Strategic Supply Planner

American Greetings•Westlake, OH

2d•Onsite

About The Position

This Strategic Supply Planner position serves as a primary Supply Chain contact for and between Product teams, Space & Floor Planning, Supply Chain partners, manufacturing and distribution. This is a dual role including both demand and supply planning responsibilities. The Supply Planner will hold ownership to retail and/or eCommerce programs comprised of 3000- 4000 SKUs. In this role, your primary goal is to manage product supply to DC to support corporate service level targets, program objectives and inventory plans. In addition, the Strategic Supply Planner will be expected to regularly conduct SKU and aggregate level ad-hoc analysis using various data resources including shipments, POS, forecasts, inventory balances and distribution. The position will be counted on to provide best practices, system and technical expertise to the rest of the Supply Team.

Requirements

5+ years experience in Supply Chain, Business analytics or Business Operations with a focus on forecasting and inventory management, preferably with a Consumer Products company
Ability to demonstrate proficient communication and interpersonal skills while interacting with peers and management
Strong analytical, problem solving and technical skills
Ability to work in a team environment and independently
Ability to manage cross-functional meetings reaching a set of objectives within a given timeframe
Ability to make sound business recommendations and decisions
Ability to handle heavy workloads in a fast paced environment
Demonstrate leadership in a team environment
Demonstrated ability of learning agility and adaptability
Strong organizational skills with attention to detail
Advanced PC skills to include knowledge of Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Microsoft Power BI (preferred)
Bachelor’s Degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations or other business-related field

Nice To Haves

SAP and IBP experience preferred

Responsibilities

Accountable to develop, update and finalize item level baseline and event shipment forecasts over an 18-month planning horizon
Analyzing, cleansing and refining product forecasts based on demand history, seasonality, forecast accuracy and DC/retail turn rates
Comprehension of item level forecast impacts on service and inventory levels
Analyze eCommerce POS trends at the item level and translate into a shipment forecast to ensure required inventory levels are met to support incoming POs
Ability to identify, investigate and resolve variances in forecast accuracy at the item and aggregate level and communicate potential issues to the Lead Supply Planner or Supply Planning Manager
Lead discussions with Product and Supply partners to identify & capture known future events in the demand plan
Validate event level demand assumptions and objectives: analyze, develop and recommended a demand plan including new product introduction, distribution changes and execution intents
Establish & sustain alignment with POSR to retail replenishment policies
Roll-up of item level forecasts (both baseline and event) into an aggregated level demand plan
Ability to interpret different demand, POS, and distribution data sources to identify trends requiring proactive and prescriptive actions
Proactively identify opportunity for continuous improvement of forecasting and demand planning processes and provide recommendations to the Supply Planning team
Translation of item level forecasts into production orders to maintain distribution center inventory levels to support corporate retail inventory objectives
Managing replenishment of cycle stock through established supply planning order policies
Prioritizing firmed production orders with both internal manufacturing and suppliers (within capacities) to balance replenishment and event driven inventory requirements
Conversion of event demand plans into an aggregate and item level manufacturing plan
Tracking firmed event production orders to ensure on time delivery of the right quantities
Lead discussions with Manufacturing, Capacity Planning, and Global Sourcing to convey upcoming event production volumes and order priorities
Managing DC finished goods inventory to minimize obsolescence and scrap liability during product transitions
Ability to identify, investigate and resolve root cause to disruptions in supply service levels and communicate to the Lead Supply Planner or Supply Planning Manager
Ability to interpret different inventory data sources to identify potential future issues requiring proactive and prescriptive actions
Proactively identify opportunity for continuous improvement across all Supply Planning processes and provide recommendations to the Demand and Supply Planning team