Supply Planning Analyst - Inventory & Distribution

Lincoln Electric•Euclid, OH

4d•$69,017 - $90,000

About The Position

Lincoln Electric is seeking an analytical and execution-oriented Inventory & Distribution Planner to support its US welding business. The role is primarily responsible for inventory deployment, distribution planning, and network execution across the supply planning organization. It translates supply availability, demand priorities, inventory policies, service requirements, logistics constraints, and network parameters into executable deployment actions that support customer service, inventory health, cost, revenue protection, and business continuity. The position owns specialized inventory and deployment activities for its assigned scope, including excess and obsolete (E&O) disposition coordination, network rebalancing, stock transfer order (STO) allocation planning, out-of-area shipment coordination, distribution exception management, and business continuity deployment response. It works closely with Supply Planners, who own the integrated supply plan across the full planning horizon, and provides deployment, inventory, and network execution inputs to turn planning decisions into action. The role requires inventory discipline, analytical rigor, system aptitude, urgency, and cross-functional communication. The successful candidate will interpret supply and demand signals, identify inventory and distribution imbalances, coordinate deployment across plants and distribution points, manage exception-driven priorities, and provide backup support to Supply Planners when needed. The position reports to the Manager, Supply Planning and has no direct reports. The listed location is Euclid, and the employment status is salary full-time.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in supply chain, business, engineering, operations, analytics, or a related field; alternatively, 7+ years of experience in lieu of a degree.
3+ years of experience in inventory planning, deployment planning, distribution planning, materials planning, supply planning, operations planning, logistics, or a related supply chain role.
Working knowledge of inventory planning, deployment planning, distribution planning, STO processes, network rebalancing, E&O management, service recovery, and supply planning interfaces across short-term and medium-range planning horizons.
Ability to analyze trade-offs across service, inventory, distribution cost, customer priority, network feasibility, and operational execution.
Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
Experience with ERP, inventory, deployment, transportation, and planning tools, including SAP or similar ERP systems.

Nice To Haves

Experience in a manufacturing, distribution, or multi-site supply chain environment.
Experience with SAP IBP, Kinaxis, o9, Palantir, Power BI, Excel, TMS, WMS, or similar planning and analytics tools.

Responsibilities

Own inventory deployment and distribution planning for the assigned scope, including short-term execution priorities, inventory positioning, deployment exceptions, and coordination across plants, warehouses, and distribution points.
Translate supply availability, customer order priorities, inventory policies, transportation constraints, site capabilities, and network parameters into time-phased deployment and distribution recommendations.
Identify excess, shortages, aging inventory, regional imbalances, and service risks; recommend and execute inventory rebalancing actions across the network.
Own STO allocation planning and coordination, including prioritization logic, allocation recommendations, follow-up with sending and receiving locations, and escalation of service or inventory constraints.
Lead E&O inventory review and disposition coordination by identifying exposure, validating root causes, partnering with stakeholders, and advancing recommended actions through governance.
Coordinate out-of-area shipments to protect service, manage inventory imbalances, or support business continuity, aligning priorities, timing, and cost implications with relevant teams.
Develop and coordinate inventory deployment options during supply disruptions, capacity constraints, transportation interruptions, material shortages, plant outages, and other service-impacting events.
Prepare inventory and deployment recommendations for the Manager, Supply Planning, covering service risk, inventory impact, customer priority, logistics feasibility, cost considerations, and decisions or escalations needed.
Monitor inventory exceptions, distribution risks, STO constraints, deployment delays, service gaps, and network imbalances; validate root causes and coordinate mitigation options across functions.
Provide Supply Planners with inventory, deployment, and network execution visibility that informs the integrated supply plan, while owning assigned execution-oriented actions.
Provide inventory and deployment inputs for longer-range network decisions, including stocking strategy, warehouse positioning, inter-site flow assumptions, slow-moving inventory exposure, distribution constraints, and service recovery strategies.
Coordinate with Plant Scheduling, Operations, Logistics, Customer Service, and Supply Planners to align deployment priorities, STO movements, out-of-area shipments, and network recovery with service needs and operational feasibility.
Back up Supply Planners when they are unavailable by supporting near-term supply alignment, exception review, stakeholder communication, and continuity of critical planning processes.
Use standard inventory, deployment, distribution, and planning tools, data definitions, calendars, and processes established by the Supply Planning COE; identify reporting gaps, parameter issues, and improvement opportunities.
Support supply reviews by preparing inventory health summaries, E&O exposure, deployment outlooks, network rebalancing updates, STO status, service risk assessments, recovery actions, and recommended decisions.
Track and analyze service risk, inventory health, days of supply, turns, E&O exposure, STO adherence, deployment cycle time, out-of-area shipment activity, rebalancing effectiveness, and master data quality.
Promote inventory discipline, deployment execution, data quality, root-cause problem solving, and continuous improvement by reinforcing standard work and escalating systemic issues through governance.