Demand Planning Specialist II

POSITION PROFILE

The Demand Planning Specialist II role focuses on two main responsibilities: forecasting and inventory planning. The planner will develop the end-to-end forecast by identifying key inputs and drivers through collaboration with Marketing, Sales, Project Management, and other departments. This plan will drive all aspects of the inventory plan, including fill rate analysis, inventory health, product transition, etc., which the planner will monitor and act on daily.

JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Create a demand forecast based on historical usage, factoring in inputs from sales, marketing, finance, exceptional demand analyst, and product life cycle analyst. Consider recurring customer demand, outlier demand, seasonality, promotions, and other market conditions that affect the sales plan.
• Based on the demand plan and inventory planning parameters, create the supply forecast, considering key factors such as product transitions, demo room, and other non-warehouse inventory.
• Work directly with major account teams to assist in phased deployment plans and configuration requirements to meet and exceed customer expectations.
• Drive S&OP meetings locally in the monthly demand review and product management review, and globally in Production Sales and Inventory (PSI) and S&OP.
• Responsible for overall inventory levels at a national level, working with the deployment team to achieve location inventory targets.
• Run daily monitoring reports to ensure the plan, forecast, inventory levels, fill rates, and requirements all meet expected targets. Execute root cause analysis and develop action plans to address misses and implement process changes as necessary.
• Work with manufacturing to develop and execute inventory recovery plans with the deployment planners.
• Review and create action plans for slow and non-moving items. Execute root cause analysis to understand unhealthy inventory and recommend process changes to avoid future issues.
• Collaborate with the Product Life Cycle Analyst to review transitioning, End Of Life (EOL), and obsolete items, and lead the development of plans that achieve business goals.
• Provide input on expected monthly/daily cash spend, risk inventory, demand/supply plan, and other ad hoc requests.
• Review daily/weekly/monthly processes and drive continuous improvements, leveraging process improvement, IT, or cross-functional support to achieve desired goals.
• Provide guidance to the marketing team on various item issues, particularly focus/non-focus, configurations, and product knowledge.

QUALIFICATIONS (Education, Experience, and Certifications)

• Four-year college degree
• Seven years of experience in demand planning using statistical forecasting tools

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

• Strong collaborator with the ability to influence and negotiate
• Ability to adapt to changing business conditions and processes
• Strong time management and prioritization skills
• Advanced understanding of demand planning software applications (Knowledge of Kinaxis Rapid Response is a plus)
• Experience with Six Sigma and Lean principles
• Strong problem-solving skills and action-oriented
• Intermediate to advanced user of MS Excel and Access
• Intermediate user of other MS Office applications
• Six Sigma or APICS certification is a plus
• Oracle knowledge is a plus