Domestic Supply Planner at Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC)

• This role is a pivotal role in the Lubricants organization as a key interface between Planning, Logistics, Customer Operations and Sales and Marketing over the short – medium term horizon. This is a commercially focused and highly tactical planning role with responsibilities finished product supply performance for customer service and inventory management to positively impact working capital.
• The role has clear accountabilities for finished product stock availability to ensure OTIF delivery to fulfil customer demand, using its central position within the supply chain to anticipate supply/delivery failures and initiate mitigating actions, while using available levers to ensure inventory remains in control and on target.
• The purpose of this role is to use available planning systems and tools to develop robust supply plans that ensure the right products are available at the right locations within the supply network, in the right quantities to fulfil customer orders On Time In Full.
• He or she needs to ensure appropriate inventory levels are put in place balancing working capital implications and supply operational requirements.
• The successful candidate will be joining the LSC organization at a crucial and exciting time during the optimization phase of its Journey to Excellence, enabling the Supply Chain to become a source of competitive advantage for profitable growth.

Key Accountabilities

• Maintain inventory buffers to ensure finished product stock availability within the supply network to ensure OTIF delivery of customer demand. Act as operational contact person for Customer Operations including resolving delivery status enquiries from CSPs and Account Managers. Lead diagnostics of supply failures (OTIF RCA) and coordinate effective remedial actions with relevant functional teams for the Locally Produced Portfolio. Manage stock levels to remain within inventory target by warehouse - monitor and fine-tune inventory parameters and proactively identify and intervene on cases of overstock by collaborating with relevant functions to identify opportunities for excess stock sell out to reduce/eliminate write off exposure. Maintain supply demand balance across network to avoid stockouts and proactively manage supply to meet customer demand through production and on time deployment of stock to warehouses. Maintain masterdata parameters for all locally produced and sourced skus across product lifecycle including maintenance of PO/STO Collaborate with Demand Planner to improve DFA and BIAS - align DP & SP books for accuracy of supply plans. Respond to approved STA with relevant supply plans in alignment with relevant sales focal points Maintain medium-term demand outlook and ensure supply plans and plant capacity are adjusted to meet demand requirements, e.g., preparing for promotions, new customer wins and seasonal demand uptakes. Manage Short Term Event Management (STEM) in situations of supply disruptions including communication, allocations and projections for supply.
• Collaborate with PLM on any new product introductions to achieve Time to Market (TTM) target and support BCWs to ensure efficient product withdrawals with zero write-off exposure on finished product and raw materials. Collaborate with PLM and Demand Planner on portfolio health reviews to eliminate non-performing SKUs using data and insights. Participate in special improvement projects within and/or outside direct scope of work as necessary to enable supply chain competitive advantage for profitable growth of the lubricants business in South Africa. Determine and periodically review stocking parameters (safety stock, cycle stock and re-order points) to manage stock and achieve of inventory targets for positive impact of working capital by continuously improving through the identification and elimination of waste. Ensure that master data (static and dynamic) remains accurate. Deliver and maintain KPIs (DIO, OTIF, Backorders volume/lines) at required levels to drive performance and improvements. Ensure inventoroptimised to support customer requirements and OPEX requirements Right first-time inventory deployment to warehouses. Robust OTIF RCA where OTIF is missed with clear preventative and corrective actions that are measurable. Reconciliation of production plans against actual production weekly and monthly against Blendcor billing Alignment with logistics on production, deployment and goods receipts daily through OTIF protection call.

Dimensions

Manage a local portfolio of:

• Products / Market / segment focus: all products produced in South Africa and other local 3rd parties, supplied within South Africa Direct and Indirect markets, and to export MD markets.
• Number of products in scope: ~350 SKUs
• Supply Volume: ~84mlt pa
• Supply source: 3 (Blendcor and two local FP 3rd party suppliers).
• Warehouse locations: 3 warehouses (Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban)

Skills & Requirements

• Commercial/ Engineering Qualification
• Postgraduate qualification in Business advantageous
• Minimum 5 years' experience in Supply Planning and/or Production Planning (FMCG experience preferred)
• Advanced analytical capability
• Mastery - Microsoft Excel
• Knowledge - PowerBI

The ideal candidate is expected to have the following attributes:

• Agile and independent thinker with own perspectives, demonstrate ability to be decisive even when dealing with incomplete data leveraging organisational tools.
• Ability to manage conflicting priorities.
• Ability to solve complex problems and deliver high quality results even under pressure.
• Great communication skills with a customer mindset, great sense of commerciality at all times to proactively contribute to integrated business value delivery.
• Proven ability to manage and respond to diverse stakeholder needs, at different organizational levels.
• Strong business acumen and keen interest in developments in supply chain and wider Lubricants business, seeking and leveraging best practice in Lubricants, SDSA and globally.
• Keen interest in external environment to remain abreast with industry trends and developments and consider these in his/her work.