MELISSA JOHNSON

Buyer – Direct & Indirect Procurement

Bone Broth Manufacturing Company. || Kettleworks

• Manage direct and indirect procurement for raw materials, ingredients, packaging, MRO, and operational supplies, supporting bone broth production.
• Serve as a day-to-day point of contact for key suppliers, managing relationships, lead times, performance, and issue resolution.
• Work daily with the Quality and Warehouse teams to ensure raw material availability, compliance, inventory accuracy, and uninterrupted production.
• Partner cross-functionally with Operations and Finance, aligning procurement execution with production needs, innovation timelines, and financial targets.
• Support innovation and new product development, sourcing materials, onboarding suppliers, and supporting commercialization readiness.
• Contribute to forward buying, demand planning, and contract execution to protect costs, supply continuity, and OTIF.
• Leverage existing supplier and internal relationships to ensure continuity, responsiveness, and minimal disruption.

Manufacturing Company (Capital Equipment and Operations) ||6 years for C.H. REED, INC.

• Led end-to-end direct and indirect procurement strategy, including supplier sourcing and onboarding, for materials, MRO, overseas-sourced components, and capital equipment required to operate and scale the business.
• Managed and developed a team of four buyers, with a strong focus on training, coaching, and performance improvement.
• Conducted weekly one-on-one meetings to review priorities, develop procurement skills, remove obstacles, and continuously improve team effectiveness.
• Established clear expectations, processes, and accountability to elevate buyer capability and consistency.
• Owned forecasting, inventory planning, and forward demand strategies, with supplier lead times exceeding 6 months, including contract negotiation and extensions.
• Delivered a significant financial impact, reducing procurement costs by approximately 30% year over year through strategic sourcing, supplier research, competitive bidding, and onboarding new vendors.
• Held accountability for OTIF performance, ensuring materials and equipment were delivered on time to support production schedules and customer commitments.
• Built contingency supplier networks for emergency sourcing, preventing downtime, and saving customers hundreds of thousands of dollars in avoided disruptions.
• Sourced compressor parts nationwide when lead times failed, and assembled cross-functional teams to build compressors internally, protecting service levels and revenue.
• Played a key role in innovation initiatives, partnering with R&D, Engineering, Operations, and Finance to source materials and equipment for new builds, expansions, and process improvements.
• Worked cross-functionally with R&D, Finance, Operations, Quality, and Leadership to align procurement strategy with business growth, margin targets, and risk management.

Utz Brands, Inc. |3 years

• Managed procurement and inventory planning for a high-volume potato chip manufacturing facility.
• Supported direct material sourcing, supplier coordination, and inventory control in a fast-paced CPG environment.
• Partnered with Operations and Production to ensure material availability, and support consistent OTIF performance.
• Improved inventory efficiency while supporting continuous manufacturing operations.