-risk commodities across all four Plants, as directed.  All Ken’s Employees are accountable for creating and maintaining a culture of Safety and assuring a safe work environment.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Responsibilities and essential job functions include, but are not limited to, the following:

Lean Process Improvements/Data Analysis

• Regularly interface with cross-functional Business Partners to drive value across the Supply Chain
• Streamline procurement processes (including with Suppliers and at the Plants)
• Perform value engineering activities for existing contract products/services
• Develop standard process to manage at-risk, high priority material constraints across all four plants (i.e. establish daily/weekly trackers, create demand forecasts, etc.)
• Develop standard process for New Customer Launches to determine the impact to Materials
• • Work with Operations Purchasing to identify unique/volume driving materials
  • Work with Sourcing to understand new formula requirements that impact existing materials
  • Work with Supply Chain and Sales to determine pipeline and on-going requirements of New Product Launches
• Improve and manage Discontinuation process and communications (cross-functional)
• • Identify unique/volume driving materials
  • Develop discontinuation/obsolete plan and determine monetary impact
• Consolidate and standardize processes/reports (Operations/Sourcing and Ingredients/Packaging), including but not limited to:
• • Quarterly Inventory results
  • Unit Pricing/Freight Changes across Ingredients, Packaging
    • Identify areas of improvement that will benefit from a standardized process and/or increased data analysis (i.e. National Account demand forecasting)
    • Support other projects or processes, as directed

  • Procure to Pay/Plant Support

    • Responsible for replenishment of materials, building trucks from various supplier locations, while monitoring lead times, order quantities, storage requirements, and shelf life (as applicable)
    • Determines appropriate order quantities to balance demand and financial resources (i.e. available warehouse footprint)
    • Ensures seamless delivery of goods (and services) to Ken’s; managing inventory for zero out of stocks
    • Coordinate “Collect/Backhaul” Truckloads with the Logistics Department and identify/execute opportunities to streamline Freight costs, as needed
    • Ensure that material pricing/freight costs are accurately invoiced per Contracts and Pricing Agreements
    • Review the Daily Exception report and expedite materials as needed to cover Plant production, as needed
    • Review the weekly Inventory Discrepancy report and work with Plant(s) to adjust, as needed
    • Manage/oversee reverse logistics; work with Quality, Plant, and Supplier in the event of a material issue (Return to Vendor, oversee reimbursement process)
    • Be adept at crisis management and have excellent multi-tasking skills when issues arise involving any materials used in production
    • Primary contact for Plant Personnel for any material issues; available 24/7 to handle material issues that could cause potential Plant downtime
    • Facilitate the transfer of materials from Plant to Plant, as needed, while monitoring the formula transitions between Plants
    • Minimize obsolescence, tracking discontinuations and slow-moving materials (review short-shelf life report and “dead” inventory report)
    • Manage and facilitate quarterly inventory responsibilities
    • Manage invoice discrepancies with Accounting via DocStar
    • Back-up for other Materials/Plants, as needed
    • Manage item creation and ongoing data integrity maintenance (LT, SS, MOQ, ROQ, Shelf-Life, Pricing, COO, etc.), as needed
    • Manage Supplier set-up and on-going maintenance, as applicable

    Supplier Management

    • Initiate and facilitate Supplier Business Reviews to drive improvement and manage suppliers
    • Execute and make recommendations on Supplier and Ken’s Key Performance Indicators
    • Attend and report on audits with QA manager for critical and at-risk Suppliers
    • Primary contact for Supplier issues
    • Manage corrective action requests

    Contract Management/Sourcing Support

    • Ensure that volume, pricing, delivery terms and conditions are followed, including accurate freight costs
    • Drive and manage “off the shelf” purchases
    • Support buys where Suppliers are established, and minimal modification/development is needed
    • Identify/execute against savings opportunities, as applicable (i.e. volume tiered pricing, freight differentials, alternative Suppliers)
    • Provide input into the strategic sourcing process (including document collection, regulatory, sample review, financial audit, etc.) and make recommendations, partnering with Sourcing suppliers and Ken’s Foods’ Plants.

Education and/or Experience

• Four-year degree in related field preferred
• 3-8 years with Purchasing, Supply Chain Management, and/or Inventory Management experience (8+ years for Senior Buyer)
• 3-8 years in Direct Buying, Supplier Management, and/or Project Management experience (8+ years for Senior Buyer)
• 3+ years Cross-functional Team Management Experience (8+ years for Senior Buyer)
• Highly proficient in the Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, and PowerPoint)
• Syspro or other ERP System experience a plus

SKILLS AND ABILITIES

• Proficient in managing supplier performance and capable of driving continuous improvement with existing suppliers and Ken’s Foods’ Plants
• Highly proficient in data analysis, problem solving, and decision making
• Proficient in applying broad based business disciplines/knowledge to support Procurement activities
• Highly proficient in trouble shooting data integrity issues within Procurement system(s)
• Proficient in enhancing productivity and effectiveness using Supply Chain/Procurement tools and techniques
• Ability to travel up to 10% (primarily for Supplier Meetings)
• Ability to work on site at Ken's Foods (this is not a remote position)