Buying Analyst

Job Summary:
Assists with purchase of requisitioned items and executes buying strategies in accordance with agreed upon buying plans at the optimum cost. Analyzes sourcing information and presents findings for process improvement and cost reduction while maintaining high quality product and/or service delivery.

Key Responsibilities:
Assists in the procurement of services, inventory items, supplies, and capital goods. Analyzes sourcing and procurement initiatives and processes in support of the delivery of cost effective and high quality goods and services. Consistently applies sourcing policies, procedures and processes. Supports procurement/sourcing management in activities such as price benchmarking, vendor management, process analysis, market and industry research, and model building. Requests, analyses and evaluates supplier quotations. Manages loading and retrieving of legal and compliance documents into applicable storage systems to support regulatory, audit and research activities. Assists in the process of interviewing and evaluating sales representatives and vendors. Supports Six Sigma projects through active team membership or provision of data and market intelligence. Interacts with suppliers and internal customers with regard to invoice reconciliations/payments. Identifies and implements opportunities for Ariba catalogs. Facilitates Purchase Requistion approvals Liaises with Supply Chain Services to ensure suppliers are enabled on Ariba Network Seeks opportunities to identify diverse suppliers.

- Develop and maintain should-cost models for castings and forgings, covering raw material, conversion, machining, heat treatment, surface treatment, tooling, overheads, and supplier margins.
- Analyse supplier quotations and validate cost break-ups to identify cost gaps and opportunities for cost optimization.
- Track raw material prices, including pig iron, steel scrap, ferroalloys, steel billets, and forging-grade steel, to establish commodity benchmarks.
- Validate supplier price revision requests and raw material indexation calculations against agreed commercial terms and market indices.
- Benchmark component prices across suppliers, manufacturing processes, and sourcing locations to identify competitive sourcing opportunities.
- Analyse machine-hour rates, cycle times, material yield, scrap recovery, rejection rates, and manufacturing conversion costs.
- Prepare RFQ commercial comparison sheets and provide data-driven recommendations for supplier selection and sourcing decisions.
- Analyse purchase price variance (PPV), track price movements against baseline costs, and quantify the financial impact of price changes.
- Identify and quantify cost-reduction opportunities through value engineering, process optimization, alternate sourcing, localization, and import substitution.
- Support buyers in supplier negotiations by providing should-cost estimates, cost breakdowns, market intelligence, and negotiation targets.
- Maintain historical pricing databases, supplier cost break-ups, commodity indices, and benchmarking records.
- Monitor commodity market trends and assess their impact on purchasing costs and sourcing strategies.
- Evaluate supplier cost structures, manufacturing efficiency, capacity utilization, and financial health to support sourcing decisions.
- Support new product development and localization projects through cost estimation, supplier quotation analysis, and commercial feasibility assessments.
- Collaborate with buyers, engineering, supplier quality, manufacturing, and finance teams to validate technical assumptions and cost-saving opportunities.
- Track identified and realized savings against annual purchasing targets and prepare periodic cost performance dashboards.
- Ensure accuracy and timely reporting of commodity costs, price revisions, PPV, and savings performance.
- Support supplier development initiatives by analysing cost competitiveness, capacity-related investments, and opportunities for manufacturing cost improvement.
- Analyse casting and forging manufacturing processes, including melting, moulding, forging, fettling, heat treatment, machining, and finishing, to identify cost drivers.
- Ensure compliance with established purchasing policies, commercial agreements, and pricing approval procedures.