Demand Planner

Company Overview

At Harvest Food Group (HFG), our mission is to create products that make a positive impact on the world. HFG is a private equity–backed company headquartered in Naperville, Illinois, with a brand-new, state-of-the-art production facility in East Chicago, Indiana.

Position Summary

The Demand Planner will get involved with Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) and be responsible for leading the company's monthly Sales & Operations process to align demand, supply, inventory, capacity, and financial objectives. This is an onsite work model at our plant in East Chicago, IN.

This role serves as the primary link between Sales, Operations, Procurement, Customer Service, Finance, and Supply Chain to ensure the organization achieves service, inventory, productivity, and profitability goals.

The Demand Planner develops and maintains an integrated demand and supply plan, identifies risks and opportunities, facilitates executive decision-making, and drives continuous improvement in forecasting accuracy, inventory management, and operational performance.

Please note: This position is not eligible for sponsorship or transfer, now or in the future.

Responsibilities

• Lead the monthly S&OP cycle including Demand Review, Supply Review, Pre-S&OP, and Executive S&OP meetings.

Demand Planning

• Partner with Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service to develop accurate demand forecasts.
• Analyze historical sales, promotions, seasonality, customer trends, and market intelligence.
• Coordinate new product launches, customer transitions, and promotional events within the demand plan.

Supply & Capacity Planning

• Develop capacity plans for manufacturing, packaging, labor, and key suppliers.
• Identify capacity constraints and recommend solutions to meet customer demand.
• Collaborate with Operations to optimize production schedules and asset utilization.
• Ensure long-term capacity requirements are visible and actionable.

Inventory Management

• Establish inventory targets and safety stock strategies.
• Monitor raw materials, packaging materials, WIP, and finished goods inventory levels.
• Balance inventory investment against service level objectives.
• Drive inventory reduction initiatives while maintaining customer service performance.

Procurement & Materials Planning

• Partner with Procurement to ensure continuity of supply for ingredients and packaging materials.
• Identify supply risks and develop mitigation plans.
• Support strategic sourcing decisions with demand and inventory insights.

KPI Management

• Track and report key performance indicators including:
• OTIF (On-Time In-Full)
• Lead root-cause analysis and corrective actions for performance gaps.

Continuous Improvement

• Improve planning processes, tools, and reporting capabilities.
• Support the evolution from S&OP to Integrated Business Planning (IBP).
• Develop and maintain a rolling 18-24 month demand and supply plan.
• Facilitate cross-functional decision-making to balance customer demand, production capacity, inventory, and financial objectives.

Requirements

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Operations Management, Business, Engineering, or related field.
• APICS/ASCM certification (CPIM, CSCP, or IBF certification) preferred.

Experience

• 5-7+ years of supply chain planning experience.
• 3+ years leading S&OP, SIOP, demand planning, supply planning, or production planning processes.
• Food manufacturing, consumer packaged goods, or frozen food experience strongly preferred.
• Experience with ERP systems such as SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, Plex, or similar platforms.

Benefits

Health, Dental and Vision Insurance

401K Matching

Paid Time Off

Holidays

Life Insurance