Regional Business Unit Planner

Festo USA; Mason (OH); On-site; USD 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401k

Paid holidays

Paid time off

Educational assistance

Pet Insurance

Job summary

Festo USA is seeking a Regional Business Planner to lead demand planning, collaborate with Sales, PMM, and HQ BU Management, and optimize the forecasting process. You will own capacity evaluation and material planning for the value stream, working with procurement and inventory teams to ensure optimal stocking strategies.

You will also drive advanced planning using Maestro and contribute to AI-driven market insights.

Qualifications

• Bachelor or master's degree in business administration, economics or engineering.
• APICS certification is a plus.
• 3-5 years of relevant business experience.
• Proficiency in supply chain planning tools and software (e.g., SAP, Rapid Response Maestro).
• Expertise in Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP).
• Strong knowledge of procurement, production planning and scheduling.
• Advanced MS Office and Analysis for Office (AO).
• Hands-on implementation skills and change management capability.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the S&OP process by aligning sales, PMMs and supply chain around a consensus forecast.
• Own and improve forecast accuracy and bias KPIs, conducting root-cause analysis and corrective actions.
• Lead regular demand review meetings and communicate key insights, risks and actions.
• Develop end-to-end demand planning and update short-to-long term forecasts, incorporating promotions and launches.
• Manage the tDCA process to align demand and production.
• Ensure HQ-defined routines are completed on time.
• Collaborate with Customer Planning and CUP2 projects and operate Maestro for forecasting.

Job description

Our curiosity has made us a driving force in automation technology for decades. Today, we have more than 20,000 employees all over the world working towards our vision of inspiring customers with intelligent and intuitive industrial automation solutions.

We want to keep the world moving, so we’re looking for inventive talents and team players – in other words, colleagues who can make a real contribution.

Summary of job contents

The Regional Business Planner is responsible for leading and continuously improving the demand planning processes by fostering strong collaboration across Sales, PMM, and HQ BU Management team. Integrate short and long-term forecast based on roundtables, market trends, historical patterns, promotional activities, and corporate strategy. Aim to maximize forecast accuracy and minimize bias, adding value to the planning process. Regular monitor to the business and proactively analyses any deviation from the forecast.

Will be the owner of KMAT Planning and Capacity evaluation of the Value Stream associated to the Business Unit. Responsible for the correct planning of configurable materials and their components, working with the Procurement Team and Inventory Analyst in the appropriate stocking strategy. Lead the tDCA and RCCP process to ensure the correct capacity and FTEs to satisfy the demand by minimizing the cost.

The BU Planner will also have active role in the CUP2 process, support Operations projects and participate in Phase in and Phase Process.

Key Accountabilities

• Contributor to the S&OP process, aligning sales, PMMs and Supply Chain teams around a reliable, consensus-based forecast.
• Own and improve forecast accuracy and bias KPIs, conducting root cause analysis and driving corrective actions.
• Lead regular demand review meetings, highlighting key insights, risks, and required actions.
• Develop end-to-end demand planning cycle and update short-to-long term demand forecasts, incorporating promotions, new launches, partnership with customers, and historical trends.
• Responsible for tDCA process, to align Demand and Production.
• Responsible to ensure routines determined by HQ are complete on time.
• Collaboration with Customer Planning and CUP2 projects.
• Operate advanced planning tool Maestro to generate accurate forecasts across product families.
• Responsible for regular SNP tasks associated to KMAT planning.
• Component planning of the first stockable level to ensure material availability for production.
• Maintain process documentation and training materials, contributing to knowledge sharing and standardization.
• Incorporate AI tools for market insights, based on economic situation, customers expectations, commodities, GDP and competitors.
• Optimize use of planning system Maestro, identifying opportunities and promoting adoption of new functionalities across teams.
• Be open minded and share constructive feedback for improvement with the Process Team in HQ.
• Support corporate change management and cultural change.
• Continuous improvement in local and global processes.
• AI and analytics champion, looking for efficiency, automation and having more accurate data.
• Facilitate cross-functional alignment by leading regular monthly forecast consensus meetings with Sales, PMMs and Supply Chain teams to ensure shared ownership of demand plans.
• Act as a central communication bridge between Procurement, HQ BU planning, Production and customer-facing teams, ensuring forecast updates, constraints, and demand signals are clearly communicated.
• Collaborate closely via Roundtables with Sales teams to gather market insights, promotional input, and customer expectations — translating these into accurate demand forecasts.
• Coordinate with global and regional planning hubs, ensuring integrated information flow through the system.
• Provide forecast-related insights and reports to Management and other departments, enabling data-driven decision-making across the organization.
• Facilitate transparency and accountability in planning processes by sharing forecast performance KPIs, risks, and mitigation actions with all relevant stakeholders (Sales, PMM, HQ BU Planners, Management)
• Support business partners by sharing knowledge, best practices, and tools that enhance planning effectiveness and analytical thinking.
• Demonstrate planning leadership in cross-departmental projects, acting as the key demand planning voice in business decisions, new product launches, and strategic planning platforms.
• Support alignment and motivation across teams by effectively communicating the impact of planning accuracy on business performance and customer satisfaction.
• Build influence without authority, driving engagement and alignment across multiple stakeholders (Sales, PMM, HQ BU Planners, Management) even in matrixed or indirect reporting environments.

Knowledge And Experience

• Bachelor and/or master’s degree in business administration, Economics or Engineering.
• APICS certification is a plus
• 3-5 years of relevant business experience necessary.
• Proficiency in supply chain planning tools and software (e.g., SAP, Rapid Response Maestro or comparable)
• Expertise in Sales & Operations Planning
• Strong knowledge in processes like Procurement, Production Planning & Scheduling.
• Basic knowledge of Sales and Order Management
• Advanced knowledge of MS Office and Analysis for Office (AO)
• Implementation (Hands-On) skills
• Motivational, Inspirational and Convincing skills
• Change Management skills

Benefits

Festo Corporation offers a robust benefits package, which is designed to help employees and their dependents stay healthy, feel secure and maintain a work/life balance. This is just one way we strive to provide employees with a rewarding workplace. As an effort to keep pace with healthcare trends, Festo Corporation is committed to providing a comprehensive benefits package to its employees which includes Medical, Dental, Vision, Flexible Spending Programs, Short-term and Long-term disability, 401k, Pet Insurance, Paid Holidays, Paid time off, Educational assistance and many more.

Festo is an equal opportunity employer. We believe that the best way to attract and retain a diverse workforce is to encourage a culture of inclusion within our organization. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.