Career Area:

Job Description:

Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc.

When you join Caterpillar, you're joining a global team who cares not just about the work we do – but also about each other.  We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. We don't just talk about progress and innovation here – we make it happen, with our customers, where we work and live. Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it.

Role Definition
Manages function and staff responsible for procurement of materials and services needed in the manufacturing process.

Responsibilities
•    Defining and communicating rules for supplier bids and managing high-impact purchases. Evaluating the qualification of suppliers and negotiating prices.
•    Managing daily activities associated with requesting quotes, issuing purchase orders, invoice/contract approval, grief resolution, job instruction, vendor contacts, supplier quality/delivery, record keeping and all other purchasing related activities.
•    Assessing purchasing decisions through the analysis of historical and market information; recommending improvements.
•    Managing the quality of purchased goods and services based on specified requirements. Solving major supplier related problems.

Degree Requirement
Degree or equivalent experience desired

Skill Descriptors
Quality Management: Knowledge of quality management methods, tools, and techniques and ability to create and support an environment that meets the quality goals of the organization.
 Level Extensive Experience: 
•    Interprets results of quantitative and statistical tools and explains results to others.
•    Develops programs for motivating personnel to meet or exceed quality goals.
•    Communicates key benefits of a quality management process.
•    Conducts and directs quality reviews.
•    Develops expertise in quality assurance tools, techniques, and standards.
•    Develops quality assurance processes based on Six Sigma, ISO 9000 or Baldrige principles.

Effective Communications: Understanding of effective communication concepts, tools and techniques; ability to effectively transmit, receive, and accurately interpret ideas, information, and needs through the application of appropriate communication behaviors.
 Level Extensive Experience: 
•    Reviews others' writing or presentations and provides feedback and coaching.
•    Adapts documents and presentations for the intended audience.
•    Demonstrates both empathy and assertiveness when communicating a need or defending a position.
•    Communicates well downward, upward, and outward.
•    Employs appropriate methods of persuasion when soliciting agreement.
•    Maintains focus on the topic at hand.

Negotiating: Knowledge of successful negotiation concepts and techniques; ability to negotiate successfully across the organization and with external vendors and clients in a constructive and collaborative manner.
 Level Extensive Experience: 
•    Ensures negotiators have awareness of complementary yet diverse interests.
•    Successfully completes significant negotiations, both internal and external.
•    Details the risks of negotiation breakdown from each party's perspective.
•    Protects own position, while demonstrating willingness to achieve win-win.
•    Identifies similarities and differences in position and assesses impact on discussions.
•    Detects and addresses lack of progress or a stalemate.

Audit and Compliance Function: Knowledge of major responsibilities and tasks of Audit and Compliance (A&C) function; ability to manage the operation of A&C function in various business environment.
 Level Extensive Experience: 
•    Manages one or more A&C functions or units.
•    Facilitates compliance-related business process implementation or improvement initiatives.
•    Implements specific organizational changes made in response to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
•    Contributes to development of A&C strategies and plans.
•    Improves key relationships and dependencies among Audit, IT and other business functions.
•    Contributes to the establishment of best practices for A&C.

Business Intelligence: Knowledge of business intelligence; ability to utilize business processes and technologies for gathering, storing, analyzing, and providing access to data that helps the organization make better business decisions.
 Level Extensive Experience: 
•    Organizes and maintains data to be captured in the data warehouse for BI applications.
•    Evaluates alternative BI products in terms of their potential value to organization.
•    Develops targeted marketing campaigns based on BI analysis.
•    Develops processes for transforming aggregate data into useful business information.
•    Analyzes BI gained from multiple and diverse environments.
•    Evaluates key benefits, drawbacks and rationale for existing BI activities.

Category Management: Knowledge of category management within an organization's goods and services sector; ability to use this knowledge to analyze and improve the end-to-end procurement process and maximize business profitability.
 Level Extensive Experience: 
•    Advises on streamlining the procurement strategy to realize the strategic benefits of category management.
•    Designs and develops supplier agreements and procurement policies with standard terms and conditions.
•    Identifies roadblocks in the implementation of category management and recommends innovative solutions.
•    Prepares reports to evaluate the impact of category management on the procurement process and present ROI data to management.
•    Supervises the execution of all stages of the category management process.
•    Trains others on category management to ensure a streamlined procurement process.

Supplier Management - MFG: Knowledge of processes and methods to effectively manage business relationships and transactions with suppliers of raw materials or product components; ability to apply related knowledge, experience and skills into real practice.
 Level Extensive Experience: 
•    Facilitates supplier partnering arrangements that share risk and reward.
•    Monitors supplier performance; works to resolve discrepancies between performance and agreements.
•    Develops quality standards and controls for suppliers.
•    Builds and maintains partnerships with multiple and/or large suppliers.
•    Evaluates issues and terminates supplier relationships as appropriate; works with legal departments.
•    Ensures the fulfillment of report and record-keeping requirements.

Purchasing Tasks and Activities: Knowledge of policies, regulations and processes of purchasing; ability to use practices and procedures for procurement of materials, components, equipment and services.
 Level Extensive Experience: 
•    Works with the implementation of complex purchasing programs and tasks.
•    Advises on the appropriate solutions to complex purchasing activity problems.
•    Monitors the effectiveness of procurement policies and strategies in high cost purchases.
•    Improves procurement processes to maximize products or services efficiency and effectiveness.
•    Teaches others how to use advanced technologies and tools for purchasing activities.
•    Evaluates issues and considerations for purchasing various goods and services.

This Job Description is intended as a general guide to the job duties for this position and is intended for the purpose of establishing the specific salary grade.  It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as an exhaustive summary of all responsibilities, duties and effort required of employees assigned to this job.  At the discretion of management, this description may be changed at any time to address the evolving needs of the organization.  It is expressly not intended to be a comprehensive list of “essential job functions” as that term is defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Posting Dates:

Caterpillar is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EEO).

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