Strategic Customer Demand Planner

Strategic Demand Planner

Location:

Buffalo, NY, US, 14213

Segment:
Supply Chain

Rich’s, also known as Rich Products Corporation, is a family‑owned food company dedicated to inspiring possibilities. From cakes and icings to pizza, appetizers and specialty toppings, our products are used in homes, restaurants and bakeries around the world. Beyond great food, our customers also gain insights to help them stay competitive, no matter their size. Our portfolio includes creative solutions geared at helping food industry professionals compete in food service, retail, in‑store bakery, deli, and prepared foods, among others.

With more than 13,500 associates working globally in 100 countries and annual sales of $5.9 billion, Rich’s is a global leader with a focus on everything that family makes possible. Rich’s®—Infinite Possibilities. One Family.

The role of the Strategic Demand Planner is to collaborate with key customers and gather insights to improve the demand signal. During the Forecasting process, this person is responsible for understanding customer demand, inventory on hand (if available), product shelf‑life status and end‑to‑end order lifecycle.

The Strategic Demand Planner is responsible for the following activities:

• Develop and manage a 24‑month forecast and demand plan at multiple levels of aggregation for multiple time horizons (operational and strategic).
• Evaluate accuracy of forecasts generated by demand‑planning tools and cross‑functional forecasts provided by sales managers, marketing managers, customers, and other stakeholders and determine the forecast value add (FVA).
• Coordinate cross‑functional activities during IBP pre‑meetings to reconcile significant variances between system‑generated forecasts and functional forecasts, and refine the demand plan to reflect updated sales and marketing assumptions.
• Support sales managers and marketing managers in creating scenarios to address main gaps between the demand plan and annual operating plan.
• Evaluate past performance, assumptions and forecast‑value‑add in collaboration with Sales, Marketing and Finance to ensure that current and accurate information is used for generating the forecasts and consensus demand plan in the current planning cycle.
• Participate in Demand Review meetings of IBP to present analysis and options around exceptions.
• Participate in Supply Review meetings to understand demand fulfillment risks, understand fulfillment options and provide guidance on demand probability.
• Release the consensus demand plan on a weekly basis to support tactical inventory and supply plan generation for the short‑term.
• Prepare and release the consensus demand plan on a monthly basis to support the inventory planning, rough‑cut capacity planning and decision‑making under the IBP process.
• Assist and support sales managers in their collaboration with strategic customers to get an understanding of medium‑to‑long‑term outlook around:
  • Their customer demand and their priorities
  • Customer order forecasts for RICH’S distribution centers
  • Sharing past fill‑rate performance and forecast accuracy
  • Understanding the product and service attributes they value and attributes they can negotiate on.
• Identify opportunities for sharing insights and information to drive accuracy and stability in demand signal.

• Bachelor’s degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Supply Chain Management or related field, with 5+ years of statistical forecasting and supply chain experience.
• MBA preferred.
• Professional certification preferred (e.g., APICS).
• Statistical forecasting and model development.
• Knowledge of manufacturing, distribution and customer service.
• Strong written, interpersonal and presentation skills.
• Knowledge of Sales and Marketing functions preferred.
• Experience in Integrated Business Planning.
• Strong PC proficiency to include Microsoft Office Word, PowerPoint (Access preferred) and advanced proficiency in Excel required.
• Strong administrative skills and attention to detail.
• SAP or related systems experience preferred.
• Experience with advanced ERP planning systems (BW, SAP, APO) preferred.

In accordance with state law, the rate or range…