1. Supplier Relations -Acts as primary Gensco contact for suppliers. -Maintains regular and frequent communications with those key suppliers to which they are assigned. -Participates as a key member in formal supplier review meetings. -Assists the Sales Support team in managing supplier participation in marketing programs and coop funds. -Conduit for the supplier to voice their wishes and needs. -Responsible for negotiating cost, terms, freight, price increases and conditions of sale with assigned suppliers to achieve greatest value and/or a market advantage. -Procures special costs, as needed, to meet competitive situations. -Analyzes and resolves issues arising from warranty, obsolescence, slow moving inventory, packaging, delivery, customer complaints and any other problems that may arise in dealing with specific suppliers. 2. Inventory Management & Replenishment -Meets Gensco goals of service level, inventory turns and direct ship percentages. -Regularly reviews product lines to determine if replenishment is needed. -Determines where replenishment stock should come from, how it should get there, and how often. -Identifies and corrects shortages and outages immediately – uses critical inventory report, and all available reports to identify and resolve. -Initiates buy out as needed so internal shortages are transparent to customer. -Identifies overstock, slow mover, non-mover inventory and communicate to sales/marketing or local branch for resolution. -Manages the inventory of seasonal items using historical data, input from branch ops and sales, and supplier tools to determine timely orders. -Communicates new product performance with branches and key internal stakeholders. 3.Communication – External and Internal -Initiates communication on any changes in products, orders, availability, pricing, suppliers and their services for assigned product lines. -Routinely solicits and uses feedback from the field and other departments particularly in regards to changes in sales or customer trends. -Provides feedback on how the information was used, and the result of the actions as needed. -Uses Gensco Marketing and broadcast email, as appropriate to internally publish important information relating to product lines. -External communication including soliciting and giving information to suppliers on updates, people changes, competition and market changes or issues. -Utilizes written communication skills to communicate with internal and external stakeholders. 4. Administration & Maintenance -Set up of new suppliers. -Set up of new items, updated costs and rebates; maintains the purchasing module including contacts, order points, lead times, and order quantities. -Updates branch files for new products, branch correspondence, supplier information, and catalogs. -Maintains consistent product descriptions within product lines. 1. Team Management and Development -Reviews monthly performance of goals with each buyer, inclusive of demand service level, inventory turns, direct shipments to branches and useless inventory. -Works with buyer(s) to improve demand service level for individual product lines that are not meeting standards. -Works with buyer(s) to improve inventory turns by product line for the company, and by branch. Provides assistance when needed. -Reviews direct shipments by product line and works with buyer(s) to find ways to increase direct shipments to each branch. -Takes an active role with buyer(s) to quickly identify useless inventory. Once identified, works directly with Sales, Marketing, and Pricing to move the product out. 2. Administration -Determines which suppliers currently do not offer rebates, and works with the supplier and the buyer(s) to develop an acceptable program. -Track supplier price increase notifications to ensure Gensco is receiving new net costs a minimum of 60 days prior to the effective date of any increase. -Works with buyer(s) to get products bar coded by the suppliers. -Work with buyer(s) to negotiate shipments to Anchorage for all suppliers with whom Gensco does significant volume. -Review all product lines with inventory turns less than 5 per year.