Group Demand Planner

SUMMARY:
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POSITION INFO:
JOB TITLE: Group Demand Planner DEPARTMENT: Procurement MANAGER: Head of Procurement ENVIRONMENT: Manufacturing BEHAVIOURAL DIMENSIONS REQUIRED • Commercial and systems thinking: Sees the whole group supply chain and weighs the cost of stock against the cost of a stoppage. • Analytical rigour: Reviews the data carefully, tests assumptions and bases recommendations on evidence. • Influence and stakeholder management: Holds firm planning discipline with production, sales and procurement teams, and is credible with senior management. • Decisiveness under pressure: Acts quickly in a shortage or disruption and clearly communicates the trade-offs. • Coaching and communication: Explains the planning logic in plain business language and builds capability in others. • Ownership and accuracy: Takes accountability for the plan and for data quality, with close attention to detail. • Continuous improvement mindset: Questions the status quo and replaces manual workarounds with sustainable, system-based solutions. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Demand and Supply Planning • Consolidate and translate group sales forecasts, production schedules and the S&OP consensus plan into a rolling raw material demand plan, typically on a 12–18-month horizon. • Run, review and release MRP for all sites, and challenge the outputs rather than accepting them blindly. • Manage the interdependencies of a backward-integrated value chain, where the by products, intermediates and finished goods of one plant are the raw materials of another, so that shortages and surpluses are not pushed from one plant to the next. • Balance internal supply against external buying, and decide when to make, buy or import. • Run scenario and what-if planning for volume swings, new products, plant shutdowns and supplier failure. MRP Ownership and Master Data Governance • Design, develop, implement and continuously improve the MRP logic in SYSPRO, covering planning parameters, planning horizons, time fences, lot-sizing rules, safety stock, reorder points and yield and scrap factors. • Plan imports end-to-end, from order placement, shipping and port clearance to inland transport and receipt, with realistic lead times, buffers and consolidation of shipments. • Own the integrity of the planning master data: bills of material, routings, lead times (supplier, transit, port clearance and production), minimum order quantities, planning policies and supplier-item links. • Run regular MRP health checks, such as exception message reviews, action-message compliance and parameter audits, and correct root causes rather than symptoms. • Define and enforce planning standards across all sites, so that every plant plans in the same way. • Lead MRP user training, documentation and change control for planners, buyers and receiving and stores teams. Imports and Critical Raw Materials • Identify, classify and continuously monitor critical raw materials, using criteria such as single-source dependency, long lead time, production impact, price volatility and geopolitical exposure. • Manage import-related planning variables: Incoterms, customs and duty implications, permits, currency exposure, port congestion and shipping line reliability. • Set and maintain risk-based safety stock and cover policies for critical materials, balancing working capital against continuity of supply. • Maintain mitigation plans for critical items, including alternative suppliers and specifications, local sourcing options and contingency stock. • Give early warning to Procurement, Operations and Finance of shortages, stock-outs and over-cover, with clear recommended actions. Collaboration, Reporting and Continuous Improvement • Lead the raw materials input into the monthly S&OP cycle and bring data-backed supply risks and opportunities to the table. • Work closely with Procurement, Category Managers, Production, Sales, Finance, Logistics and Stores to align priorities and resolve conflicts. •Produce planning dashboards and KPI reports covering forecast accuracy, material availability, stock cover, slow-moving and obsolete stock, expedite costs and supplier delivery performance. • Reduce manual, spreadsheet-based planning by using SYSPRO functionality, Excel and Power BI wherever practical. • Mentor planners and buyers and build planning capability across the group. Duties and responsibilities are, however, are not limited to this, all reasonable and lawful requests within your scope of work\/abilities given by management are to be followed whether this is inside or outside the factories. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS • Qualification: A Degree in Supply Chain Management, Logistics or Industrial Engineering. • Professional credentials (advantageous): APICS CPIM or CSCP, or equivalent (SAPICS in South Africa); Lean or Six Sigma exposure. • Experience: At least 8–10 years in demand planning, materials planning or supply planning within a manufacturing environment, of which at least 5 years must be spent developing, implementing and maintaining MRP. • Systems: Hands-on ERP and MRP experience. SYSPRO experience advantageous; other ERP systems considered. • Industry: Experience in a process or heavy manufacturing environment with multi-site or group exposure. Experience in a vertically or backward-integrated operation is strongly preferred. • Imports: A demonstrated track record of planning and managing imported raw materials, with working knowledge of freight, clearing and customs processes. • Analytical skills: Advanced Excel (pivot tables, lookups, modelling); Power BI or similar reporting tools preferred TECHNICAL AND DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE • Manufacturing: Thorough understanding of production processes, bills of material, yields, co-products and by-products, batch and continuous production, capacity constraints and shutdown planning. • MRP and planning theory: Net requirements calculation, lead-time offsetting, lot sizing techniques, safety stock methodology, ABC\/XYZ classification, planning bills and the practical limits of MRP. • SYSPRO: Knowledge would be an added advantage. • Supply risk: Supplier risk assessment, supply market dynamics, commodity price drivers and business continuity planning for critical materials. • Inventory and costing: Understanding of stock valuation, landed cost, working capital impact and inventory accuracy (cycle counts, receiving discipline and stock-take integrity). • Imports and trade: Incoterms, letters of credit and payment terms, customs clearance, duty and VAT treatment, forward cover and exchange rate exposure, and shipping and port logistics. • Supply risk: Supplier risk assessment, supply market dynamics, commodity price drivers and business continuity planning for critical materials.