Demand Planner Midrand

Saint-Gobain Construction Products SA (Pty) Ltd; Midrand; On-site; ZAR 650,000 - 950,000; Full time

Job summary

Saint-Gobain Construction Products SA (Pty) Ltd is seeking a Demand Planning Specialist to manage the demand planning cycle across regions, collaborating with Sales, Operations, Finance and IT to deliver an unconstrained demand plan. You will drive S&OP best practices to improve forecast accuracy, customer service levels and cost efficiency.

The role requires 3–5 years in supply chain/demand planning, strong SAP/APO knowledge, and experience with ERP/APS systems.

Qualifications

• Supply chain/commercial degree or equivalent.
• CSCP, CPF or CPIM qualifications advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Manage the Demand Planning cycle to ensure a high accuracy forecast is implemented and accessible to stakeholders.
• Design and incorporate the Market Segment Model into demand and sales forecasting.
• Execute local demand schedules, balancing monthly planning and forecasting tools.
• Facilitate demand management for all regions.
• Anticipate abnormal demand and communicate it to relevant parties.
• Assist other Business Units with master data and range management.
• Implement strategies to improve forecast accuracy for Regions, Plants and Service Centres.
• Coordinate budget with Sales, Marketing, Finance and Supply Chain.
• Present budget/forecast and identify gaps monthly.
• Sales vs forecast analysis to develop pricing and promotions strategy.
• Facilitate best practices and gain consensus among experts.
• Correct/fix demand/forecast issues and present final demand plan for monthly reviews.

Skills

Analytical skills

Business acumen

Verbal communication

Written communication

Presentation skills

Stakeholder communication

Team player

Customer focus

Results oriented

Education

Supply chain/commercial degree or equivalent

CSCP/CPF/CPIM certification advantageous

Tools

SAP APO

ERP systems

APS / Advanced Planning

Job description

Duties & Responsibilities

Job Purpose

To manage the demand process in collaboration with Sales, Operations, Finance and IT in order to obtain an unconstrained demand plan which ultimately ensures an adequate supply of finished goods such that we are able to meet the ongoing demands of client requirements. In the agreed businesses (i.e. Gyproc/Isover or Weber-abe), driving the implementation of S&OP best practices to achieve higher forecast accuracy remains a key lever for ensuring customer service levels, growing market share and optimizing production costs and efficiencies.

Qualifications required to fulfil the role

• Supply chain/commercial degree or equivalent.
• Qualifications in CSCP, CPF or CPIM is advantageous.

Specific Work Experience, Knowledge and Skills required to fulfil the role

• 3 - 5 years experience in supply chain or demand planning function, preferably within manufacturing.
• Ability to effectively operate SAP.
• SAP APO demand planning or similar demand planning system knowledge and experience.
• ERP and advanced planning and scheduling APS for running a comprehensive, best practice supply chain for a manufacturing and distribution business.
• Knowledge of supply chain best practice (i.e. Sales and Operations Planning) or Integrated Business Planning (IBP), MRPII, Theory of Constraints, Strategic Sourcing and related best practices.
• Strong analytical skills.
• Business acumen.
• Manage multiple tasks at once.
• Proven track record of improving demand planning.
• Strong verbal, written and presentation skills.
• Ability to communicate at all levels of the organisation.
• Results focused, customer focused, and a team player.

Key Accountabilities

Demand Planning:

• Manage the Demand Planning cycle to ensure a high accuracy demand forecast is implemented in the system and is accessible to key stakeholders.
• Building, designing and incorporating the Market Segment Model into demand and sales in order to check forecasting provided by the sales team.
• Executing local demand schedules, balancing monthly planning & forecasting tools.
• Facilitating demand management for all regions (KZN, Cape, Inland and Africa).
• Anticipating abnormal demand and communicating it to the relevant parties.
• Assisting other Business Units with concerns related to master data and range management.
• Implementing Strategies to improve Forecast Accuracy for all assigned Regions, Plants and Service Centres.

Forecasting

• Assist the manager to co-ordinate budget process with Sales, Marketing, Finance and Supply Chain.
• Presentation of budget/forecast and identify Gaps in terms of Budget vs Forecast at monthly Demand Review.
• Sales vs forecast analysis for developing strategy in terms of pricing and promotions.
• Facilitating best practices & gain consensus between functional experts.

Analysis

• Correct/fix, analysis demand/forecast issues for all plants.
• Prepare & present final demand plan for approval at monthly Demand Reviews.
• Monitoring sales vs. forecast by regions and categories.
• Manage assumption modelling by managing and performing analytics on data & demand plans.
• Support Weber.abe business with Demand Planning Processes as needed.
• Support purchasing teams with forecast information impacting MRP decisions.
• Assist, manage & Implement Demand portion of Integrated Business Planning (IBP).

Reporting and Data Integrity

• Proactive management of the company ERP and forecasting systems and related inventory data repositories.