Demand Planner

Closing Date 2025/11/14 Reference Number RCL -1 Company RCL Foods Job Title Demand Planner (Fixed Term Contract) Functions ICSE Job Type Classification Contract Location - Town / City Westville Location - Province KwaZulu-Natal Location - Country South Africa Job Description At RCL FOODS we see and do things differently. We think bigger, work smarter, and collectively Our Talent Team is looking for someone who is brilliant at the basics to fill the role of Demand Planner on a Fixed Term Contract. This role will be based in Westville. The purpose of the role is to drive and facilitate demand planning and where applicable, demand management process, to enable visibility of expected demand to the business and the supply chain. This forward forecast will be used to improve the business decision making process around product mix, product prioritisation and cost / profitability choices and to drive up customer service levels by enabling the supply planners to plan out unnecessary operational costs and supply risks. The role will require a strong working relationship with customer, marketing, supply planning, distribution, and commercial teams. Minimum Requirements 2-3 previous Supply Chain experience would be an advantage, particularly in Demand/Supply Planning or Distribution Planning or Customer Marketing experience. Bachelor of Commerce/Economics Degree, or related Supply Chain National Diploma (e.g.: SAPICS CPIM) required. Experience with Barnton systems (advantageous). Solid understanding of the Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process. Proven ability to engage and collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders. Demonstrated adaptability in fast-paced and dynamic environments. Strong presentation skills, with the ability to deliver impactful and persuasive insights. Duties & Responsibilities Functional Strategy Into Action Operationalisation Work closely with customer, marketing, and commercial teams along with other senior managers to co-create the forward demand plan to be used as key input into the business volume plans for budget and quarterly planning. Facilitate integrated supply chain delivery by collaborating and managing relationships and interaction within the extended supply chain, distribution and customer teams to drive up customer service levels and volumes sold. Co-ordinate and drive supply chain and other collaborative customer projects when applicable. Demand Analysis On a weekly and monthly basis analyse actual demand to generate the forward forecast, make recommendations, and drive continuous improvements to gain consensus with cross functional teams (including base & event). Understand what is causing differences between what was forecasted vs what was actually ordered, to drive discussions with the front-end team, challenging their assumptions and making suggestions on how to improve accuracy of the forecast. For price sensitive product groups ensure that pricing information and competitor information is gathered as part of understanding gaps to forecast, as well as impact on stock builds or stock shortages. For Make to Order production, closely watch the forward forecast vs historical demand to ensure that there is a good correlation between the two. Generating Base Demand Analyse historical demand and remove anomalies (including outliers) from the norm using historical information, knowledge of the category and by getting input from the customer teams to generate a sound base demand forecast. Identify the most appropriate statistical forecasting model for each product group to generate an accurate base forecast, 12 months rolling forward. Generate the base demand plan using the most appropriate statistical forecasting algorithm and adjust where necessary. Understand any variance between actual customer demand and the statistical forecast and make appropriate challenges, changes and recommendations to the base forecast. Events/Promotions Use the promotions grid and related discussion that are provided by the customer team as input into the event forecast. Work closely with the customer team to document the assumptions for each promotion, driving clarity on volume, price and customers. Challenge all promotional volume increases when history shows that these have not been achieved before. Present the proposed forecast along with assumptions to get a consensus forecast to be used by the business. Publishing And Reporting On The Forecast Publish the agreed forecast and KPIs in the agreed format to ensure transparency and one set of numbers in line with the agreed timeline for weekly reports and monthly scorecards. Using the agreed forecasting KPI’s (Forecast Bias, Forecast SKU Compliance and Customer Service level) to drive improvement in the forecasts and to minimise volatility. Interfacing To The Supply Planning & Distribution Replenishment Planning The Operational Forecast will be interfaced to the Supply Planning and Distribution teams daily (including distribution service providers like Vector, SuperGroup and Clover). The demand team needs to liaise with the Replenishment Planning teams to ensure that at the national SKU level and all numbers match. Liaise with distribution stock allocation planner regarding regional storage planning and storage. Understanding stock builds and comparing to the forecast bias to ensure stock is sold when it should be and in the region it was planned to be sold in. Work closely with supply planning to understand stock builds and space constraints. Promotional Effectiveness Work with the Customer team to determine promotional activities volume and track the effectiveness of the promotion (costs vs promotional volume increment). Question the promotional volume based on the success/failure of past promotions. Innovation And Discontinuation Management Work with Marketing, Customer, Supply Planning, R&D and commercial teams to develop the anticipated forecast for new products. Document all assumptions. Track and publish agreed KPI’s for each new innovation. When discontinuing a product, work closely with the Customer and Supply Planning team to ensure accurate bleedout forecasts to enable a smooth run-out process. Portfolio Management Complete the data analysis to provide input into discussion on portfolio management. Review the product portfolio at least annually and raise the discussion with business teams on where opportunities exist to remove SKU’s from the portfolio using agreed guidelines. Complete the necessary documentation and workflows for all proposed discontinued products. S&OP Business Planning Process The S&OP business planning process begins with the demand plan. Work closely with the Demand Planning manager to deliver the DEM Planning pack, ensuring that the information is available on time and is accurate. Master Data & Hierarchies Maintain the product hierarchy master data in accordance with both demand planning and business requirements. Maintain the master data integrity for Random Weight products, as well as alternate units of measure (eg: litres and dozens) to deliver an accurate forecast conversion between cases and tons. Information And Data Management Ensure team members accurately and regularly captures data onto the information system to enable access to reliable data and reporting for trend analysis and decision making. Share relevant data with management teams to enable reliable business decision making. Ad Hoc/Other Oversee filing and safeguarding of records within area of responsibility. Compile of ad hoc spreadsheets when required. Processing of documents for Intercompany charge outs. Become an integral member of cross functional teams to deliver business projects. #J-18808-Ljbffr