Demand Planner

Novolex•Lake Forest, IL

1d•$66,800 - $111,400•Hybrid

About The Position

The Demand Planner is responsible for generating and owning Demand Plan for their assigned scope (sales organization and or products). The expectation is that the Demand Planner develops a monthly plan in partnership with their business stakeholders that provides an 18-month outlook for the needs of their customer base. This highly impactful and visible role will communicate and present with stakeholders and leaders across the organization. This role will ensure that the demand signal being used across the organization is aligned with sales and capacity to be used for making decisions in financial planning, manufacturing asset planning, staffing, procurement of raw materials, and final customer fulfillment. Hybrid (3 days a week in office/2 days a week remote)

Requirements

BA/BS degree; degree in business, mathematics or engineering preferred; Master’s degree recognized
ERP experience required, SAP experience preferred
MRP experience and understanding required
Analytical capability
Proven ability to translate data into information, recommendations and conclusions; handle complex datasets, data cleansing and transformation and basic modeling.
Intermediate skills and experience in Statistical Forecasting (demonstrated by ability to recommend changes in models being used and parameters for the models based on demand patterns and statistical results; able to apply causal factors)
Intermediate Excel skills (demonstrated by use of Pivot tables and charts; advanced formulas like IF-THEN, VLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH; conditional formatting and advanced charts)
Intermediate use of database tools (demonstrated by ability to recommend changes to data structures or reports)
Ability to communicate with business partners at different locations and leadership levels in Sales and Finance
Proven ability to participate, present and answer questions in Consensus Demand Planning meetings as part of a monthly SIOP cycle
Strong judgement, confidence and business understanding to make decisions and challenge stakeholders
Ability to travel domestically (no more than 5%)

Nice To Haves

APICS or IBF certification preferred
Experience with Advanced Planning Software tools; experience with Blue Yonder and/or Kinaxis preferred

Responsibilities

Own the Monthly Demand Planning process in the Monthly SIOP cycle using Kinaxis Rapid Response and/or Blue Yonder.
Maintain DFU level forecasts
Utilize statistical methods, such as Lewandowski model, in reviewing and analyzing data to drive improved accuracy.
Partner with the sales and product/business teams to create the 18-month unconstrained demand plan for the assigned scope
Perform data maintenance and clean-up in the planning system
Implement forecast product transitions and successions.
Analyze current plan and assess gaps and opportunities considering:
Statistical trending
Meet with sales team monthly to learn of significant changes to current forecasts
Information from the customer service team
Meetings with customers
Economic indicators
During the monthly Demand Consensus process, summarize the changes to the current 18-month Demand Plan and make recommendations of changes to the owner of the assigned scope
Communicate changes to demand and supply (increases/decreases) to affected stakeholders in SIOP, Procurement and Manufacturing.
On an annual basis, work with the Sales, Business and Finance teams to generate the Demand Plan for the AOP/budget process