Manager, Inventory Planning

Crown Bakeries•Nashville, TN

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Inventory Planning Manager is responsible for leading Crown’s enterprise wide material inventory planning strategy to support service, growth, and cost objectives. This role owns corporate-level governance over all key supply inventory health, including surplus and obsolete management, inventory turns, accuracy, and cycle counting. Partners closely with Supply Chain, Operations, Finance, Commercial, and Plant teams to ensure the right inventory is in the right place at the right time across the network. This role also leads material planning for new product development (NPD), from pipeline fill through replenishment, maturity, and decline, ensuring smooth launches, efficient transitions, and controlled exits. The Inventory Planning Manager provides dotted-line leadership to material managers across bakeries, acts as relief coverage as needed, and serves as the hiring manager for the Material Manager role, building capability and consistency in inventory practices across Crown.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in supply chain management, business administration, operations finance, or a related field required. Experience may be considered in lieu of degree.
Minimum of 5–7 years of progressive experience in supply chain, inventory planning, materials management, or related field, multi-site manufacturing experience strongly preferred.
Demonstrated experience leading inventory control, turns improvement, and surplus/obsolete reduction initiatives.
Prior people leadership and/or strong dotted-line leadership experience required.
Strong understanding of ERP/MRP systems and inventory planning concepts (safety stock, lead time, MOQ, EOQ, reorder points, etc.).
Advanced Excel skills with the ability to confirm data integrity for key reports, create budgeting data requirements, and create clean data for upward communication.
Advanced analytical skills, with ability to interpret data, draw insights, and drive action.
Proven ability to influence at all levels, including Operations, Commercial, and Finance partners.
Strong project management and organizational skills; able to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
Clear and concise communication skills, both written and verbal.
Demonstrated capability in continuous improvement, standard work development, and change management.
High degree of ownership, urgency, and follow-through.

Nice To Haves

multi-site manufacturing experience strongly preferred

Responsibilities

Own corporate inventory control processes, standards, and KPIs for supply materials at all manufacturing and distribution locations.
Lead surplus and obsolete inventory management, including prevention, monitoring, and disposition strategies to minimize write-offs to protect overall P&L performance.
Manage inventory turns performance, setting targets by category and location, and driving actions to balance working capital, capacity, and service.
Oversee inventory accuracy, including reconciliation, variance analysis, and root-cause corrective actions.
Lead cycle count management, ensuring effective programs at all sites with standard procedures, schedules, and reporting.
Develop and maintain inventory policies (safety stock, reorder points, MOQ, lead times) in alignment with Commercial, Operations, and Finance.
Manage and lead volume demand for annual budgeting.
Lead new product development planning for materials, from initial pipeline fill, replenishment, maturity and end-of-life.
Partner with Sales, R&D, Operations, and Supply Chain to translate launch plans into clear inventory and capacity requirements.
Design and execute pipeline fill strategies that support customer launches while effectively managing risk of obsolescence.
Establish and monitor replenishment parameters through product maturity, adjusting based on demand, performance, and customer requirements.
Plan and manage decline / end-of-life inventory strategies to minimize residual stock and write-offs.
Provide dotted-line leadership to material managers across Crown bakeries, aligning them to corporate inventory standards, tools, and KPIs.
Serve as relief material manager when required, providing coverage for vacancies, vacations, or critical transitions.
Act as the hiring manager for Material Manager roles, including selection, onboarding, training, and performance input.
Build a strong community of practice for material managers, sharing best practices and driving standard work across locations.
Partner with plant leadership to ensure appropriate support and processes (e.g., production scheduling, shipping/receiving) are in place to enable effective material management.
Collaborate with Supply Chain systems, Finance, and Operations teams to ensure planning and inventory parameters are accurate and optimized within Crown’s ERP/MRP (e.g., Sage) and related tools.
Develop and maintain standard reports and dashboards for surplus/obsolete inventory, inventory accuracy, cycle counts, and turns by plant / product / customer.
Use data and analytics to identify trends, risks, and opportunities, and lead cross-functional problem-solving to address root causes.
Drive continuous improvement initiatives to simplify and systematize inventory planning and control processes across the network.
Manage new items and new supplier set up in our ERP system.
Manage and create inventory reports in our ERP system.
Partner with Sales, and Customer Service to balance service requirements with inventory and capacity constraints.
Drive cross-functional alignment with Operations and Plant Leadership to integrate inventory planning with production schedules, storage capacity, and labor considerations.
Collaborate with Finance to support inventory valuation, reserves, and budgeting; provide inputs and explanations for inventory-related variances.
Support key strategic initiatives that impact inventory, such as network changes, new capacity, system upgrades, and major customer transitions.