Plant-based foods have the power to change lives — and cultures too. Challenging the norm is our vibe, and it’s the start of a larger movement. Kite Hill's chef-founders and employee-artisans are this movement. We craft 100% plant-based foods that deliver an eating experience that’s as close to dairy as it gets. Our innovative range of foods enables the team at Kite Hill to surprise and delight our consumers each and every day. We believe that by choosing to eat plant-based foods instead of dairy, we are making a positive choice for our bodies and the world around us. This game-changing food isn’t just better for you, it’s better for animals and the planet, too. Our commitment to innovation knows no bounds. With a portfolio that includes yogurt, cream cheese, dips, butter, sour cream, cheese, and filled pasta we’re elevating expectations of what plant-based food can be. Every day we’re coming up with new ideas and pushing dairy-free food to taste better than ever before. Because at Kite Hill we don’t play the game, we change it.
Our Core Values:
- We make Great Tasting Plant Based Foods
- Imagination Drives Innovation
- Do Good
- Do the Right Thing Even When No One is Watching
- We are Better Together
- We are Passionate and Enjoy the Journey
- Everyone is Included
Diversity and Inclusion at Kite Hill:
Kite Hill is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination or harassment of any kind. We passionately value diversity and inclusion on all levels and believe that everyone should bring their authentic self to work every day. We believe that the power of differences, active debate, listening, and a willingness to learn make us a more effective organization.
Position Summary:
The Demand and Supply Planning Manager (Planning Manager) is responsible for taking a Sales plan and forecast and converting it to a weekly procurement and production requirement by SKU for Purchasing and Plant Operation use. Sales demand for SKU’s that are co-manufactured (coman) are converted to a production demand plan and delivered to a coman to meet desired delivery date.
This position is also responsible for inventory at all Third-Party Logistics (3PL) locations. The Planning Manager will track all finished goods from manufacture to 3PL to final customer shipment targeting 100% fulfilment rates.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
· Analyze sales demand plan and convert into a rolling demand plan that can be used to schedule the weekly production requirements.
- Create a 3-week rolling production requirement for two company owned plants and all co-manufacturing locations.
- Synchronize finished goods availability between production facilities and distribution centers.
- Maintain a healthy and balanced finished goods inventory mix enabling the company to react to any unplanned volatility in customer orders.
- Extract and monitor sales promotion information from our customers and salesforce.
- Monitor day-to-day production fulfilment versus sales demand requirements.
- Manage finished goods receipts & associated quality release within both 3PL and ERP systems ensuring only products released by Quality are available for shipment and any blocked products are strictly controlled.
- Fully support any trace exercises and associated product withdrawals, including mock exercises associated with SQF policies.
- Prepare and communicate detailed delivery schedules of finished goods based on short term material availability and production plans. This includes recognizing and addressing shifts in production requirements, ensuring the plan is a fit to production capacity and balanced with company needs.
- Track inventory levels at distribution centers to ensure inventory is correctly positioned for customer order fulfilment.
- Ensure risks such as production delays, 3PL capacity, etc. are identified quickly and mitigated or solved, including elevation to management, so that potential issues can be communicated by Sales to customers as necessary.
- Responsible for reporting and solving any variances due to capacity constraints.
- Work alongside cross functional teams to become the initial point of contact for any questions or resolutions needed on demand shortfalls versus required production and/or customer shipments.
- Prepare and analyze reports to communicate any issues of damages, delays, labor, or capacity, including leading any allocation recommendations to rebalance supply & demand.
- Provide support to Procurement, Scheduling, Production Customer Service, Accounting and Sales whenever appropriate.
- Monitor and minimize short-coded products at distribution centers. If necessary, summarize and propose creative solutions including sale to outlet customers, donations, and disposal. Track and report monthly.
- Continually evaluate processes to identify and reduce inefficiencies within the system (SOP’s, physical material flow, communication, etc.).
- Other duties as assigned.
REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, & ABILITIES:
- Must have the ability to quickly analyze data and summarize complex situations for team members.
- Understanding of core logic driving demand planning, supply planning, and production scheduling.
- The position requires strong organizational and communication skills. The candidate must be extremely detail oriented and able to multi-task.
- Flexibility to adapt quickly in a fast-growing company environment with evolving customer demands and as well as changing product mix, volume, and delivery needs.
- A highly motivated self-starter who can think independently yet work as a team player in a cross-functional and highly collaborative environment. This includes active participation in weekly cross-functional and co- manufacturer meetings.
- Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines, follow-through on commitments, and provide input & feedback to the team.
- Inherent drive to take full ownership of the job and the outcomes associated with their work output.
- Must be deeply proficient in Microsoft Excel including the use of pivot tables and complex formulas to both summarize data and solve issues.
- Ability for minimal travel to other production sites domestically (5% travel).
- Firm grasp of supply chain, inventory, distribution, business, and management principles
EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE:
- Bachelor’s degree (B.A. or B.S.) or equivalent education + experience in related field.
- 3+ years directly relevant work experience in Supply Chain/Production Planning (not production scheduling) in food production environment.
- Previous work with and management external 3PL’s preferred.
CERTIFICATES, LICENSES AND REGISTRATIONS:
- APICS, ISM, or SCPro classes and/or certification beneficial but not required.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:
- This position currently has no supervisory responsibilities.
REPORTS TO:
Location:
FLSA Status: