WMS Wave Planning Manager

L'OCCITANE Group (B Corp); Cranbury Township (NJ); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

L’OCCITANE Group is seeking a WMS Wave Planning Manager to lead a small team that groups orders into waves for efficient picking and fulfillment. The role emphasizes workload planning, prioritization for B2B/B2C, and collaboration with IT to optimize the WMS configuration.

You will supervise two wave planners and one analyst, ensuring accurate forecasting, staffing, and performance measurement while maintaining exceptional customer satisfaction through improved throughput and on-time delivery.

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s Degree preferred.
• Experience: 5+ years’ experience working in Order Planning Fulfillment using a WMS, preferably Manhattan SCALE.

Responsibilities

• Oversee workload planning strategy and streamline processes using the current planning application.
• Lead two wave planners and one analyst, aligning daily, weekly and monthly plans with shipping windows and carrier pickup times.
• Coordinate with Production, Shipping and Receiving Managers to develop cross-training programs and ensure effective communication of priorities.
• Monitor KPI trends, document SOPs, and drive improvements in wave creation, order release, and capacity planning.

Skills

Microsoft Suite

Active Listening

Time Management

Coordination

Critical Thinking

Communication

Problem Solving

Education

Bachelor’s Degree

Tools

Manhattan SCALE

Job description

We are seeking a highly organized and detail-oriented WMS Wave Planning Manager to join our dynamic warehouse team. In this role, you will be responsible for overseeing a team of two (2) wave planners that utilize our Warehouse Management System (WMS) to efficiently group orders into “waves” for picking and fulfillment. Your expertise will help optimize our warehouse operations by considering factors such as delivery dates, priorities, and available labor, ensuring smooth and timely order processing. You will also be responsible for overseeing one (1) analyst that will bring data driven information to help identify areas for improvement. Your role plays a crucial part in efficient operations and maintaining outstanding customer satisfaction.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Workload Planning Strategy
  • Review the existing status of Operations workload planning and develop streamlined processes and workflows. This involves utilizing the latest version of Manhattan SCALE 2023 or any other relevant planning application used by the company.
  • Using ECOM forecast and BM promo and campaign schedules to plan prioritization strategies for the workload execution for the year, month, week, shift, hour workload, considering customers shipping windows and carriers pick up times.
  • Understanding and segmenting what needs to be fulfilled for the current date using a pre-defined priority for B2B and B2C customers
  • Understanding and segmenting what needs to be fulfilled for the future, (Including orders that require VAS activities) giving clear directions about when actions can be executed for future shipments.
• Personnel and Department Management
  • Ensure daily, weekly, and monthly expectations are clearly defined for the coordinators in the team.
  • Partner with Production, Shipping and Receiving Managers to develop Cross training Programs.
  • Ensure priorities schedule is updated and communicated internally.
  • Meet weekly (minimum; or as needed) with Operations Outbound Planning manager and Analyst Operations Slotting to be clear about workload, estimate headcount needs and formulate plans to accomplish the expectations.
  • Assess how team members performance is currently measured and develop new strategies to measure performance, determine productivity standards per role and accountability.
  • Ensure any process executed in the Order Fulfilment Planning OPS is documented in SOP format and maintain the SOPs going forward.
  • Coach department through dedicated weekly meetings and in-the-moment feedback.
• Safety, Security and Housekeeping
  • Adhere to safety policies and procedures.
  • Understand building security procedures and assist in opening and closing duties as needed.
  • Ensure the department meets the NADC cleanliness and organization standards.
• Systematic Configurations
  • Partner with IT Applications and Supply Chain Engineering to ensure the current WMS is set up correctly for a successful workload planning.
  • Configure and reviewing performance of the system driven planning filters.
  • Report wrong configuration of Items that prevent the correct order waving and releasing.
• Planning Preparation and execution
  • Considering forecasted workload for B2C and B2B provide headcount estimation for Processing and Shipping managers.
  • Understanding Distribution Center Fulfilment capacity to communicate risks when the workload surpasses the capacity.
  • Provide clear guidelines to Coordinators to execute the Processing planning daily strategies.
  • Clearly communicate any capacity constraints to the appropriate internal or external organization channels in the event of an order fulfilment risk(s)
• KPI and Reporting
  • Keep track of daily activity planned.
  • Develop KPI(s) and reporting that measure the effectiveness of the planning release flow.
  • Ensure the department documentation (hard copies and electronic) are correctly filed for easy retrieval.
• New Brands Onboarding
  • As new brands are joining the operation, create an onboarding plan to integrate them into current operations.
  • Understand the business requirements and propose actions plans to meet them.
  • Ensure communication of the onboarding is clear to all management.
• Effective Communication :
  • Maintain open lines of communication with key Internal and external partners.
  • Schedule meetings that require stakeholders’ attention, send email meeting recap, follow up the actions that need to be taken.
  • Reply emails and communications in a timely manner.
  • Regularly touch base with the team and with customers to inquire about any changes to routing guides, carrier pricing, or negotiation.
  • Share your concerns and stay informed and keep the team informed.
  • Communicate clearly, concisely, and respectfully by adapting your tone, staying on topic, and actively listening to others.
  • Open to respond to Job Related texts or calls off the schedule Operation Schedule.
• Encourage a proactive approach to planning challenges.
• See problems as an opportunities to improve the processes.
• Propose new processes and ideas to improve the customer experience and reduce chargebacks.
• Seek feedback from stakeholders to enhance department processes.
• Customer Service Mind set:
• Actively listen to the stakeholders in your ecosystem to understand their unique needs and challenges. Work on anticipating stakeholder requirements and exceed their expectations.
• Take ownership of stakeholder issues, ensuring follow-through creating accountability if the promised commitments were not delivered.
• Create the culture of: “Learning from mistakes and adapting improves our service.”
• Understand that Service mentality is not just the end customer but everyone in the organization.
• Provide support to the DC Operation when necessary.
• Any other responsibility can be added to this role as per management discretion.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS:

• Workload Execution Timeliness: Meeting shipping windows and carriers' pickup time is essential. This KPI assesses how well workload planning aligns with these timeframes.
• Workload Capacity Utilization: Monitor the utilization of the distribution center's fulfillment capacity. This KPI helps identify potential bottlenecks when workload exceeds capacity, allowing proactive risk communication.
• Documentation Adherence Rate: Documenting activity, SOPs, meeting recaps email etc. is crucial to ensure consistency and efficiency. This KPI evaluates how well the role and team adheres to documented processes.
• Processing and Shipping Headcount Efficiency: Evaluate the accuracy of headcount estimations provided for processing and shipping managers. Efficient staffing ensures smooth execution of daily strategies.

REQUIREMENTS:

Education: Bachelor’s Degree preferred.

Experience: 5+ years’ experience working in Order Planning Fulfillment using a WMS preferable Manhattan SCALE

SKILLS:

• Microsoft Suite – Advanced Proficiency
• Able to multi-task on many high-level topics at once.
• Active Listening — Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking — Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Coordination — Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
• Critical Thinking — Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Management of Personnel Resources — Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
• Reading Comprehension — Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Time Management — Managing one's own time and the time of others.
• Able to work with others for a common goal.
• Able to work independently and follow detailed directions.
• Adhere to all safety procedures in the performance of job duties.
• Good communication, organizational, time management, and mathematical skills.
• Able to use internal email system to communicate across multiple levels.
• Dependable and reliable.
• Identify information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
• Able to think critically and make suggestions for continual improvements.

PHYSICAL & TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS:

• Offer flexibility to work or answering communications in extended hours, weekends or night shift based on business needs.
• Weekend or holiday hours can be added at discretion of Management.
• Able to work in a fast paced and under time pressure environment.
• Warehouse environment with seasonal temperature variations.
• Extensive sitting in front of a computer for long periods of time.
• Specific vision abilities required for this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust and focus.
• L’Occitane Distribution Center Management could request 24 hours in advance an early start or late closing based on workload