Inventory Control Manager

As the Inventory Control Manager, you will play a critical role in ensuring the efficient management and optimization of our inventory. You will be working with and managing a team of dedicated inventory analysts to implement and execute inventory control strategies that align with our company's goals and objectives. You will be a strategic partner with the procurement team to develop and implement inventory control strategies to optimize inventory levels, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. This role requires strategic thinking, and a deep understanding of inventory management principles which will help implement the optimization of inventory across the Kevin's Natural Foods network, accomplished through close collaboration with key stakeholders through formal and informal venues.

What You’ll Do:

• Maintain and create accurate physical inventory counts process with a cadence
• Act as a liaison between buyers, data processing and warehouse on all matters concerning inventory
• Interpret and analyze numerical data and perform a basic level of inventory control analysis, handle stock adjustments and perform inventory and cycle counts
• Create and review stock status reports, coordinate with inventory staff to ensure accurate counts of inventory are available and sufficient to meet customers' needs, and communicate about low stock items, seasonal swings and customer promotions
• Handle all matters relating to inventory control ensuring governance and compliance
• Monitor and manage critical KPIs such as Days Of Inventory Onhand, OOS, overstocks and backorders for the warehouses and make planning adjustments as needed to address any issues including regularly shared report-outs
• Manage stock transfer orders between storage warehouses
• Complete daily and weekly activities within the ERP system or spreadsheets to maintain data integrity and support the inventory reconciliation process
• Solve complex problems and deal with a variety of inventory control situations where minimal standardization exists
• Product shelf life management to ensure minimal to zero write-offs and creative ways to rework and dispose of materials as needed while staying profitable
• Daily, weekly, and monthly reporting to assist with product shelf life, product replenishment needs, returns, and liquidation
• Work closely with 3PL partners and Logistics team to address inventory issues, file claims and support best practices
• Monitor and optimize pallet spaces at the warehouses via closely managed reports and processes
• Implement inventory control strategies to optimize inventory levels, reduce costs, and improve efficiency
• Continuously refine model after each optimization iteration through evaluation of key business metrics against SKU level Customer Service Level performance
• Conduct continuous “what if” scenarios to assist in business decisions such as time-phased sourcing, business target considerations/constraints, geographic sourcing, production cycles, and overflow sourcing
• Drive safety stock strategy development and over-all network optimization
• Identify inventory drivers continuously through Pareto analysis in order to assist the Supply Strategy team in prioritizing projects to focus on key drivers
• Develop safety stock policy for product launches by analyzing launch trends and business metrics for similar items
• Develop item-specific, dynamic prebuild safety stock templates to optimize cash investment during times of prebuild
• Interact closely with Supply Planners to validate inputs/outputs of inventory optimization tool; position is responsible for SKU-level safety stock recommendations, but planners are responsible for planning to meet safety stock for their brands. This relationship requires tight and constant collaboration to succeed
• Lead inventory optimization process development and supporting implementation of inventory optimization tools
• Review new & upcoming functionality for inventory optimization tools
• 1st point of contact for inventory optimization support related requests, system testing and managing applicable CIP's (Continuous Improvement Projects)
• Work with Inventory & Replenishment Team to identify opportunities for Logistics Conversion Cost reduction
• Other duties as assigned and necessary.

What You’ll Need:

• Bachelor’s or Associate’s degree in business, logistics, systems engineering, supply chain management or similar
• Minimum five years of supply chain experience or MBA with two years of supply chain experience
• Experience working with inventory management software and forecasting strategies
• Experience conducting tracking and data analysis
• Product and inventory management certification a plus
• Experience in Operations Planning and at least one of the following: Scheduling, Logistics, Inventory Management or Replenishment
• This role requires strategic thinking, and a deep understanding of inventory management principles
• Comprehension of end-to-end supply chain and logistics environment, including lead times and Logistics Cost drivers
• Inventory management and forecasting principles
• Production scheduling process and principles
• Material scheduling process and principles
• Strong numerical, analytical, and critical thinking skills
• Ability to deal with ambiguity and work with a variety of inventory control situations where minimal standardization exists
• Understanding of lean principles
• Leadership and management experience
• Verbal and written communication
• Organizational and logistics skills
• Strong attention to detail, critical thinking, & problem-solving skills
• A team-oriented mindset

Healthy, Diverse Teams Breed Innovation:

Kevin’s Natural Foods is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We deeply believe that diverse backgrounds and experiences make better teams, and we seek to attract talent from all walks of life. The team at Kevin’s is smart, humble, and passionate and we value a work environment that fosters personal development and opportunities to move within our small, but quickly growing organization.

More About Kevin’s Natural Foods:

Kevin’s Natural Foods is a line of healthy entrées, sides, and sauces, on a mission to make clean eating delicious and accessible. Kevin’s guilt-free, sous-vide entrées and sides, and signature certified paleo, keto, and gluten-free sauces allow health-conscious home cooks to whip up delicious meals in five minutes or less.

With restaurant-quality ingredients and recipes, Kevin’s products are readily available on the shelves at leading grocery retailers nationwide including Costco, Whole Foods, Albertsons, HEB and Publix. All Kevin’s products contain no refined sugar, artificial ingredients, grains, or soy, and are made with antibiotic- and hormone-free meat. A true market disruptor, Kevin’s Natural Foods is the first clean refrigerated entrée brand. For more information, please visit www.kevinsnaturalfoods.com.

Kevin’s Natural Foods was acquired by Mars, Inc. in July 2023. Kevin’s Natural Foods joins the Mars Food & Nutrition segment, complementing its portfolio of leading food brands and recent product innovations. Kevin’s will play a key role in Mars Food & Nutrition’s ongoing journey to enable delicious, healthier eating to be part of consumers’ daily lives, while Mars will help Kevin’s to continue to grow, innovate, and bring its portfolio of products to more people.