Procurement Assistant in Durham, North Carolina at Frontier Dental Laboratories, Inc.

Position: Procurement Assistant

Experience Required: 2 - 5 years Employment Type: Full-time Reports To: General Manager/CFO

We are seeking a detail-oriented and proactive Procurement Assistant to support our day-to-day purchasing, inventory, and vendor coordination activities. The ideal candidate will have 2 - 5 years of procurement or purchasing experience, strong comfort with reporting and ERP/inventory systems, and the ability to keep production flowing through timely order placement, receiving, and issue resolution. This role is central to keeping our stockroom, sales-order fulfillment, and vendor relationships running smoothly.

• Monitor incoming email and respond promptly to ensure continued production flow.

• Refresh NetSuite throughout the day to monitor open sales orders.

• Create purchase orders (POs) for sales orders containing non-inventoried items.

• Create POs for inventoried items based on on-hand levels and forecasted/average usage.

• Fulfill sales orders (pick orders) and distribute to, or alert, the ordering party for pick-up.

• Monitor emergency sales orders from in-house and outside branches.

• Create and fulfill stockroom sales orders for employees requesting items in person.

• Monitor daily vendor mail deliveries; sort and distribute incoming mail.

• Open incoming POs and match to packing slips, flagging any variances or item issues.

• Receive POs in NetSuite after comparing the signed-off packing slip to the open PO.

• Communicate receiving issues to Finance and initiate the RMA process with the vendor as needed.

• Monitor for incoming marketing materials from social media; create and distribute POs to the correct vendor.

• Create POs for weekly normal-inventory sales order requests (SC on Wednesday, Wilmington on Friday).

• Package and ship RMAs using vendor-provided labels or Absolute labels, depending on the reason for return.

• Create POs, package, and ship equipment for repairs as needed.

• Monitor min/max levels in Zimbis and create POs based on inventory levels and min/max settings.

• Update min/max levels for surgical and implant Zimbis machines as requests and demand change.

• Cycle-count inventory and investigate discrepancies.

• Adjust inventory levels in NetSuite based on cycle-count findings.

• Monitor and update employee asset lists as equipment/property is distributed to employees.

• Maintain appropriate inventory levels to avoid expired or obsolete (dead) inventory.

• Research new parts for technicians as requested.

• Foster and maintain strong vendor relationships to secure priority during high-demand periods.

• Call and/or email vendors to track credits.

• Track missing invoices from vendors.

• Monitor costs and research vendors for cost savings

• 2 - 5 years of experience in procurement, purchasing, inventory control, or a related role.

• Demonstrated experience creating and managing purchase orders and receiving goods against packing slips.

• Strong reporting skills - comfortable pulling, reviewing, and acting on inventory and purchasing reports.

• Experience with ERP/inventory systems (NetSuite or similar) and min/max inventory replenishment.

• Solid written and verbal communication skills for vendor and cross-functional coordination.

• High attention to detail with the ability to investigate and resolve inventory and invoice discrepancies.

• Ability to multitask and prioritize in a fast-paced environment to keep production flowing.

• Experience with NetSuite and/or Zimbis inventory systems.

• Familiarity with RMA processing and return shipping workflows.

• Prior exposure to cycle counting and inventory reconciliation.

• Experience supporting multi-branch or multi-location operations.