About the Role
Develop and maintain a reliable demand forecast and translate it into a feasible supply plan by integrating statistical analysis, structured cross-functional collaboration, and coordination of inventory transfers. This role transforms customer, market, promotional, and inventory information into a consensus demand plan and an actionable supply plan, ensuring product availability, service level performance, and a single source of truth across Demand Planning, Supply Planning, Operations, and Finance.
Responsibilities
- Develop short-, medium-, and long-term forecasts by SKU, customer, channel, product family, or category.
- Analyze historical sales, customer orders, trends, seasonality, promotions, events, and customer purchasing behavior.
- Apply statistical forecasting models and adjust forecasts based on validated commercial insights.
- Manage new product introductions, product substitutions, phase-in/phase-out activities, intermittent demand, and low-volume items.
- Document forecast assumptions, changes, owners, and demand drivers.
- Coordinate regular demand review meetings with Sales, Key Account Managers, Marketing, and Commercial Leadership.
- Gather and validate information related to promotions, new business opportunities, customer additions and discontinuations, pricing changes, product launches, and exceptional orders.
- Challenge forecast increases or reductions that lack supporting data, customer commitment, SKU detail, timing, or defined probability.
- Translate qualitative commercial inputs into measurable forecast adjustments and track agreed-upon action items.
- Develop short-, medium-, and long-term supply plans based on the demand forecast, customer orders, available and in-transit inventory, open purchase orders, lead times, and supply constraints.
- Convert the consensus demand plan into supply requirements by SKU, source, location, quantity, and required delivery date.
- Analyze inventory coverage, safety stock, backorders, critical materials, excess inventory, slow-moving items, and obsolescence risks.
- Validate MRP/DRP recommendations and adjust planning parameters or exceptions when operational conditions require.
- Recommend allocation priorities during supply constraints, considering service level targets, customer criticality, and regional availability.
- Plan and request inventory transfers between manufacturing plants, distribution centers, countries, or approved supply sources.
- Evaluate the most appropriate supply source for each requirement based on inventory availability, production capacity, lead times, transit times, constraints, and business priorities.
- Monitor transfer requests, transfer orders, confirmations, shipments, in-transit inventory, and receipt of materials.
- Coordinate with Logistics and International Trade regarding shipping schedules, documentation, shipment consolidation, and transportation risks.
- Escalate cases requiring supplier intervention, commercial changes, negotiations, or external capacity support to the Procurement team.
- Measure Forecast Accuracy, Forecast Bias, WAPE, MAPE, and Absolute Error across different levels of aggregation.
- Develop baseline, optimistic, and constrained supply-demand scenarios for changes such as supplier delays, capacity reductions, unexpected demand increases, or shifting business priorities.
- Quantify the impact of each scenario on Fill Rate, backorders, inventory coverage, inventory levels, logistics costs, and product availability dates.
- Analyze deviations between forecasts, customer orders, actual sales, and plan execution to identify root causes.
- Segment products and customers using differentiated planning methodologies such as ABC/XYZ analysis.
- Present clear recommendations, planning assumptions, identified risks, and required actions to support business decision-making.
- Deliver a complete, timely, and consensus-based demand and supply plan to all relevant stakeholders.
- Communicate significant changes in demand or supply, potential stockout risks, and inventory reduction opportunities.
- Participate in S&OP, IBP, MRP, executive planning reviews, and budgeting processes when applicable.
- Maintain planning master data, including lead times, transit times, lot sizes, minimum order quantities, order multiples, safety stock levels, and assigned supply sources.
- Prepare reports on product availability, shortages, inventory coverage, and plan adherence.
- Ensure a single, aligned version of demand and supply data across planning systems and corporate reporting.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering, Actuarial Science, Economics, Statistics, Business Administration, Logistics, Supply Chain Management, International Trade, or a related field.
- 3 to 5 years of experience combining Demand Planning (forecasting and commercial planning) and Supply Planning (DRP/MRP, inventory management, inventory transfers, or internal replenishment).
- Experience collaborating with commercial and operations teams, and presenting analyses and recommendations to leadership.
- Experience in the automotive, distribution, retail, consumer goods, aftermarket parts, manufacturing, or other industries with a high number of SKUs and multiple distribution locations is preferred.
- Intermediate to advanced English proficiency preferred, along with training or certifications in S&OP, IBP, Forecasting, APICS, or CPIM.
Skills
- Statistical forecasting models
- Demand review meetings
- MRP/DRP
- Inventory management
- Inventory transfers
- Internal replenishment
- S&OP
- IBP
- Forecasting
- APICS
- CPIM
- ABC/XYZ analysis
Experience Level
- 3 to 5 years
Education Level
- Bachelor's degree
