Indirect Purchasing Intern – Summer 2025

TITLE                                Indirect Purchasing Intern – Summer 2025 DEPARTMENT                  Indirect Purchasing LOCATION                        Flexible - Greenville, SC or Vonore, TN                                REPORTS TO                   Indirect Purchasing Manager                        REVISION DATE              April 10, 2025                                                    REVISION LEVEL                1   Summary/Purpose The Indirect Purchasing Intern (Intern) will support the Manager, Buyers and Sr. Purchasing Coordinator by leading a supply base reduction initiative, a Maintenance, Repair & Operations (MRO) item / category data alignment, and executing a sourcing event to find a good corporate travel agency to support all JTEKT North America. Other activities such as U.S. Government Tariff monitoring, invoice resolution and resolving supplier maintenance requests may be assigned as required by the team. The Indirect Purchasing Team issues approximately 70,000 POs totaling approximately 200,000 lines spending over $500M per year across North America (USA, MX, Canada). This position will require on-site support in a JTEKT facility for 3 days / week and the remaining day(s) will be remote, as agreed with the Purchasing Manager. This position is expected to work a minimum of 40 hours / week and may require working outside normal working hours and/or weekends.   Essential Duties and Accountabilities: Support customers (internal and external) to keep plants running Internal customers include manufacturing plant / facility personnel, other departments and engineering External customers include suppliers and automotive, industrial and other companies that purchase JTEKT products Supply base reduction The Indirect Purchasing Department currently has ~10,000 active supplier parents in Oracle (JTEKT’s ERP System), and needs to significantly reduce the amount, targeting 25-50% over the summer. This requires analyzing supplier usage, historical purchases, and engaging the suppliers and/or impacted JTEKT facilities to identify suppliers to be inactivated. The Intern will work with the IT and/or Master Data Management (MDM) team to inactivate the supplier and its sites. MRO item / category alignment The Indirect Purchasing Department currently has over 200,000 MRO items in Oracle with outdated / inaccurate categorization and needs to be realigned to the current working environment. This requires working cross-functionally with all facilities and/or suppliers to understand the item background and ideal future state, then work with IT and the MDM team to incorporate improvements. Corporate travel sourcing event JTEKT North America needs to re-assess its corporate travel agency and execute a sourcing agreement to start in early 2026. This will require internal interviews to assess needs / wants, market analysis, supplier selection, RFQ development, RFQ execution, contract management, negotiation and final sourcing. Schedule meetings as necessary to perform responsibilities / functions. Operate under Company and Purchasing Policies and Procedures / Processes, demonstrate the JTEKT Way. Participate in the company, department and team Objectives, Key Requirements (KRs), Hoshin and Operating Business Plan (OBP or BP). Support / attend and participate in meetings scheduled by the Purchasing Manager, customers and/or Buyers, and Weekly / Monthly Operating Reviews unless circumstances prevent attendance. Support 1-on-1 meetings with the Purchasing Manager. Manage and promptly respond to emails. Support Buyers and Sr. Coordinator as needed when they are out of the office. U.S. Government Tariff monitoring As global tariffs are enacted, the Intern may need to support the team with calculating and monitoring cost impacts. Invoice resolution As needed, the Intern may help resolving supplier invoices on hold due to PO / matching discrepancies. Supplier maintenance requests The Intern may review supplier maintenance requests which will require contacting the suppliers to verify addresses and bank information. Perform other duties as assigned / requested by Purchasing Manager. Job Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: Comfortable with data – be able to analyze and interpret large amounts of data to help the team make decisions. Time Management (including effectively managing Email and Calendar) Ability to manage many emails, Teams and telephone requests to answer questions about POs, suppliers, etc. Collaboration / Teamwork is crucial to perform this role well. Effective Communication skills (verbal – in person and by phone / MS Teams – and written), assertive when appropriate. Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), MS Outlook, MS Teams, Oracle, SharePoint and other computer applications as necessary. Proactively address issues with customers, suppliers and team members. Strong organizational skills, able to work well under pressure and manage several tasks simultaneously. Risk mitigation / management – identify and communicate potential risks associated with supply chain disruptions, supplier failures or price fluctuations. Propose and support strategies to mitigate risks and ensure continuous supply of materials as needed. Self-motivated and able to work without close supervision. Ability to handle confidential information. Ability to work with ambiguous and imperfect data / information, operate in “gray” area (when issues are not black or white) Education and Experience: Attending Undergraduate or Graduate program in Business, Supply Chain, or Engineering    Work Environment/Physical Demands: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Maintain a minimum of 40 hours per week, consisting of minimum of 8 hours per day. Normally Monday through Friday, or as directed by the Purchasing Manager, to support the team and JTEKT NA facilities. Occasional overtime may be required to complete essential job duties (when approved in advance by Purchasing Manager). The daily work is mostly performed in a normal office or home setting with minimal exposure to most health or safety hazards, and with substantial time spent working on a computer. Requires sufficient hand, arm and finger dexterity to operate a computer and other office equipment. Travel by automobile and plane required approximately <1% of the time.   Employee may perform other duties as requested, directed or assigned.

Salary : $500