Demand Planner

Interplastic Corporation•St. Paul, MN

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Demand Planner at North American Composites forecasts and manages the demand plan to maintain appropriate inventory levels. Approximately 75% of the role focuses on demand planning, including analyzing sales data, market trends, and customer behavior to develop accurate forecasts and partnering with the sales team to create aligned demand plans. The remaining 25% covers MRP parameter management, inventory health, and supply chain reporting. This highly visible, strategic role directly affects inventory performance, customer experience, and overall business performance. The Demand Planner works with Commercial, Supply Chain, Operations, Customer Service, and IT teams, and forecasts inform the monthly S&OP process. The position is hybrid and based in Vadnais Heights, Minnesota.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in supply chain, business, finance, economics, or a related field.
At least 2 years of experience as a Demand Planner, or at least 4 years as a Supply Planner or MRP Analyst.
At least 5 years of experience working with cross-functional teams, communicating with all levels of management, and participating in continuous improvement.
Understanding of statistical forecasting methods such as time series analysis, regression, exponential smoothing, and trend projection.
Proficiency in ERP, demand planning, and MRP systems; SAP, Oracle, or M3 preferred.
Strong analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills, attention to detail, and experience using data and metrics to drive improvements.
Strong communication skills, including the ability to lead meetings, influence others, and overcome barriers to change.

Nice To Haves

Experience with S&OP or IBP processes.
Experience with the M3 Demand Planning module.
APICS CPIM or CSCP certification.

Responsibilities

Develop and validate weekly, monthly, and quarterly demand forecasts over a rolling 12-month horizon using statistical analysis of historical demand, trends, and seasonality.
Partner with Commercial teams to incorporate customer forecasts, sales projections, new product introductions, and market insights into the statistical forecast and build an aligned demand plan.
Lead demand-planning inputs to the monthly S&OP process, providing visibility into changes in demand, key assumptions, risks, and opportunities, and help prepare executive summaries.
Analyze forecast accuracy and bias at a LAG 2 interval, cleanse sales history for exceptions and outliers, and drive continuous improvement in forecasting.
Coordinate phase-in and phase-out items and advise supply planning, commercialization, customer service, and operations on inventory strategies for existing, new, and end-of-life products.
Manage MRP parameters, including lead times, minimum order quantities, order multiples, and safety stock, to support service and inventory goals.
Monitor inventory health, report on KPIs such as inventory turns, out-of-stocks, DIO, weeks of supply, and OTIF, and identify excess, dead, and expiring stock.
Partner with IT and Supply Chain to build reports and dashboards, lead root-cause analysis of material shortages, and maintain standard work for demand planning and MRP.