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MRO PURCHASING SPECIALIST
Department: Procurement
Reports To: Material Manager
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
Employment Type: Full-Time
FLSA Status: Salary Non-Exempt
Position Summary
The MRO Purchasing Specialist is responsible for the timely, cost-effective, and compliant procurement of maintenance, repair, and operating (MRO) materials and services that support safe, reliable chemical manufacturing operations. This role partners closely with Maintenance, Engineering, Operations, Reliability, Safety, Finance, and storeroom personnel to ensure critical parts and services are available when needed while optimizing inventory, supplier performance, total cost, and working capital.
The position manages related MRO purchases negotiation from request for proposal requisition through confirmation order to delivery and invoice resolution, with particular attention to plant-critical equipment, product specification, planned outages, emergency repairs, hazardous-area requirements, and site procurement controls.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Purchasing and Order Management
- Purchase MRO materials, spare parts, consumables, equipment, rentals, and repair services in accordance with approved requisitions, specifications, budgets, and delegated authority.
- Create, issue, expedite, revise, and close purchase orders; confirm pricing, quantities, delivery dates, freight terms, lead times, warranties, and documentation requirements.
- Support urgent and after-hours plant needs by rapidly sourcing critical items while maintaining required approvals and transaction records.
- Coordinate purchasing for preventive maintenance, capital projects, turnarounds, shutdowns, and outage work to reduce schedule and production risk.
- Resolve order discrepancies, damaged shipments, returns, credits, invoice exceptions, and three-way match issues with suppliers, Accounts Payable, and internal stakeholders.
Strategic Sourcing and Supplier Management
- Comply with procurement policy through solicit competitive quotations, analyze total cost, negotiate commercial terms, and recommend sourcing decisions based on price, quality, service, risk, and lifecycle value.
- Develop and maintain qualified supplier relationships for mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, piping, safety, laboratory, and general industrial categories.
- Monitor supplier performance, including on-time delivery, quality, responsiveness, lead-time reliability, and corrective actions.
- Identify opportunities for consolidation, standardization, blanket purchase orders, consignment, vendor-managed inventory, and alternative sourcing.
- Maintain awareness of market conditions, supply constraints, obsolete items, and single-source risks; develop mitigation plans for critical materials.
Inventory and Storeroom Support
- Partner with Maintenance, Reliability, and storeroom teams to establish and maintain appropriate min/max levels, reorder points, critical-spare designations, and stocking strategies.
- Review usage, excess, obsolete, inactive, and duplicate inventory and recommend actions that improve availability while reducing working capital.
- Ensure accurate item descriptions, manufacturer and part numbers, units of measure, lead times, supplier records, and other purchasing master data.
- Support cycle counts, physical inventory activities, material reservations, and investigation of inventory variances as needed.
Chemical Manufacturing Compliance and Safety
- Purchase materials and services that meet approved engineering specifications, site standards, applicable codes, and hazardous-location requirements.
- Obtain and retain required documentation such as safety data sheets, certificates of analysis or conformance, material test reports, insurance certificates, warranties, and technical data.
- Support contractor and supplier compliance with site safety, environmental, security, and quality requirements, including prequalification and onboarding processes.
- Follow purchasing controls, authorization limits, segregation-of-duties requirements, contract terms, and applicable regulatory and corporate policies.
- Actively support the site's safety culture and promptly raise concerns involving product substitution, counterfeit parts, specification deviations, or supply risks.
Systems, Analytics, and Continuous Improvement
- Use the ERP/EAM or CMMS system to manage requisitions, purchase orders, supplier records, master data material, receipts, and purchasing reports.
- Track and communicate key performance indicators such as purchase price variance, cost savings, supplier delivery, emergency buys, open orders, stockouts, and inventory value.
- Maintain complete and auditable purchasing records and support internal, customer, and regulatory audits.
- Participate in cross-functional improvement projects involving procure-to-pay, inventory optimization, maintenance planning, and supplier quality.
Qualifications
Required
- Associate degrees in supply chain, business, procurement, operations, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
- Three or more years of purchasing, materials, inventory, or supply chain experience, preferably supporting manufacturing, maintenance, or industrial operations.
- Working knowledge of MRO materials and services, purchasing practices, supplier negotiation, inventory controls, and procure-to-pay processes.
- Experience using an ERP, EAM, or CMMS platform and proficiency with Microsoft Excel and other Microsoft 365 applications.
- Ability to interpret purchase specifications, bills of material, technical descriptions, and vendor quotations.
- Strong organizational, analytical, communication, and problem-solving skills with the ability to manage competing priorities and urgent plant needs.
- Demonstrated attention to detail, sound judgment, ethical conduct, and commitment to safety and compliance.
- Proven SAP proficiency is must have
Preferred
- Bachelor's degree in supply chain management, business, engineering, or related discipline.
- Experience in chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, food, refining, or other process manufacturing environments.
- Familiarity with mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, piping, valves, pumps, motors, PPE, and industrial safety supplies.
- Professional certification such as CPSM, CPIM, CSCP, or equivalent.
Core Competencies
- Customer and operational focus
- Commercial judgment and negotiation
- Planning, prioritization, and follow-through
- Supplier relationship management
- Data accuracy and analytical thinking
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Continuous improvement
- Safety and compliance mindset
Work Environment and Physical Requirements
This position is in both an office setting and an operating chemical manufacturing facility. The employee may occasionally enter production, maintenance, warehouse, laboratory, and outdoor areas where noise, temperature variation, moving equipment, chemicals, and other industrial hazards may be present. Required personal protective equipment and all site safety rules must be followed.
- Ability to sit and work at a computer for extended periods and regularly communicate by phone, email, and in person.
- Ability to walk through plant and warehouse areas, climb stairs, and inspect or identify materials as needed.
- Ability to lift and carry up to [insert site requirement] pounds occasionally.
- Ability to respond to urgent procurement needs outside normal business hours when business conditions require.
- Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Disclaimer
This job description summarizes the primary responsibilities and qualifications of the position. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties. Responsibilities may change based on business needs. Employment remains subject to applicable company policies and law.
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