Sr. Demand Planner

Full-time - Mid Level

Colmar, PA

1,001-5,000 employees

Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods

About the position

As a Senior Demand Planner for Dorman Products, you will be responsible for maintaining a product demand forecast for a portfolio of automotive parts for the North America aftermarket. You will partner with the Product Management and Sales teams to monitor sell-through and major account forecasts. You will collaborate with Supply Planning and Procurement teams to develop and maintain demand planning strategies and monthly category/SKU-level forecasts. You will be accountable for planning deliverables and meeting facilitation, in accordance with the monthly planning calendar and in support of the corporate Sales, Inventory & Operations Planning (SI&OP) process. In addition to your product portfolio, you will be responsible for driving a value add collaboration with one of our key customers.

Responsibilities

• Own a product category demand plan. Maintain forecast for a large subset of SKUs through exception management and analytics of inputs that include historical sales, market trends, seasonality, promotions, lifecycle, customer POS, and customer projections to maximize forecast accuracy.
• Conduct a monthly 'deep dive' of high-value and high-variance SKUs. Collaborate with Product Management, Sales, and Supply Management to prepare findings and recommendations for review at the monthly Pre-SIOP Meetings.
• Work with the Product Teams to ensure new product launch plans and initial volumes are properly planned. Closely monitor early-life sales and adjust forecasts promptly as required - particularly for high-value and high-variance SKUs.
• Partner with Supply Chain Management functions to develop and deploy end-to-end supply chain initiatives that optimize serviceability while maximizing inventory turns.
• Participate in and prepare for Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) calls with our strategic customers, reviewing data sets such as forecast variance, inventory performance, product lifecycle reviews, and consensus planning.
• Strive to continuously improve Demand Planning's process and KPIs by creating and distributing new reporting, advancing analytics, assisting in logic and system adjustments, and influencing peers.
• Promote an environment of teamwork and cooperation. Be mindful of internal stakeholder needs and priorities. Communicate effectively to ensure alignment on key issues and initiatives and draw insights from cross functional teams to enhance and improve business processes and performance.

Requirements

• Strong competencies in data analytics, business process analysis and improvement, and problem solving.
• Proven advanced proficiency using analysis tools including MS Excel (pivot tables, lookups, etc.), BI tools (such as Oracle Discoverer, SAP BO, etc.)
• Demonstrated success as a valuable contributor within a team.
• Outstanding verbal communication skills with the ability to influence and the ability to interact collaboratively and lead with effective partnerships.
• Proficiency in preparing effective business presentations and facilitating business meetings.
• Ability to recognize opportunities, problem resolution, and recommend solutions to meet business objectives.
• Seeks to be a leader, possesses a positive attitude, and wants to be in a position of influence.
• Result-oriented and self-motivated with a strong sense of urgency.
• Multi-tasking, ability to manage a variety of professional assignments simultaneously.
• Experience with ERP planning systems is preferred. Experience with SAP Advance Planning & Optimization (APO) module is a plus.
• Understanding of planning process fundamentals and concepts in manufacturing. Background in master scheduling, forecasting, procurement, planning and DRP/MRP functionality a plus.
• APICS of other forecasting certification preferred.
• Physical Requirement: Capability to lift 20 pounds.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with ERP planning systems is preferred.
• Experience with SAP Advance Planning & Optimization (APO) module is a plus.
• APICS or other forecasting certification preferred.

Benefits

• Equal opportunity employer; values a combination of ideas, perspectives, and cultures.