Inventory Planner

Who We Are:

Since 1906, New Balance has empowered people through sport and craftsmanship to create positive change in communities around the world. We innovate fearlessly, guided by our core values and driven by the belief that conventions were meant to be challenged. We foster a culture in which every associate feels welcomed and respected, where leaders and creatives are inspired to shape the world of tomorrow by taking bold action today.

Since 1906, New Balance has empowered people through sport and craftsmanship to create positive change in communities around the world. We innovate fearlessly, guided by our core values and driven by the belief that conventions were meant to be challenged. We foster a culture in which every associate feels welcomed and respected, where leaders and creatives are inspired to shape the world of tomorrow by taking bold action today.

The EMEA Inventory Planner plays a central and critical role in delivering EMEA business results. They plan and manage the purchasing and reservation of Finished Goods stock for the assigned product area. This team is responsible for the end-to-end flow of inventory in and out of the Region. Inventory Planning is responsible for the translation of forecast and demand requirements into purchase orders, resulting in optimised order book fulfillment to service all New Balance channels of business.

The ideal candidate will develop strong relationships with various teams across the business, demonstrating our key values; integrity, team-work and total customer satisfaction. Confidence in influencing others will be key to this role, with cross functional collaboration essential.

We offer hybrid working and flexibility in working hours to accommodate for a healthy work life balance.

Inventory Management

• Finished Goods Purchasing for Footwear, Apparel, Accessories and Equipment.
• Translate market forecast and demands into Purchase Requisition s.
• Manage Make to Stock (MTS) and Make to Order (MTO) items via Purchase Requisition s review and approval process.
• Manage and Approve Direct & Cross-dock requirements.
• Execute the planning and on-time delivery of Strategic and Allocated Programs.
• Manage inventory levels by channel, product line & line plan business.
• Using insight from sales planning, S&OP meetings and available reporting, dynamically manage on hand and incoming inventory.
• Interface with Sales, Merchandising & Finance to drive sell-thru before End of Life where inventory opportunity has been identified.
• Item Life Cycle Management:
  Beginning of Life (BOL), Middle of Life (MOL) and End of Life (EOL) strategy execution.
• Review and manage life cycle behavior to ensure that item transitions are driven effectively.
• Collaborate with Global Supply Planning across all Source Types to ensure Key Launch strategies are supported.
• Analyse size curve recommendations and propose adjustments to optimise demand fulfillment and best utilisation of finished goods inventory.
• Partner with collaborators across different departments to implement reservation & prioritisation business rule logic.
• Implement best in class operating models and business practices to maximise inventory turns, on-time order fulfillment and minimise EOL inventory obsolescence (Ie. Booking Program Logic, Inventory Pool Optimisation, Inventory Shareability across markets & channels, Go-to-Market Execution).

Demand fulfillment

• Complete and on time order fulfillment.
• Effective participant in Operations meetings.
• Proactive management of inventory availability and timely delivery of orders.
• Analyse Inventory dashboards & reporting to take appropriate action.
• Complete Finished Goods Buy Summary.
• Improve order fulfillment for various strategic and priority items to ensure timely market launches and replenishment.
• Maintain Demand Prioritisation Rules to executive business strategies and optimise order fulfillment of priority accounts.
• Facilitate the resolution of supply related sales order management issues in collaboration with Customer Operations.
• Participate in monthly S&OP process – ie, New Product Review, Demand Consensus, Global Supply Review.
• Recommend expediting Finished Goods via various ship modes in partnership with Value Chain, Logistics, Customer Operations, etc. Ie. Air Freight, Inventory Transfers, etc.
• Proactive and timely communication regarding supply constraints and order book fulfillment.

• Relevant years of experience within Inventory Planning.
• Must have…