Demand Planner in Birmingham

At International Automotive Components, it’s what’s inside that really drives us. Operating across 19 countries, we bring over 160 years of automotive expertise to the forefront in crafting beautiful interiors that help to differentiate vehicles in the global marketplace. We believe our employees to be our greatest asset: we welcome employees of all backgrounds, and are proud to provide benefits such as professional development opportunities, a gym scheme, and length of service awards among many others.

Main Function / Purpose of Job:

• Manage and prepare short, mid and long-term forecasting and demand planning for key customers or product lines across the business, working with stakeholders to develop and verify inputs to ensure customer fulfilment.
• Support continuous improvement efforts to our IAC forecasting models including ways to automate and simplify the overall forecasting process by developing effective forecast and demand planning models based upon customer trends, production plans and demand patterns.
• Act as the primary liaison between teams responsible for the Master Production Schedule implementation, capacity planning, procurement, transportation, and operations aspects being responsible for all supply chain data inputs, analysis and management.
• Provide weekly, monthly, and quarterly inputs into relevant business reviews on demand accuracy, variability and inventory estimations.
• Address demand-related challenges in a timely and effective manner.

Main missions and results:

• Plans, organizes, and conducts activities within its area in an effective manner towards achieving common objectives of IAC as well as the IAC Group.
• From customer inputs monitor, analyse and generate short, mid, and long-term forecasts and schedules to enable appropriate stock levels to meet the customer’s demand.
• Process customer orders into the ERP software, reflecting the production volumes agreed with the customer and internal stakeholders.
• Support proactive customer collaboration programs to drive improved service and forecast activity management.
• Responsible for accurately updating and maintaining ERP / MRP system data to ensure correct planning parameters are aligned to group standards.
• Responsible for the extraction of consistent and accurate data sets to ensure outputs drive effective decision making.
• Review forecasts and schedules to promote performance improvements and cost efficiencies.
• Input into key performance indicators, review and reporting deviations from the standard and inform of required corrective actions to achieve KPI targets.
• Monitor regularly the variability of customer orders (over-the-top increases, decreases) and prepare data inputs into Master Production Planner for weekly and monthly capacity planning reviews.
• Develop and deliver weekly production plans based on customer orders, including established safety stocks in line with contractual customer requirements.
• Complete agreed shipment plans to the customer through the preparation of sales documents, shipping documents and organization of transportation of products to the customer.
• Responsible for maintaining sales documentation in the ERP software by establishing and updating agreed price conditions, setting up and updating information records, establishing and updating clients, establishing and updating scheduling agreements.
• Responsible for managing customer complaint returns through the verification of the legitimacy of return with the QS department, posting in ERP software, issuing a correcting invoice.
• Responsible for ensuring delivery compliance to customers (dates, quantities), backorder resolution, reduction of backlog in supplies and elimination of special transportation costs and exceptions.
• Resolve any unjustified demand pegging.
• Ensure destination shipping requirements are kept up to date inclusive of dealer direct shipments.
• Monitor EDI and CUM release variations and mitigate any discrepancies.
• Monitor and track daily and weekly customer release schedules to ensure due date compliance.

Preferred Skills and Experience:

• Relevant institute qualification in forecasting, supply chain or inventory management or other relevant fields.
• Extensive experience in supply chain planning, forecasting, demand, production, and inventory management in a production environment.
• A pedigree in advanced forecasting and planning methods, statistics, and data analytics.
• Experience of supply chain optimization and continuous improvement principles.
• Excellent communicator, both written and verbal at all levels in English with stakeholder management skills.
• Proactive, able to assemble, interpret and summarise complex data whilst under pressure.
• Highly numeric, with advanced Excel skills, experience of demand planning methodologies and tools as well as working knowledge of MRP and ERP planning systems (SAP / QAD / BPICS).
• Understanding of quality, business and OEM systems and standards.
• Has a good understanding of end-to-end supply chain interfaces and inventory optimisation.