Inventory Analyst

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What we offer:

Group Summary:

General Job Duties

• Exhibit teamwork, ownership, and professional conduct while actively supporting MP&L, Operations, Quality, Finance, Engineering, and IT.

• Demonstrate analytical thinking and structured problem solving in a continuous-improvement environment.

• Follow all company policies and the standards of conduct described in the employee handbook.

• Adhere to all Norplas safety and health objectives, policies, and procedures. Work safely at all times; report unsafe conditions, accidents, and near misses promptly.

MP&L Strategic Responsibilities

• Own inventory accuracy as a business process, not only as a physical count. Connect physical material movement to the required ERP and MES transactions from receipt through consumption, production reporting, movement, sequencing, shipment, and financial settlement.

• Develop a working understanding of QAD ERP, MES, EDI, labeling, sequencer, BOL/EP, POP/PAB/MPAB, SQL cross-reference tables, and related interfaces that create or consume inventory records.

• Identify gaps between physical inventory, ERP balances, MES activity, BOM requirements, customer releases, and financial records; lead the investigation through containment, root cause, corrective action, validation, and recurrence prevention.

• Establish transaction discipline and process controls that make inventory status visible, timely, traceable, and reliable for production and customer delivery.

• Use data and trend analysis to prioritize high-impact inventory risks, quantify exposure, assign ownership, and verify sustained improvement.

Specific Job Duties

• Coordinate and validate new part-number setup in QAD and SQL cross-reference tables to support production labeling, reporting, sequencing, and shipping. Complete end-to-end testing before production release.

• Monitor and validate ERP/MES transactions involving receipts, production reporting, backflush, component issues, transfers, scrap, adjustments, substitutions, rework, shipping, and cycle-count corrections.

• Reconcile ERP and MES records to physical material movement and investigate timing, interface, master-data, process, training, and execution gaps.

• Lead structured root-cause analysis for inventory discrepancies using tools such as 5 Whys, fishbone analysis, transaction timelines, part genealogy, and system-to-system reconciliation.

• Document each material variance with the problem statement, immediate containment, root cause, corrective action, owner, due date, financial or operational impact, and effectiveness check.

• Produce and publish daily, weekly, and monthly inventory-control reporting, including negative inventory, transaction exceptions, receipt accuracy, cycle-count performance, adjustment and scrap trends, aging, slow-moving and obsolete inventory, interface failures, and unresolved issues.

• Maintain an inventory issue tracker and escalation cadence. Drive timely closure of actions and verify that corrective actions prevent repeat discrepancies.

• Investigate customer release errors and ERP/MES transaction problems that affect material requirements, inventory balances, production reporting, labeling, sequencing, or shipments.

• Partner with Finance to close the POP/MPAB payment loop and resolve missing, incorrect, or delayed payment transactions on a weekly basis.

• Investigate and resolve POP/PAB, sequencer, BOL/EP, revision-level, replacement-part, service-part, shipping, receiving, and cycle-count accuracy issues.

• Analyze BOM, routing, unit-of-measure, scrap-factor, part-status, revision, location, and backflush settings that may create inventory loss or false consumption. Coordinate corrections with the appropriate process owners.

• Support cycle-count strategy by identifying high-risk parts and locations, analyzing repeat variances, recommending count frequency, and confirming corrective actions after count completion.

• Manage inventory requirements associated with engineering changes, build-outs, part supersessions, launch readiness, and end-of-life material exposure.

• Work with Systems Software Engineers and IT to design, test, deploy, and maintain reports, controls, alerts, and tools that improve inventory visibility and transaction accuracy.

• Train and coach process owners on correct inventory transactions and provide clear work instructions when system or process changes are implemented.

• Perform other duties as assigned.

Key Performance Indicators

• Inventory record accuracy and cycle-count accuracy by part, location, and process area.

• Inventory adjustment value and frequency, including repeat-variance rate.

• Negative inventory and transaction-exception aging.

• ERP/MES interface and reporting exception closure time.

• Receipt, production-reporting, scrap, transfer, and shipping transaction accuracy.

• Corrective-action on-time closure and recurrence prevention effectiveness.

• Slow-moving, obsolete, and build-out inventory exposure.

Knowledge, Skills, and Competencies

• Strong understanding of inventory-control principles, material flow, BOM structures, production reporting, backflush, cycle counting, and transaction governance in a manufacturing environment.

• Ability to trace inventory issues across ERP, MES, EDI, SQL/reporting tools, labels, physical processes, and financial transactions.

• Advanced analytical and problem-solving skills, including data reconciliation, trend analysis, root-cause analysis, and corrective-action follow-through.

• Advanced Microsoft Excel capability, including PivotTables, XLOOKUP or equivalent lookup methods, conditional logic, data cleansing, and large-data analysis. Power Query and Power BI experience preferred.

• Ability to communicate findings clearly to operators, supervisors, managers, technical teams, and Finance, with appropriate escalation of risk.

• High attention to detail, process discipline, urgency, and ownership.

Educational Requirements

• Associate's degree in supply chain, business, information systems, engineering technology, data analytics, or a related field.

• Four years of directly related manufacturing, inventory-control, or systems experience may be substituted for the degree.

Related Work Experience

• Minimum two years of experience with QAD or a similar ERP system in materials management, inventory control, production reporting, release management, or supply chain.

• Experience using or supporting a manufacturing execution system (MES) and reconciling ERP-to-MES transactions strongly preferred.

• Automotive manufacturing, EDI, sequenced material flow, and customer-release experience preferred.

• Experience conducting root-cause analysis and implementing sustainable corrective actions required

Awareness, Unity, Empowerment:

At Magna, we believe that a diverse workforce is critical to our success. That’s why we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We hire on the basis of experience and qualifications, and in consideration of job requirements, regardless of, in particular, color, ancestry, religion, gender, origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability or gender identity. Magna takes the privacy of your personal information seriously. We discourage you from sending applications via email or traditional mail to comply with GDPR requirements and your local Data Privacy Law.

AI-Assisted Screening Disclosure

As part of our commitment to a fair, consistent, and efficient recruitment process, we may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to assist in the initial screening of applications submitted through our Workday system. These tools help identify qualifications and experience that align with the role requirements. Please note that AI is used solely to support our recruiters. Final decisions are always made by the hiring manager and the hiring team. Importantly, no applicant data is shared externally through these AI tools. All information remains securely within our systems and is handled in accordance with our privacy and data protection policies.

Under conditions defined by applicable law, you may have the right to request an explanation of how AI is used to support decision-making.

If you have any questions or concerns about this process, feel free to contact our Talent Attraction team.