Inventory Planner

About the role:
The individual is responsible for overseeing and managing inventory levels in order to maintain an optimal stock availability while minimizing excess or obsolete inventory. They are also focused on reducing customer backorders, which involves developing and implementing strategies to optimize inventory levels and minimize instances where customers have to wait for products to be available.

**Responsibilities**:
Inventory Management:

- Ensuring effective and timely replenishment takes place by maintaining optimal inventory levels. This involves setting appropriate reorder points, safety stock levels, and lead times based on demand forecasts and supplier lead times. Regularly reviewing and adjusting inventory parameters to align with changing demand patterns.
- Create Purchase order to Supplier and keep monitoring PO status, best delivery date
- Analyzing historical sales data, demand forecasts, and inventory trends to develop market inventory replenishment plans. This includes identifying patterns and seasonality in demand, as well as monitoring inventory turnover rates and aging stock.
- Collaborating with Sales, Product Service Management (PSM), and Marketing to enhance demand forecasts. This may include analyzing market trends and incorporating input from commercial teams to predict future demand for products.
- Identifying opportunities to optimize inventory levels and reduce excess or obsolete inventory. This may involve implementing inventory reduction strategies such as stock redeployment, identifying products for fire sales, and managing inventory returns with supplier
- Generating regular inventory reports and dashboards to track key performance indicators such as stock levels, aging stock levels, and inventory turnover. This includes analyzing inventory data to identify trends, outliers, and areas for improvement.
- Identifying opportunities for process improvement and implementing initiatives to streamline inventory management processes. This may involve automating inventory control tasks, adopting inventory management software, and collaborating across functions to optimize inventory processes.

Backorder Management:

- Monitoring backorder levels and prioritizing fulfillment to minimize customer impact. This involves identifying root causes of backorders, such as inventory shortages or production delays, and implementing corrective actions to address them.
- Prioritizing orders based on customer priority, order size, and delivery deadlines. Expedite critical orders to ensure timely fulfillment, and communicate proactively with customers about any delays or backorders.
- Proactive stocking profile review based on customer historical demand trends.

**Requirements**:

- Proven experience in inventory management, supply chain planning, and order fulfillment.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to analyze complex data sets and make data-driven decisions.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams and external partners.
- Demonstrated ability to prioritize tasks, manage multiple projects simultaneously, and meet tight deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
- Proficiency in inventory management software SAP, ERP systems, and Microsoft Excel. Knowledge in Blue Yonder is a plus.
- Prior experience in inventory expediting, customer service, or supply chain management is preferred.
- Knowledge of lean manufacturing principles, Six Sigma, or other continuous improvement methodologies is a plus.

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