Demand Planner

BACKGROUND SUMMARY

Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is a management process that determines the optimum level of production output and is built upon stakeholder agreement resulting in an approved consensus plan. S&OP planning delivers an updated business forecast that leads to a production plan, inventory plan, customer lead time (backlog) plan, and integrates new product service offerings, leading to a resulting financial plan. The Demand Planning function at Tropicale Foods is responsible for development and communication of the Demand Plan (forecast) as part of the basis of the S&OP process.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Demand Planner is responsible for forecasting the item-location Demand Plan that will drive down stream supply chain and financial planning activities.This includes proactive collaboration across Sales, Supply Planning, Operations, Finance, and Procurement. Key to this role will be anticipating and understanding the needs of different stakeholders across the company relative to forecasting, turning assumptions into actionable plans, and providing insight into demand drivers to leadership.

Success in this role is at the intersection of data and communication. The Demand Planner must not only understand the underlying data, but be able to tailor their message to the unique needs of different stakeholders in the organization. Agility and strong communication skills are a must for success in this role.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. Other duties may be assigned.

• Drive forecast inputs through analysis and collaboration with Sales Team.
• Build upon and enhance proprietary Demand Planning Tools.
• Lead monthly S&OP Demand Consensus Meeting for assigned brands including: maintaining baseline / statistical forecasts, collecting Sales and Marketing forecast drivers and highlighting changes and drivers in the plan to key stakeholders.
• Develop, modify, and communicate the short- and long-range demand plan to Supply Planning. This role functions as the pivotal communication point for supply and service constraints.
• Coordinate all aspects of Demand Planning related to the delivery of projects that support growth objectives, innovation, cost reductions, operational efficiency improvements, and reduce business waste .
• Track Forecast KPI’s including bias, accuracy and forecast value add. Use these KPI’ s to drive improvements .
• Maintain schedules to ensure that deliverables are received, and outputs are communicated as per the Monthly Rolling Forecast process (MRF) .
• Monitor daily dispatch rate for issues that arise, analyze root cause and put steps in place to avoid future impact on dispatch rate .
• Reprioritization of work to support department initiatives.
• Impeccable execution of the make and move strategy to ensure that production is moved timely and in the most cost-efficient manner to be in the right place at the right time to deliver customer orders on-time and in-full.
• Oversees the Distribution team comprised of one or more Distribution Analysts.
• Facilitate and ensure that the product tracing process is complete in a timely and accurate fashion to support mock and/or actual product recall activities.
• Develops, compiles and maintains accurate distribution performance metrics to identify inconsistencies, trends, and opportunities for process and cost optimization and improvements to customer service and performance of the distribution network partners.

MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITIES

This role does not have direct reports, but is responsible for maintaining a professional working environment while engaging with all Tropicale employees, customers, and vendors.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Ten plus years of experience leading Demand Planning.Experience in food manufacturing is a plus.
• Strong understanding of Supply Chain management and demonstrated experience applying Lean principles and techniques on a regional scale.
• Actively participates with the senior management team in setting growth strategy
• Ability to identify and define issues, lead root cause analysis, and develop / manage corrective action plans
• Strong quantitative and qualitative analytical skills with the ability to formulate and articulate valid conclusions
• Can work remotely and independently while staying engaged and productive
• Possesses strong negotiation, analytical, critical thinking and written and verbal communication skills.
• Proven ability to collaborate and build effective relationships with senior management and peers.
• Demonstrates aligned behavior with Tropicale’s values
• Demonstrated prior experience building and leading a regional distribution network integrating with a SPG customer service organization.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Operations or Supply Chain management or related field, and 10 plus years’ experience in manufacturing and production control, S&OP, quality/continuous improvement initiatives; or equivalent combination of education and experience.

LANGUAGE SKILLS

Ability to read, analyze, and interpret common technical journals, financial reports, and legal documents. Ability to respond to common inquiries or complaints from customers, regulatory agencies, or members of the business community. Bilingual Spanish is a plus.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands are typical of a desk oriented office environment.

Travel

Occasionally to the various manufacturing facilities or Corporate Sales Meetings

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. The noise level in the work environment is usually mild to moderate.

Reasonable accommodations are available to qualified individuals with disabilities, upon request, to enable them to perform the essential functions of their job, as required by law.