Demand Planner

Tropicale Foods - Ontario, CA

Full-time - Mid Level

Remote - Ontario, CA

Food Manufacturing

About the position

The Demand Planner at Tropicale Foods, LLC is responsible for developing and communicating the Demand Plan (forecast) as part of the Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) process. This role involves proactive collaboration across various departments to ensure accurate forecasting that drives supply chain and financial planning activities. The Demand Planner must effectively analyze data and communicate insights to different stakeholders, ensuring that production and inventory plans align with business objectives.

Responsibilities

• Drive forecast inputs through analysis and collaboration with Sales Team.
• Build upon and enhance proprietary Demand Planning Tools.
• Lead monthly S&OP Demand Consensus Meeting for assigned brands, maintaining baseline/statistical forecasts and collecting Sales and Marketing forecast drivers.
• Develop, modify, and communicate the short- and long-range demand plan to Supply Planning.
• Coordinate all aspects of Demand Planning related to the delivery of projects supporting growth objectives and operational efficiency improvements.
• Track Forecast KPI's including bias, accuracy, and forecast value add to drive improvements.
• Maintain schedules to ensure deliverables are received and outputs are communicated as per the Monthly Rolling Forecast process (MRF).
• Monitor daily dispatch rate for issues, analyze root causes, and implement steps to avoid future impacts.
• Reprioritize work to support department initiatives.
• Ensure impeccable execution of the make and move strategy for timely and cost-efficient production delivery.
• Oversee the Distribution team comprised of one or more Distribution Analysts.
• Facilitate and ensure timely and accurate completion of the product tracing process for recalls.
• Develop, compile, and maintain accurate distribution performance metrics to identify trends and opportunities for optimization.

Requirements

• Ten plus years of experience leading Demand Planning.
• Experience in food manufacturing is a plus.
• Strong understanding of Supply Chain management and experience applying Lean principles.
• Ability to identify and define issues, lead root cause analysis, and develop corrective action plans.
• Strong quantitative and qualitative analytical skills.
• Ability to work remotely and independently while staying engaged and productive.
• Strong negotiation, analytical, critical thinking, and communication skills.
• Proven ability to collaborate and build effective relationships with senior management and peers.
• Demonstrated experience building and leading a regional distribution network.

Nice-to-haves

• Bilingual Spanish is a plus.