Demand Planner

About the Company

Founded over a century ago, we are a leading manufacturer specializing in innovative aseptic food and beverage processing solutions. With a strong commitment to quality, safety, and continuous improvement, we partner with customers to bring products from concept to full‑scale production. Our collaborative culture focuses on communication, employee wellness, and ongoing professional development while investing in modern technologies and advanced manufacturing capabilities.

Why Join Us

• High‑Visibility Position: Directly influence demand planning, inventory strategy, service levels, and working capital.
• Strategic Ownership: Own forecast accuracy, forecast bias, and key demand planning KPIs.
• Cross‑Functional Exposure: Partner closely with Sales, Marketing, Finance, Supply Planning, Key Account Management, PMO, and senior leadership.
• Advanced Planning Environment: Work with statistical forecasting, SIOP / IBP, ERP systems, BI tools, and dedicated demand planning platforms.
• Continuous Improvement: Help improve forecasting models, planning systems, data quality, KPIs, and planning processes.
• Career Development: Build expertise across demand planning, inventory optimization, commercial planning, NPI, and integrated business planning.

Responsibilities

Demand Planning & Statistical Forecasting

• Develop and maintain rolling statistical baseline forecasts using historical sales, seasonality, trends, and causal factors.
• Apply forecasting methodologies including moving averages, exponential smoothing, regression, and other statistical models.
• Continuously evaluate forecasting parameters to improve forecast accuracy and reduce bias.
• Maintain forecasts at the SKU, product family, and customer ship‑to level.
• Manage short‑, mid‑, and long‑range demand forecasts.
• Incorporate POS data, market indicators, economic data, and other external demand signals where available.

SIOP / IBP

• Lead the demand review portion of the monthly SIOP / IBP cycle.
• Prepare forecast packages and facilitate demand review meetings.
• Present demand plans, variance analysis, assumptions, and key findings to senior leadership.
• Align commercial forecasts with statistical baseline forecasts.
• Challenge and document commercial forecasting assumptions.
• Translate demand plans into accurate and timely supply planning inputs.
• Maintain SIOP / IBP calendars, templates, and process documentation.

Forecast Accuracy & Bias

• Own forecast accuracy metrics including MAPE at the SKU, family, and total business level.
• Conduct monthly forecast accuracy reviews and root‑cause analysis on significant forecast misses.
• Monitor over‑forecasting and under‑forecasting trends.
• Develop corrective actions to improve forecast performance.
• Create and publish demand planning KPI scorecards.
• Benchmark forecasting performance and establish improvement targets.

Commercial & Cross‑Functional Planning

• Partner with Sales, Marketing, and Key Account Management to incorporate customer and market intelligence.
• Incorporate promotional plans, distribution gains, pricing activity, and customer‑level insights into forecasts.
• Validate commercial forecast adjustments against historical performance and statistical trends.
• Model expected demand associated with promotions, pricing changes, and merchandising programs.
• Serve as a demand planning advisor to commercial stakeholders.

New Product & Lifecycle Planning

• Develop launch forecasts for new product introductions.
• Quantify launch risks and forecast uncertainty.
• Coordinate product phase‑in and phase‑out planning.
• Partner with PMO and cross‑functional stakeholders on launch timing and initial inventory requirements.
• Manage end‑of‑life and SKU rationalization planning.
• Reduce obsolete and excess inventory exposure.
• Maintain product lifecycle information within planning systems.

Inventory Optimization

• Provide demand inputs for safety stock and replenishment calculations.
• Analyze demand volatility by SKU and category.
• Identify potential inventory risks and opportunities.
• Support slow‑moving and excess inventory analysis.
• Partner with Supply Planning to align demand and supply plans.
• Identify potential service, inventory, and supply gaps.

Systems & Process Improvement

• Serve as a subject matter expert for demand planning systems and metrics.
• Improve planning tools, workflows, and data quality.
• Partner with IT on system enhancements.
• Maintain planning master data and product hierarchies.
• Support implementation and evaluation of new planning technologies.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Statistics, Economics, or a related field.
• 3–6 years of demand planning, forecasting, or supply chain analytics experience.
• Experience preferably within consumer goods, manufacturing, distribution, CPG, food & beverage, or another high‑SKU environment.
• Strong background in statistical forecasting and practical application of forecasting models.
• Experience working within an S&OP, SIOP, or IBP process.
• Advanced Excel skills including pivot tables, INDEX/MATCH, statistical functions, and scenario modeling.
• Hands‑on ERP system experience.
• Experience measuring and improving forecast accuracy and forecast bias.
• Ability to manage SKU‑level and aggregate forecasting.
• Experience partnering cross‑functionally with Sales, Marketing, Finance, and Supply Planning.
• Dedicated demand planning software experience (e.g., o9 Solutions, Kinaxis RapidResponse, Blue Yonder, E2open, John Galt, Logility, or similar).
• Power BI or Tableau experience.
• Trade Promotion Management / TPM exposure.
• CPG, food & beverage, high‑SKU‑count, or limited‑shelf‑life industry experience.
• APICS CPIM or IBF Certified Professional.
• Professional Forecaster / CPF certification.
• Exposure to machine‑learning‑based forecasting approaches.

Pay

Salary range: $130,000 – $150,000 per year