Senior Demand Planner

About the Company:

Pourshins has been working with airlines around the world for over twenty years to remove the complexity involved in the management of a global inflight catering supply chain by continuously striving for supply chain innovation and operational excellence. Pourshins were the first to develop and utilize specific IT tools, designed for the management of the airlines supply chain, including innovative functionalities such as demand supply planning, equipment forecasting, galley planning and catering inventory management.

Job Summary:

The Senior Demand Planner will lead a team of Demand Planners and Supply Chain Planners to control all aspects of customer demand and inventory management to support the business. You will be responsible for providing supply chain planning services for increased forecasting accuracy, reduced inventory & obsolete costs as well as improved customer satisfaction and profitability. Key activities include demand forecasting and planning; inventory & safety stock planning; supply network planning; distribution planning, supply chain modelling and design. You will also be responsible to aggregate anticipated demand across geographical locations and product portfolios; factors in variability for inventory and safety stock planning; conducts tactical planning and sourcing decisions; plans optimal distribution channels and routes for a responsive supply chain.

In this role, you must be comfortable communicating with a diverse range of stakeholders from various functions and liaising with senior managers on a regular basis while acting as a subject matter expert on various supply chain related activities.

Main Duties & Responsibilities:

Team Management:

Deliver robust and timely forward planning for range or cycle changes and discontinuation of products, ensuring customer KPIs are met.
Ensure all reports for airlines and internal customers, including financial summaries, are delivered on time and to quality standard
Identify & communicate supply/demand conflicts and imbalances to determine trade-offs & potential service/fill risks
Serve as the point-person for escalation of demand and supply-related issues
Work closely as a team with all internal stakeholders, including Sales, Logistics Operations, Service Delivery and Finance teams to drive continuous improvement to procedures and processes
Help to prepare airline presentations and attend meetings and conference calls as required
Hold regular team meetings and 1-2-1s with direct reports to examine both team and individual performance and review short and mid-term business objectives
Manage ad hoc planning and project tasks in Operations, planning, tracking, and following up as required

Forecast Creation:

Understand, interpret, and utilise a wide range of data, to create a series of forecast models which each meet the unique requirements of the specified airlines and account managers.
Manage the input, calculation, and extraction of forecasts, alongside a schedule developed to allow for stock optimisation.
Coordinate and communicate forecasts both internally and externally and maintain positive relationships with all recipients of the forecast. Demonstrate a clear and concise understanding of the information provided, to instruct and influence its users, whilst remaining highly responsive to feedback.
Continually reassess where forecasts may be required and existing forecasts improved, e.g., promotional activities, seasonal fluctuations, extended forecasts, and burn-off programs.

Forecast Analysis:

Utilise all data available (airline data, system data, and management/supplier data), as well as incorporating business intelligence, to validate forecast information as well as investigating any perceived anomalies.
Analyse current data alongside new demand drivers, and business intelligence to help predict the future impact of change, and map solutions.
Present an extensive, detailed analysis of all forecast variances, as well as a comparison to previous months and versions, to all users and impacted management.
Create and maintain forecast accuracy measurements and present this as comprehensive information, via a series of reports highlighting elements such as inventory value, variance to targets issued, league table of accuracy per supplier/ airline etc. to senior management.

Demand Planning:

Maintain the planning software to ensure it carries current system data, whilst capturing historic trends
Continuously revise forecast data and methodology to ensure demand planning remains flexible to change and advancement
Generate statistical forecast models to assist in the development of inventory strategies
Being responsible for creating, amalgamating, and re-evaluating management reports, and distributing these to the senior management team
Improving relationships among planners via information sharing, close communication, and detailed explanation
Detailed understanding of how to modify, expand, and improve current processes
Being responsive to any queries in relation to data quality, and troubleshoot any errors

Reporting:

Responsible for formulating, improving, and distributing a series of reports for senior management as per the requirements of the business, delivered on time and to prescribed quality standards. This currently includes, but is not limited to:
Forecast Performance Reports
Direct delivery invoicing and analysis
Stock management reports
Cyclical inventory analysis
Supplier management reports
Quality control reports

Additional Responsibilities:

Ensure the demand planners maintain forecasting parameters in the Planning Tool as well as Forecaster.
Work closely with supply planners to ensure that master data in ERP (ROSS) is accurate
Document and implement best practice, following Standard Operating Procedures
Plan and cover for other planners as required
Coach demand planners and supply planners when necessary
Manage risks and issues and provide regular status updates to Management

Qualifications

Education:

Graduate level education is preferred, ideally centred around business or a relevant Supply Chain Qualification

Work Experience:

Must have previous work experience in supply chain in an FMCG environment
Must have previous experience within Forecasting and/or Demand Planning
Ability to conduct relevant root cause analysis
Experience of working with and using Supply Chain Demand Planning software (e.g. SAP IBP, SAP APO, Logility) is an advantage

Skills and Knowledge:

Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office,
Must be an advanced MS Excel user (including VBA)
Strong verbal and written communication skills
Ability to present analysis/findings effectively
Ability to influence and Strong influencing skills