Demand and Supply Planner

About the role

The Demand Planner is responsible for defining the monthly demand forecast for one or more product groups on a 1-15 month time horizon. To establish this forecast the Demand Planner must use a combination of statistical analysis of sales history, along with enrichment from sales. The enrichment from sales could include information such as new item introductions or customer losses. The Demand Plan/Forecast which is created is crucial input for the IBP process as it becomes the basis for assessing the ability to supply. Therefore, the Demand Planner plays a crucial role as a conduit between Sales and market prospects and Operations. Along with the monthly forecasting process, the Demand Planner is responsible for the in-depth analysis of forecast accuracy performance to identify how to improve forecast accuracy. Exploring different forecasting methods/techniques, how to use the Demand Planning software more effectively and other aspects that will improve the accuracy of the forecast. Job Description: Demand planning is a key role in the IBP process, as the forecast it delivers will enable operations to meet the production targets timely, efficiently and cost effective. The Demand Planner combines a variety of information from sales, supply chain / procurement, and operations (timely, as accurate as possible, and useable in qualitative and quantitative terms) to properly forecast the products that need to be produced. The Demand Planner delivers an important piece of information for the IBP cycle, ensuring that demand is properly planned. The Demand Planner role has typically a planning horizon of 1 to 15 months on monthly buckets and 3 months on weekly buckets The level of the role depends on the scope and complexity, based on the number of customers and the size & complexity of the product portfolio. The Demand Planner works closely with the Supply Planner and the Production Planner. Depending on the size of the organization, these 3 planning roles may be combined into one or two roles, merging the responsibilities of supply and demand planning, and/or production planning. KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES Demand Planning Creates the demand plans based on baseline (statistical) forecast which is enriched by inputs from the commercial teams; for the operational (0-13 weeks) and tactical horizon (4-15 months) Understands how to use statistical forecasting to create a solid baseline forecast and maintains, reviews and cleans historical data and determines if this can be applied to the portfolio. Understand the impact of business dynamics and translate them into the demand plan: NPD, phase-in/out, events, seasonality, tenders, contracts, and activations. If requested, provide different demand scenarios to the supply chain. Secure demand plan constraining in case of supply restrictions and share the results with internal stakeholders (e.g., supply, sales and customer service) Prepares the account & demand review meeting and provides input for the MT IBP meeting with the commercial teams. Follow-up on the decisions/constraints from the IBP cycle of the organisation and/or supply points First point of contact for the commercial organisation for the operational and/or tactical planning horizon Monitoring planning (PDCA-cycle) & Analysis Maintain demand planning master data and systems and software, maintains relevant data and monitors / analyses trends to further enhance the forecast. Drive continuous improvement of the forecast accuracy and bias in alignment with the commercial teams. Monitor, analyse, understand, and challenge the quality of the enrichments provided by the commercial teams (assumptions, deltas, consumption, trends, issues, gaps, risks, opportunities) Identify sales opportunities and risks and propose push sales on available capacities and RM. Coordinate any activities related to the constraining and allocation process for the organisation and/or supply points and ensure the match of demand & supply. Prepares and monitors the KPIs forecast accuracy, bias, and error to help identify improvement areas and monitor performance. Keeps up to date with the latest forecasting theory and concepts to become as effective as possible, including the use of aggregated forecasting techniques and statistical methods. Coordinate with Supply and Commercial teams (bridging commercial and Supply Chain) to determine priorities, corrective, and preventive actions to prevent OOS and Waste in accordance with the internal procedures. Continuously look for opportunities & improvements within daily work context and take ownership in implementing solutions. Collaborative planning Prepares relevant material to facilitate discussion and facilitates/manages the monthly demand meeting, in which the input from Sales & Marketing is discussed beforehand. Achieves consensus for operational demand forecasts by facilitating a collaborative planning process with Sales & Marketing. Collaborate with key customers and planning teams to tend to colla