Demand Manager at PZ Cussons

Since our founding in 1884, we have been creating products to delight, care for and nourish consumers. Across our core categories of Hygiene, Baby and Beauty, our trusted and well-loved brands include Carex, Cussons Baby, Sanctuary Spa and St. Tropez.

• Create and maintain the appropriate master data in APO for Demand planning.
• Follow up with Customer services and Deployment Planner to maintain system hygiene and health to ensure that demand signals are not polluted.
• Use historical sales trend to generate baseline statistical forecasts
• Responsible for the sales forecasting by working closely with other sales & marketing people in the demand planning phase of each months Business planning cycle.
• Establishes and maintains forecast analysis and reports for business decision making.
• Work with other colleagues in Commercial and Supply to achieve the business forecast accuracy Target for stable and unstable SKUs
• Co-ordinate the Monthly Forecast Consensus Meeting and follow up with team members on the actions that were agreed during the meeting.
• Load the agreed forecast volumes into APO before 5pm on the 1st Friday of every new month
• Makes decisions regarding abnormal demand, working closely with the supply manager on product availability issues.
• Proactively identify demand forecast risks and develop effective mitigation plans in collaboration with the commercial team.
• Participate actively in the NPD stage and gate process to ensure that EPDs are properly phased out before the launch of NPDs to reduce the risk of obsolesce.
• Collaborate with Marketing and Sales by providing and receiving input on a regular basis regarding product launches, portfolio optimization, rationale of commercial decisions, promotions, customer behavior and other sales drivers.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

• Minimum of university degree or equivalent in Finance or Business.
• Minimum of 3 to 5 years Planning experience in an FMCG environment. Demand planning experience will be an advantage.
• Two years’ relevant operational experience in at least one of the following areas - Sales, Customer Service, Supply Planning, Marketing, Finance (Business Planning / Dynamic Forecasting)
• Expert Level proficiency in Microsoft Office Excel
• Relevant certification is an additional advantage
• Meticulous and analytical approach to data
• Good interpersonal, facilitation and Communication Skills
•  Be innovative and proactive.
• Be assertive, courageous, and persistent.