Supply Planner

Howmet Aerospace • Brea, CA

2d

About The Position

The Supply Planner is responsible for end-to-end supply planning in a complex, high-mix, high-volume aerospace fastener manufacturing environment. This role owns the development and execution of supply plans for raw materials, purchased components, and manufacturing tooling, while supporting the Long-Term Agreement (MIN MAX) demand planning process. The position also owns long-range material requirements planning, purchasing plan development, and projected material and component spend analysis. The successful candidate will work closely with the GSM team, Procurement, Production Planning, Sales, Operations, Finance, and customers to translate long-range demand into actionable supply and purchasing requirements. This is a highly analytical, hands-on position requiring strong data analysis and critical thinking capabilities. The successful candidate must be comfortable working with large, complex datasets, sophisticated planning models, advanced formulas, and automated reporting. The individual in this role is expected to take ownership of planning processes and business issues from initial identification through analysis, stakeholder coordination, corrective action, and resolution.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Operations, Engineering, Analytics, Finance, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
• Experience in supply planning, demand planning, production planning, materials management, inventory planning, procurement, or a related supply chain function.
• Advanced to expert-level Microsoft Excel skills are required. Candidates must be comfortable independently building, maintaining, and troubleshooting complex analytical models and working extensively with advanced formulas and dynamic array functionality.
• Demonstrated experience working with complex, high-volume datasets and translating analysis into actionable business recommendations.
• Demonstrated ability to identify problems, investigate root causes, coordinate stakeholders, and independently drive issues through to resolution.
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities across long-range and short-term planning horizons.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to participate in customer-facing discussions and communicate complex planning issues clearly.
• Highly self-directed with strong initiative, ownership, curiosity, accountability, and follow-through.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in aerospace, aerospace fasteners, precision manufacturing, metalworking, automotive, or another complex manufacturing environment.
• Experience working with Long-Term Agreements (MIN MAXs), customer forecasts, or contractual demand commitments.
• Experience developing long-range raw material requirements forecasts, purchasing plans, material spend forecasts, or supply budgets.
• Experience working cross-functionally with strategic sourcing, global supply management, procurement, or purchasing organizations.
• Experience in a high-mix, high-volume environment with thousands of active part numbers, complex bills of material, and long or variable supply lead times.
• Experience with ERP systems, manufacturing data structures, and data warehouses.
• Experience with Power Query, VBA, Power BI, Python, or other business intelligence and automation tools.
• Experience with inventory optimization, excess and obsolete inventory reduction, working capital improvement, or material rationalization initiatives.
• Experience developing KPIs, dashboards, recurring reporting, purchasing plans, or management analytics.

Responsibilities

• End-to-End MIN MAX Ownership: Own the MIN MAX process from beginning to end, including collecting and reviewing customer requirements, coordinating directly with customers and internal stakeholders, validating assumptions, resolving demand input discrepancies, and ensuring demand signals are translated into actionable supply and production requirements.
• Participate in and lead customer meetings related to MIN MAX requirements, demand changes, commitments, and planning issues. Clearly communicate planning requirements and follow through on actions resulting from those discussions.
• Coordinate closely with Production Planners, Sales, Procurement, Operations, and other stakeholders to ensure On Time Delivery of MIN MAX program.
• Independently investigate and resolve issues that arise within the MIN MAX process, including demand discrepancies, data issues, supply risks, planning constraints, and execution gaps. Drive issues through to resolution rather than simply identifying or escalating them.
• Long-Range Material Requirements Planning: Develop and maintain long-range forecasts for raw material and purchased component requirements based on MIN MAX demand, customer forecasts, production requirements, inventory positions, lead times, and other relevant planning inputs.
• Work closely with the GSM team to align long-range material requirements with demand forecasts, supply strategies, sourcing considerations, and business requirements.
• Translate long-range demand into time-phased material and component requirements to support supply continuity, purchasing decisions, inventory planning, and financial forecasting.
• Continuously evaluate changes in demand, consumption, supply conditions, inventory, and planning assumptions and update long-range requirements accordingly.
• Purchasing Plan & Spend Forecasting: Develop, maintain, and manage the purchasing plan for raw materials and purchased components required to support forecasted demand and operational requirements.
• Calculate and maintain projected raw material and component spend to support annual budgets, financial planning, forecasting, and management decision-making.
• Analyze planned purchasing requirements, inventory positions, demand trends, lead times, and expected consumption to identify anticipated purchasing needs and spending requirements.
• Work closely with Procurement to communicate purchasing requirements, align purchase activity with the approved purchasing plan, and monitor execution against plan.
• Track actual and projected purchasing activity against planned requirements and spend, identify significant variances, and coordinate actions necessary to maintain alignment with changing business conditions.
• Proactively identify purchasing, supply, inventory, or execution risks that could impact the plan and work cross-functionally to develop and implement appropriate corrective actions.
• Supply Planning: Develop, maintain, and execute supply plans for raw materials, purchased components, and manufacturing tooling required to support customer demand, production requirements, long-term agreements, and business objectives.
• Monitor supply health and identify emerging risks, recurring shortages, material constraints, tooling concerns, and other conditions that could impact production or customer commitments.
• Take ownership of supply-related issues by performing root-cause analysis, coordinating cross-functional corrective actions, and driving sustainable solutions to recurring or systemic problems.
• Inventory Optimization: Lead and support inventory reduction and optimization initiatives focused on reducing excess, obsolete, slow-moving, and otherwise inefficient inventory while protecting material availability and customer service.
• Analyze inventory positions, demand trends, consumption patterns, lead times, supply constraints, and planning parameters to identify inventory optimization and working capital opportunities.
• Develop and implement recommendations related to stocking strategies, safety stock, inventory exposure, material disposition, and supply planning parameters.
• KPI Development, Automation & Continuous Improvement: Design, develop, automate, and maintain planning and supply chain KPIs, dashboards, and recurring management reporting.
• Create meaningful metrics related to demand coverage, inventory health, supply performance, material availability, projected spend, MIN MAX performance, planning execution, and other critical business objectives.

Benefits

• The base pay range for this position in California, $80,000 - $100,000/year. Pay is based on market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level