Our client’s ethos has been underpinned by a perfect balance of passion and innovation, woven together by creativity, enthusiasm and determination. They have made it their corporate mission to offer unrivaled service to their customers who are so satisfied with range, quality, and value, that they choose them as their first preference and will highly recommend our brand to others. They are in the business of putting smiles on the faces of (parents and) students.

Their vision is a commitment to providing the best quality, value, product range and delivery to deliver the corporate vision with which they have lived for 30 years and continue to take pride in being referred to as ‘Australia’s most handed down uniform’ which endorses the pride and quality that is built into every garment.

*This position is looking to take on more and more of the CEO’s duties and responsibilities.

*Very data-driven business.

*The person needs to be a DEMAND PLANNER first and foremost. That’s the most critical issue here.

COMMENTS FROM THE CEO

Start quote: “We need someone who can forecast properly but with some real smarts about them.

*Forecasting is the end outcome. The easy part is putting no’s in a spreadsheet. It’s about understanding the customer and their product that is on the sheet in front of you. And that takes a little time but the data does tell a story.

*They need to understand a set of complex attributes (data management). This would make sense to a demand planner. They need to correct that regularly and be on top of it and constantly question the sales team to deal with it. In this case they are also eyes for sales and product managers to know what’s going on and what should be considered to clear or move through with product (because they see it every day).

*It’s then production planning. (After they have analysed their demand they then need to role up the quantities to a ratio of patterns/lays so they have cutting efficiencies. Again it can be taught if someone has some basic common sense and is prepared to learn).

*Then they need to schedule or purchase order placing with suppliers. (basic demand planners aren’t worried about suppliers constraints in producing what they want when they want. Ours again need to be different because these people need to fill the manufacturing plant with work 12 months of the year because its our plant. So finance will say “bring what you need when you need it”. I’m different. Here is our 12 month plan and produce what we need in earliest months first but then you can keep producing the later dated orders. it’s a different mindset.

*It’s about planning store inventory from the ground up (as part of the forecast). Again different. You’re looking at it from a store level because each store has its safety stock requirements.

*All of this also needs capacity planning. For instance, after just placing my 12-month program in our facility we can’t produce it all so we are dealing with the product account managers at outsourcing programs to other factories in alternate countries even.

*It’s then about holding deliveries to account like a production/purchasing manager wherever they are placed.

*It’s then about Freight forward management in full (including negotiation).

*They also need to have People management as they have 2-3 staff members. They need to appraise their team, teach them, guide them and hold them to account etc.

*And after that it’s a heap of problem-solving. So they must have a strong commercial acumen.

*So can I teach the above? Yes I can, but the presupposition is that they come with a very good basic set of abilities already and have the smarts to understand

*We are about right stock right place at right time at right cost and it requires someone who is driven by perfection to keep data clean, china factory full, order requirements delivered on time. They need to understand things like how to balance using safety stock verses when to utilise the production facility when they have a stock out. So they need a great sense of commercial acumen and again common sense.

*Then when we have new schools or line extensions they need to forecast as predictable as possible and look for patterns in similar type customers.

*This person ultimately OWNS the plans.

*The issue is that a standard forecaster isn’t right when they are simply filling holes for a demand line without learning their customer as I’ve mentioned above.

*So we’d like a forecaster from the rag trade ideally (as they understand production) but someone who is smart and has a work ethic to deliver on outcomes repeatedly.

*Just to summarise the above

*The fundamental is that we” prepare” before we stick any nos in any column.

*The foundations for what they do are

• Clean & accurate data (including but definitely not limited to the PLM/BASE/SOF status)
• Ease of Supply/ Efficiency of supply (cost)
• Capacity to supply (time)
• Regenerating what you can (within reason)
• Planning for Future product needs together (eg basic item and Gradwear item)
• Minimise the risk of not having enough
• Minimise risk of having too much in the wrong areas
• Encouraging product/sales teams to improve their outcomes of products with their respective customers
• Understand and learn the customer you are about to produce inventory for (it’s a huge responsibility as you implicate the customer)

You must be very mathematically astute and have a good apparel background.” end quote.

*Our client has their own manufacturing plant in china owned by them. There is about 200 staff there. Plus they are starting to source more from other countries (Bangladesh and Indonesia (not their factory)).

*Production is closely tied to forecasting.

*This person will need to put a lot of effort into this role at different times of the year. There are 2 others in support roles at present and they will manage the data processing. You will need to work out certain equations.

*This is a hard role to fill as our client needs to have ragtrade experience and need to have some production experience and a strong forecasting background. There are many systems that work and you will need to learn them quickly.

*THIS POSITION WILL BE RELATING TO ALL ASPECTS OF THE BUSINESS AND YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO KNOW AND UNDERSTAND AND BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH STAFF WITHIN ALL DEPARTMENTS. IN OTHER WORDS, GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON AT THE GROUND ROOTS LEVEL.

POSITION PURPOSE

*The primary objective of this role is to ensure sales orders are delivered on time. Through the maintenance and development of the Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) process the role ensures all production management, supplier management, sales and marketing inputs are taken into account to ensure stock is available to meet the promised customer/product SLA (Service Level Agreement) without the requirement for costly expediting.

*This role is important to our client because it ensures they have the right product mix at the right time, at the right warehouse, at the right cost without which they could not deliver great customer service and put smiles on the faces of students.

*It aims to ensure that Stock is managed to a maximum rolling average of 365 days but preferably around 270 days

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Sales and Operations Process

*Ensures monthly process is followed

*Sets and monitors product category or customer program review schedule

*Runs all S&OP meetings

*Monitors all S&OP related KPIs and coordinate corrective actions

*Agrees on capacity targets with the factory team

*Ensures external suppliers receive regular forecasts (Vendor Schedules)

*Coordinates the annual planning process through the coordination of 18-month sales and production plans

Attributes Data Management

*Understands that Data Attributes and their accuracy underpins the accuracy of forecasting within the system

*Ensures teams are competent in the usage of our client’s unique Characteristics e.g. PLM Status, Base Status, SOF Statuses, Product Type and other important Attributes

*Ensures such data attributes are accurate and very regularly reviewed in detail and corrected and informs other departments to ensure specific things are corrected.

Sales Order Support

*Ensures sales orders are being fulfilled within SLA

*In conjunction with the Head of Operations, signs off the expediting of any stock either via a special run or the utilisation of air freight

*Works with the Distribution & Management Consultants to minimise the need for split order fulfillment.

Australian Third-Party Orders

*Ensures stock from third parties is adequately controlled within client’s parameters

*Manages the third-party relationships ensuring client’s requirements are met.

*Ensures adequate forecasts (Vendor Schedules) are in place for each supplier

Supplier Management

*Ensures all contracts are up to date with appropriate suppliers

*Ensures best service for the cost for time model that best reflects the client’s needs

*Measures their performance against an established set of KPIs( Approx 56K)

*Possess values & behaviours that are consummate to client’s and communities’ expectations

*That you source and produce ethically

Badge Production

*Ensures appropriate stock of badges available to meet production requirements

*Oversees badge production process

*Oversees movement of badges between Australia and China

Manufacturing Management

*Orders are placed in a timely manner

*Where possible cutting ratios are provided for efficiency

*The scheduled plan is managed for our China manufacturing

*Manages the full relationship freight forwarders of logistics into warehouses to or from China including but not limited to Air, Sea, Courier

*Manages the limited finish goods inventory to be kept in China

*Manages the Raw Material inventory in China

SLOB Management

*Has a regular & periodic cycle review of product, with product management and Senior Sales Management

*Provides relevant information such that decisions on what and how to clear obsolete or slow-moving inventory by category.

*Drives the clearance of such SLOB (slow moving and obsolete)

*Looks to “rework” inventory where possible to reduce SLOB

Team Leadership

*Maintains an understanding of client’s management philosophy underpinned by the work of Patrick Lencioni actively reflects, implements changes and shares learning across the business to bring principles to life

*Provides leadership, direction, mentoring and professional development to the team and ensures all new employees are appropriately inducted

*Role models client’s values to build a high performance, customer focussed culture

*Monitors the performance of and provides regular formal and informal feedback to the team to ensure expectations are understood and met, including reward and recognition, annual performance plans and appraisals

*Reviews current capability of the team to identify strengths and opportunities to improve the overall performance, provide clarity on expectations, drive accountability and outcomes

*Encourages all team members to proactively identify systemic and process issues and raise new ideas and approaches and look for better ways of doing things

Risk and Safety Leadership

*Role model’s a commitment to safety and ensures all safety practices are adhered to at all times

*Ensures team performs duties in accordance with relevant legislation, and client policies and procedures

*Immediately reports and acts on any accidents and hazards

*Leads the development and implementation of strategies that enable the identification, readiness and response to areas of risk associated with key responsibilities.

Data Leadership

*Ensures team maintains accurate and up-to-date data in relevant systems e.g. AX, CRM, POS, ELMO

*Analyses data, use it to develop insights and provides timely reports to inform business decisions

*Escalates matters that impact the business to ELT for discussion and resolution

Other Duties

*Undertakes other duties within the employee’s skills and experience as directed.

This person will report to the head of supply but will receive all training by the CEO.

SALARY $150K-$175K+SUPER

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Salary: $150,000.00 – $175,000.00 per year

Application questions you have requested that Indeed ask candidates the following questions:

• How many years of EXCEL SPREADSHEET CALCULATIONS AND EQUATIONS experience do you have?
• How many years of FASHION PRODUCTION FORECASTING experience do you have?
• How many years of FINANCIAL FORECASTING experience do you have?
• How many years of OFFSHORE PRODUCTION experience do you have?
• How many years of SCHOOLWEAR MANUFACTURING experience do you have?
• How many years of WORKING CLOSELY WITH CEO experience do you have?
• What is the highest level of education you have completed?
• Which of the following describes your work eligibility in Australia?