This job has expired, please see additional jobs below
Inventory Planning Analyst
US Cellular
Chicago, IL, United States
Job Details - this job has expired, please see similar jobs below
The Inventory Analyst will utilize planning techniques to predict and plan future demand on inventory of accessories to support approximately 480 Retail locations, Direct Fulfillment, and Agent supply chain channels. Capture and analyze data at the SKU and store level and translate to target appropriate cause and effect relationships on demand. Manage key performance metrics surrounding inventory turn, service levels, and obsolescence. Partner with cross-functional teams such as Marketing to determine estimated and actual promotional lifts, Device Management to report item performance, Retail Analysts to assist in tiered buying strategies and identifying channel fill quantities.
Other Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
• Monitor and drive Turn and In Stock levels for a product category at various depths of granularity (by product and/or by location).
• Implement inventory recommendations to achieve targeted goals.
• Analyze store inventory levels and sales rates for a product category, recognizing company sales trends and subtle geographical differences. Use results to recommend mix of product, allocation strategies, or other efficiencies.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to understand upcoming promotions and new product launches. Determine necessary quantities by region to support the events. Analyze results of similar promotions or similar products in order to estimate and plan for demand.
• Manage overall average inventory levels at store and NDC through weekly unit planning of a specific product category.
• Manage product lifecycles for a product category to reduce obsolescence and end support to coordinate with product roadmap strategies in that category.
• Assist in identifying, minimizing, and liquidating obsolete and potentially obsolete inventory. Participate in Quarterly Obsolescence review & annual physical counts at NDC.
Reporting:
• Conduct various reporting and analysis surrounding inventory performance as well as forecasting for future demand.
• Manage focused SAP reports with direction from US Cellular Leaders that will provide specific information that facilitates accurate business decisions.
• Support daily, weekly, and monthly inventory reports according to the needs of the business cycle by contributing to inventory roll ups for executive summaries, weekly recaps, and general supply chain summaries.
• Identify and support ad-hock reporting needs.
Vendor Relations:
• Partner with vendors on short and long term inventory forecasts for a product category using CPFR (Collaborative Planning and Forecasting Replenishment Model).
• Track vendor orders for a product category to ensure timely delivery of Purchase Orders, and manage vendor performance in accordance to expectations outlined in vendor score cards.
• Present vendor performance at quarterly departmental meetings with vendors.
• Prevent and manage inventory backorders, manage open orders by timing and quantity as needed to respond to changing demand patterns. Expedite orders through the National Distribution Center (NDC) to all sales channels when necessary.
• Serve as a point of contact for all sales channels on issues concerning NDC shipments and deliveries for a given product category.
• Generate and distribute reporting on NDC inventory position, material availability and NDC performance.
• Analyze and resolve lost and damage claims for all shipments from the NDC. File freight claims as needed.
• Categorize article selling by product category and/or feature sets to provide feedback to device management team on breadth & depth of assortments.
• Understand attach rates & develop plans to manage accessories relative to life of phones.
• Provide analysis for special projects.
Job Requirements:
• Bachelor's degree required.
• 3-5 years of relevant work experience required; inventory planning in retail or related field preferred.
• Excellent communication skills, Data analytics skills, and Problem solving skills required.
• The ability to work with multiple computer applications at the same time.
• Ability to balance multiple tasks at once, and reprioritize as needed.
• Strong ability to manage time affectively, and to be versatile.
• Self motivated, and demonstrates initiative.
• Ability to develop relationships and work in a team environment.
• Experience with vendor (or 3rd party) relationships.
• Ability to sort through ambiguity and work in sometimes undefined roles.
• Understanding of retail math concepts.
• Advanced knowledge MS Office tools.
• SAP experience is preferred
• Understanding of POS systems is a bonus.