Demand Planning Executive at Godrej Consumer Products Limited
Godrej Consumer Products Limited is the largest home-grown home and personal care company in India. We are constantly innovating to delight our consumers with more exciting, superior quality products at affordable prices.
We have bold ambitions and are becoming more agile and future ready. We rank number 1 in hair colour, household insecticides and liquid detergents and number 2 in soaps. In India, you grow up with our brands – Good knight, Cinthol, Godrej Expert, Godrej No. 1 – and we are now on our way to becoming an emerging markets FMCG leader.
In line with our 3X3 approach to international expansion, we are building a presence in 3 emerging markets (Asia, Africa, Latin America) across 3 categories (home care, personal wash, hair care). In 2010, we acquired the Indonesia based Megasari group, a leader in household insecticides, air fresheners and baby care. With the acquisition of Rapidol, Kinky and Frika in South Africa, and the Darling Group, a leading pan-Africa hair care company, we have a strong presence in the fast growing African hair care market. We acquired the Issue and Argencos groups in Argentina, leaders in hair colour, in 2010, and expanded our footprint to Chile through the acquisition of a 60 per cent stake in Cosmetica Nacional. The UK based Keyline Brands, which we acquired in 2005, plays in hair and personal care. We also have a business in the Middle East and a strong presence across SAARC countries.Education & Experience:
Minimum 4–6 years of relevant experience in Demand Planning, Forecasting, Sales & Operations Planning, Supply Chain Planning or a closely related FMCG commercial/supply-chain function.
Demonstrated experience developing and managing forecasts across multiple SKUs, categories, customers and/or channels.
Experience using statistical forecasting and analysing forecast accuracy and bias.
Experience working with Sales and Marketing to incorporate commercial intelligence, promotions, launches and market events into the demand plan.
Experience participating in S&OP/IBP and consensus demand planning processes.
Experience analysing demand deviations and converting learning into forecast improvements.
Experience working with ERP/demand planning systems and large datasetsKey Responsiblities
Skills & Competencies
Technical Skills:
Strong knowledge of demand planning, forecasting, statistical forecasting and demand management principles.
Strong understanding of FMCG demand drivers including seasonality, promotions, pricing, distribution, product lifecycle and customer behaviour.
Proficiency in ERP/Demand Planning systems (e.g. SAP) and advanced Excel.
Experience with data analytics, forecasting and reporting tools, preferably Power BI or equivalent.
Understanding of Demand Plan Accuracy, Forecast Bias, Forecast Value Added and forecast error analysis.
Understanding of IBP/S&OP, Consensus Demand Planning and cross-functional alignment processes.
Soft Skills:
Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.
Effective communication and collaboration skills.
Ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
Attention to detail and proactive decision-making.
To develop and maintain an accurate, unbiased and commercially realistic demand plan for the assigned portfolio by combining statistical forecasting with customer, consumer, market and commercial insights.
The role is responsible for translating market and business intelligence into a reliable demand signal, driving consensus across Sales, Marketing, Finance and Supply Chain, and proactively identifying and managing demand risks and exceptions.
The role will contribute to the IBP/S&OP process and continuously improve forecast accuracy, forecast stability and value-added planning across the business.
Maintain Data and Systems
Create and maintain the appropriate master data in the planning systems in use, minimising errors, and avoiding duplication and obsolescence.
Maintain system hygiene and health to ensure demand signals are not polluted, in close collaboration with Customer Services.
Collate Information and Assumptions
Ensure commitment from all functions, build and maintain good communication and collaboration both within Supply Chain and with Sales and Marketing, Manufacturing and Finance, according to the Integrated Business Planning (IBP) best practices.
Capture, prioritize, analyze and input Marketing and Sales events; customer, consumer & competitor information; other external / internal trends and influences which impact demand.
Manage Portfolio and Lifecycle
Effectively use all Demand Planning system functionality to enable an exception based management approach.
Maintain the systems to reflect the lifecycle of products (predecessors, successors, temporary promotional variants.
Collaborate with Marketing and Sales by providing input on a regular basis regarding product launches, portfolio optimization, rationale of commercial decisions, promotions and customer behavior.
Develop and Maintain the Forecast
Use appropriate statistical models and parameters, and enrich statistical forecasts to generate accurate base demand forecasts.
Generate and maintain a demand plan for a given portfolio of products, locations and/or customers, at the levels (product hierarchy and time) at which business decisions are taken.
Focus on and deliver a stable demand plan, but taking into account appropriately recent events, along with achievement of Demand Plan Accuracy (DPA), controlled variability of accuracy and no systematic bias.
Ensure that business planning is operated at the correct level of aggregation (product hierarchy and time).
Reach Consensus through Alignment
Contribute to cross functional planning activities such as IBP and the Consesus Demand Planning Framework (CDP) according to Best Practice.
Contribute to Customer Facing activities such as Collaborative Planning, Promotional Forecasting, ad hoc joint Supply Chain improvement projects as appropriate.
Share and Publish the Forecast
Through systematic reporting, provision of links or ad-hoc reports and communications, ensure that Demand Plan information is available to internal business partners as required.
Cascade knowledge of Best Practices and tools to other Demand Planners.
Track and Manage Demand
Actively follow-up actual sales to customers and sell-out (POS) data to identify exceptional or unforecasted activities.
Drive fast, appropriate actions to minimize the impact of deviations from the Demand Plan. Communicate these actions to stakeholders.
Measure and Track Performance
Consistently improve Demand Plan Accuracy (DPA accuracy level and variability) and drive out systematic forecast bias through detailed analyses of past performance. Track errors using DP Reason Codes and maintain an efficient Learning Log.
Implement improvements to Demand and Supply Planning processes and tools to deliver tangible benefits (e.g. time savings, increased efficiencies).
Knowledge of Demand Nigeria FMCG market dynamics
'Understanding of Nigerian FMCG demand drivers, market volatility, seasonality and channel dynamics.
Understanding of distributor/customer behaviour and its impact on demand patterns.
Understanding of promotional, pricing, competitive and macroeconomic factors affecting demand.
Understanding of the impact of demand decisions on inventory, manufacturing capacity, customer service and working capital.
Key Success Metrics and Demand Planning Scorecard
Demand Plan Accuracy (DPA)
Forecast Bias
Forecast Value Added (FVA)
Systematic Bias Indicator (SBI)
Demand Plan Stability
Forecast Error / MAPE or agreed company methodology
Promotion Forecast Accuracy
New Product Forecast Accuracy
Consensus Forecast Completion / Adherence
Forecast Exception Resolution
Forecast Accuracy by Category / Customer / SKU
Inventory / Service impact attributable to demand-planning decisions