Senior Demand Manager - Batley

Who are we ?

We are FBC, Fox's Burton's Companies! ……-And we bake the UK's most incredible biscuits (we might be slightly biased, but we will leave that for you to judge).

FBC was a match made in heaven, with two of the top UK biscuits manufacturers (Burton's Biscuits and Fox's Biscuits) coming together to create one unique, integrated company.

We are home to famous iconic brands, including Maryland, Fox's, Jammie Dodger & Rocky, to name just a few. We bake our incredible biscuits at eight bakeries across the UK, located at Ilse of Arran, Livingston, Blackpool, Llantarnam, Edinburgh, Kirkham, Batley & Dorset. We also have offices for our supporting services in St Albans, Liverpool and Moreton. Together, we employ circa 5,000 amazing employees across all our locations.

We are currently the second biscuit manufacturer in the UK market with a strong ambition of becoming the number two biscuit manufacturer worldwide.

We are proud to be part of the Ferrero enlarged family: such a fantastic and successful business. The Ferrero Group operates in more than 50 countries, with products sold in over 170 countries, represented by almost 38.000 employees worldwide, and a consolidated turnover of €12.7 billion (2020-21).

Along with our fantastic brand portfolio, we also have long-term agreements to manufacture several sweet & savoury snacks across Mars, Cathedral City, Marmite, Jacobs, and LU branded products. In addition, we are proud to be a strategic partner for many retailer-branded products.

Our employees make our business special. With strong family values, we believe FBC is a more prosperous and fun place to work with when people feel free to be themselves. We believe in the power of being authentic, entrepreneurial and supporting each whilst meeting our business goals.

And don't forget… work hard but play harder!

What does your typical day look like?

• 
  Manage the day-to-day operations of the Demand Planning Team.
• Ensure retailer product forecasts are generated in line with the business S&OP process through collaboration with Sales, Retail Partners, Marketing and Production.
• Utilise internal forecast database and retailer EPOS systems to deliver a robust forecast and period sign off. Evaluate period performance and variance at each Demand Review in conjunction with financial outlook.
• Consolidation of full account and product portfolio to understand holistic demand view in line with financial forecasts.
• Identify and drive process improvements within the Demand function.
• Collaboration with external retail supply chain and buying personnel is prerequisite to solid performance. The main internal daily contacts for this role are the Accounts, Customer Service and Production Planning teams. Close interaction with Marketing, Finance and Logistics will also form an integral part of the role.

Other key actions will be but not limited to:

1. Continually monitor and communicate changes in demand, to both Supply and Commercial functions at the appropriate level of granularity (category/product group/SKU).

2. Be a key voice in the monthly S&OP process – providing key information to facilitate discussions, as well as recommendations on key strategic areas such as inventory management.

3. Create and maintain documentation of new Demand Planning processes and systems and provide training for their deployment

4. Monitor, analyse and evaluate data trends, consumer behavior and continuity of supply as it pertains to supply chain logistics and service.

5. Provide analysis on long stock cover SKU’s, providing recommendations on how to improve stock rotation.

6. Challenge team performance, as well as cross-functional conclusions to validate forecast robustness.

7. Help develop key metrics that drive improvement in forecast accuracy.

8. Work closely with the Supply team to identify root cause service challenges, taking corrective action where necessary.

9. Periodically review safety stock levels to help manage inventory effectively.

What are the key ingredients needed for the role?

• Experience in managing and developing a team of people.
• A graduate in a business-related discipline and career based experience, gained in a similar role.
• Experience of planning / forecasting experience gained in either Retail or Manufacturing environment, preferably FMCG is required.
• Commercial awareness, with excellent reasoning and analytical skills.
• Able to produce, interpret and draw conclusions from data with the ability to translate into meaningful information to present to senior management.

If you are ready to begin a career with real bite, we would love to hear from you so apply now by clicking the link below.