Requirements Planner

Job description

Job Title: REQUIREMENT PLANNER

Hours: Part Time 3 days a week

Salary: Circa £31,000 - £32,000 (Pro Rata)

Benefits: Excellent Benefits

Location: Leatherhead

Background

· The Requirement Planner (RP) role is accountable for overseeing the supply and production of a defined portfolio of SKU's from various European based factories to warehouse locations in the UK and Ireland.

· An RP is responsible for ensuring the SKU level demand signal created by the UK/IRE business (MSO) is produced and supplied on time and in full by the Unilever supply network.

Main Job Purpose

· Stock availability – ensuring maximum customer service is achieved, with stock fully ready for orders against the businesses volume forecast.

· Inventory - Ensuring each SKU's stock holding is within the USCC agreed stock targets, escalating upstream any products that fall below or exceed the USCC stock parameters

· Obsoletes - Managing the level of obsolete materials and finished goods residuals within the USCC agreed budget.

· NPD - Launching new products (SKU's) successfully into the Unilever range while ensuring availability of SKU's exiting the range.

Job accountabilities

· Each RP's portfolio of products will be different within each Unilever category, based on the complexity of the supply network, product size formats and case volume throughput, a typical RP will manage 50-100 SKU's across 1-4 brand formats.

· The SAP platform is extensively used within the role alongside reporting packages such as Business Warehouse. The SAP system is utilised for capturing the forecast, sending the demand signal to factories upstream and also transacting customer orders. RP's are required to be competent on a multitude of SAP transaction screens both in SAP R3 (transaction side ) and SAP APO (planning side)

· Customer service is the number one priority for a RP's day to day operational role, ensuring maximum stock availability for retailer's orders. In times when stock supply is constrained the RP acts as main liaison between the MSO and the category/production site, alerting the local internal teams, such as customer service, about restricted supply situations and recovery plans.

· In low supply situations, the RP works with the Business Operations team and fair shares stock across the UK and Ireland retailer accounts based on the forecast created for each retailer.

· Working with their Category Planning Manager (CPM) the RP prioritises production on behalf of the MSO business, escalating supply issues to the CPM/USCC/Category and Factory teams.

· RP's are responsible for managing their SKU's entire life cycle, setting up new products and managing the exit of SKU's from the Unilever range.

· A RP will work with NPD project teams bringing new products into the range , they liaise closely with stakeholders such as factories, category and brand teams both on a European basis and within the local MSO.

· At the end of the products life, the RP's accountability is too minimise surplus materials/residuals, assisting the clearance of residual stock through customer service and sales teams.

In financial terms the impact of the RP's wrong decisions can be felt in these areas

- Stock un-availability - The cost to the businesses customer credibility and hit to sales from products not being available when ordered.

- Residuals – In satisfying the demand signal, the RP can make decisions with the factory to produce too much stock on behalf of the UK/IRE business which may end up as surplus to requirement

Key Skills:

· Supply chain experience

· Strong interpersonal skills

· Solid analytical and logical skills

· Autonomy and Self - Organisation

· Accuracy and attention to detail

· SAP system knowledge

· Degree level

STANDARDS OF LEADERSHIP REQUIRED

· Growth Mindset

· Bias for Action

· Consumer & Customer Focus

COMPANY OVERVIEW

“I'm passionate about making production more sustainable and at Unilever I'm given the freedom and confidence to take the important small steps that will make the giant leaps possible.” Amanda, Making Plant Leader.

Unilever is the global company behind powerhouse brands such as Flora, Dove, Persil and PG Tips. We have the huge ambition of halving our environmental footprint and doubling our size through our Sustainable Living Plan. And big ideas like the innovations taking place in our Supply Chain are driving our business. But to achieve this, we need more outstanding people like Amanda. With over 35 brands in the UK covering foods, home, personal care and refreshments the scale and scope of activity in Supply Chain is huge. All offer rewarding opportunities to work with great products – taking on real challenges, making a lasting impact, and creating better futures.

Hear more stories from our Unilever Makers and understand how you can start your own Unilever career at: http://www.unilever.co.uk/careers-jobs/professionals/ .

Or to apply now, click on “Apply to this job”. All candidate applications are reviewed in accordance with the criteria outlined for the job role. Please note that the closing date for the receipt of applications is 17 th Feb 2016

Candidates who have applied online can track their application through the candidate tracking link or, if you have any additional queries, you may contact the Recruitment hotline number on 0800 0284390.