About this role
Core Responsibilities
Metal Category Strategy & Ownership
- Develop and execute sourcing strategies for carbon steel, stainless steel, and aluminum across manufacturing locations.
- Evaluate domestic mills, service centers, and processors for capability, capacity, competitiveness, quality, and reliability.
- Establish primary and secondary sourcing options to reduce supplier concentration and supply disruption risk.
- Analyze spend, material requirements, and purchasing patterns to identify consolidation, standardization, and sourcing opportunities.
- Align supplier allocations and sourcing decisions with production requirements, inventory objectives, and market conditions.
- Maintain a documented category strategy with clear actions, owners, and expected results.
Market Intelligence & Business Communication
- Monitor metal pricing, mill lead times, capacity, availability, alloy surcharges, and relevant raw material and economic indicators.
- Understand how base prices, conversion charges, freight, processing costs, and surcharges affect TCFs delivered material cost.
- Evaluate supplier price changes against market information and negotiated agreements.
- Identify emerging market shifts and recommend appropriate purchasing, contracting, or inventory actions.
- Provide regular market updates that explain what is changing, the expected business impact, and recommended actions.
- Communicate material cost and availability changes to leadership, Buyers, Planning, Finance, and quoting stakeholders in time to support decisions.
Supplier Management & Negotiations
- Own commercial relationships with assigned metal suppliers and establish clear performance expectations.
- Lead negotiations for pricing, volume commitments, lead times, payment terms, freight, and other commercial conditions.
- Develop and maintain supply agreements with clear pricing mechanisms, service requirements, and escalation processes.
- Conduct supplier business reviews covering delivery, quality, capacity, cost, responsiveness, and improvement actions.
- Lead escalations and corrective actions for recurring delivery, quality, and service issues.
- Partner with Quality and Engineering on supplier qualification, audits, material discrepancies, and supplier development.
Procurement & Cross-Functional Support
- Partner with Buyers to translate category strategies into consistent purchasing practices.
- Support day-to-day supply issues and take ownership of supplier escalations requiring commercial or leadership involvement.
- Work with Planning and Operations to align demand, supplier capacity, replenishment practices, and inventory coverage.
- Partner with Engineering to evaluate material specifications, alternate sources, and opportunities to improve yield or reduce waste.
- Support new product introductions through material sourcing, supplier selection, and capacity validation.
- Coordinate supplier transitions to protect production continuity and manage remaining inventory and commitments.
Systems, Analytics & Cost Management
- Use Epicor, Passport, Power BI, and Excel to analyze spend, purchase prices, receipts, inventory, and supplier performance.
- Work effectively across two ERP systems and a combination of manual and automated processes.
- Partner with Buyers and Planning to maintain accurate supplier pricing, lead times, and purchasing parameters.
- Build cost comparisons that account for material grade, gauge, dimensions, weight, processing, freight, and purchasing units.
- Track sourcing savings and cost avoidance using documented baselines and Finance-aligned validation methods.
- Identify data gaps and process limitations, and establish practical controls to support reliable decisions.
Continuous Improvement
- Improve metal purchasing practices across locations while accounting for plant-specific requirements.
- Identify opportunities to reduce total cost through better material utilization, order quantities, processing arrangements, and supplier performance.
- Establish consistent category reporting, supplier reviews, and escalation practices.
- Demonstrate TCF Core Values in all supplier and internal interactions.
First 60 Days
- Learn TCF products, manufacturing processes, metal specifications, and plant requirements.
- Review metal spend, supplier allocations, agreements, pricing structures, and open supply risks.
- Build relationships with key suppliers and internal stakeholders.
- Assess current purchasing practices across Epicor, Passport, and supporting reporting tools.
- Establish an initial metal market update covering pricing, availability, lead times, and business implications.
- Identify immediate supply, pricing, or agreement gaps requiring action.
By 90 Days
- Independently manage assigned metal supplier relationships and commercial escalations.
- Complete a category assessment identifying spend, supplier performance, sourcing risks, and improvement opportunities.
- Present a prioritized metal category plan with recommended sourcing actions and measurable objectives.
- Establish a recurring market communication and supplier review cadence.
- Begin negotiations or corrective actions addressing the highest-priority opportunities.
- Align with Buyers and Planning on supplier allocations, inventory considerations, and escalation expectations.
After 12 Months
- Maintain and execute a documented metal category strategy across manufacturing locations.
- Implement sourcing and supplier improvements that support agreed cost, quality, delivery, inventory, and risk objectives.
- Establish appropriate supply agreements and qualified backup sources for critical materials.
- Demonstrate consistent use of market intelligence to support purchasing and business decisions.
- Deliver documented, validated results against agreed category objectives.
- Operate as the internal resource for metal market conditions, supplier capabilities, and commercial strategy.
Top 3 Critical Abilities
- Metal market expertise: Understand carbon steel, stainless steel, and aluminum markets and translate pricing, availability, and lead-time trends into actionable recommendations.
- Category ownership and commercial judgment: Lead sourcing strategies, negotiations, agreements, and supplier performance while balancing cost, quality, inventory, and supply continuity.
- Clear communication and execution: Explain business impacts, influence cross-functional decisions, and follow through on actions across multiple manufacturing locations.
Biggest Challenges
- Responding to changing metal prices and availability while protecting supply continuity and inventory objectives.
- Aligning purchasing practices and supplier strategies across manufacturing locations.
- Working through inconsistent data and a mix of manual and automated processes.
- Balancing strategic category work with urgent supplier and production needs.
- Communicating market shifts early enough for the business to act.
- Validating savings when material specifications, part numbers, or purchasing units change.
Attributes & Behaviors
- Takes ownership and follows through without repeated direction.
- Uses market knowledge and data to make practical recommendations.
- Communicates clearly, directly, and proactively.
- Challenges unsupported price increases and assumptions professionally.
- Builds strong supplier relationships while maintaining accountability.
- Remains flexible and effective when priorities or market conditions change.
- Works comfortably in both detailed purchasing activity and broader category planning.
- Collaborates across functions and locations.
- Escalates risks early and brings recommended solutions.
- Demonstrates integrity, sound judgment, and a continuous improvement mindset.
Essential Skills & Experience
- 5–8+ years of purchasing, sourcing, or commodity management experience, including at least 5 years directly managing metal purchases or metal supplier relationships.
- Demonstrated experience with carbon steel, stainless steel, and aluminum, including sheet and angle; familiarity with plate, coil, and other forms relevant to manufacturing.
- Strong working knowledge of domestic metal markets, mills, service centers, and processing capabilities.
- Understanding of material grades, gauges, dimensions, weight-based pricing, and applicable specifications.
- Experience analyzing metal pricing structures, market trends, surcharges, conversion costs, and freight.
- Proven ability to lead supplier negotiations, establish agreements, and manage supplier performance.
- Ability to communicate market changes and recommend actions based on their operational and financial impact.
- Strong Excel, analytical, and total-cost comparison skills.
- Experience working in ERP systems and adapting to manual and automated purchasing processes.
- Effective written and verbal communication skills.
- Bachelors degree in Supply Chain, Business, Engineering, or a related field preferred; equivalent relevant experience considered.
Preferred Skills & Experience
- Experience managing metal sourcing across multiple manufacturing locations.
- Established knowledge of domestic mills and service centers serving industrial manufacturers.
- Experience with fabricated metal products and material processing such as slitting, cut-to-length, leveling, or blanking.
- Experience developing index-based pricing agreements or other structured metal purchasing arrangements.
- Familiarity with material certifications, traceability, and supplier quality requirements.
- Experience managing supplier transitions and qualifying alternate material sources.
- Experience with Epicor, Passport, Power BI, or similar procurement analytics tools.
- Professional certification such as CPSM, CPM, CPIM, or CSCP.
Culture Fit
The successful Commodity Manager demonstrates:
- Integrity and accountability in commercial decisions.
- A customer-focused approach to supply continuity and service.
- Respectful collaboration with suppliers and internal teams.
- Ownership of results and willingness to address difficult issues.
- Openness to feedback and continuous improvement.
- Commitment to TCFs Core Values: Family Atmosphere, Uncompromised Integrity, Passion for Excellence, Accountable to the Customer, and Responsible to Each Other.
As a Commodity Manager you will be offered pay of $89,000-$110,000 dependent on experience. You will also be eligible for an annual discretionary bonus tied to overall performance of the organization.
At Twin City Fan we want our employees to achieve their personal best and strive to offer programs that support our employees and their families. We offer a full benefits package including medical, dental, vision, life insurance, 401K plan with employer match, as well as short/long term disability. Employees also have access to benefits such as employee assistance programs, education reimbursement, paid vacation, holiday pay, and volunteer time. Other exciting benefits TCF offers include a homeownership savings program, pet insurance, and more!