Planning Manager at ZEISS in Bangalore

Job description

ZEISS in India ZEISS in India is headquartered in Bengaluru and present in the fields of Industrial Quality Solutions, Research Microscopy Solutions, Medical Technology, Vision Care and Sports & Cine Optics. ZEISS India has 3 production facilities, R&D center, Global IT services and about 40 Sales & Service offices in almost all Tier I and Tier II cities in India. With 2200+ employees and continued investments over 25 years in India, ZEISS’ success story in India is continuing at a rapid pace. Further information at ZEISS India . Role purpose The Planning Lead owns end-to-end demand, supply, distribution, and inventory planning for FSV lenses, frames, and accessories in India. The role is responsible for creating one feasible and aligned operational plan that supports product availability, customer service, inventory health, working capital, and cost objectives. It leads the monthly S&OP/IBP process and the weekly execution and exception-management cycle across Sales, Marketing, Finance, Procurement, Manufacturing, Logistics, Customer Service, and Product Management. The role requires experience managing a large, variant-rich SKU portfolio with long-tail and intermittent demand, imported and/or locally sourced products, short customer lead times, and frequent product introductions and phase-outs. Role scope • Product categories: FSV lenses, frames, accessories, and associated consumables • Portfolio: Approximately 20K+ active SKUs / 840K SKU-location combinations • Supply network: >3 Supplying Plants (Import) • Distribution network: 42 distribution centers serving 4 regions • Supply model: Imported products, local production, and/or externally sourced finished goods • Key systems: [SAP ECC/S/4HANA, APO, SAP IBP, Power BI, or other tools] Key responsibilities 1. S&OP/IBP leadership • Lead the monthly S&OP/IBP cycle across Sales, Marketing, Finance, Product Management, Manufacturing, Procurement, Logistics, and Customer Service. • Integrate demand, supply, capacity, inventory, distribution, and financial plans into one agreed operational plan. • Highlight service, capacity, inventory, cost, and working-capital gaps and present fact-based scenarios for management decisions. • Ensure clear decision ownership, action tracking, and timely escalation of unresolved issues. • Translate annual business and financial plans into monthly and weekly operational plans. • Lead regular execution reviews to manage short-term deviations from the agreed plan. 2. Demand and assortment planning • Own the unconstrained and consensus demand plan for FSV lenses, frames, accessories, and associated products. • Develop statistical baselines and incorporate market intelligence, customer input, promotions, tenders, launches, seasonality, and channel trends. • Plan demand at the appropriate product, region, channel, and SKU-location level. • Manage complex product hierarchies and variant combinations across lens specifications, coatings, frame models, sizes, colors, and accessories, as applicable. • Challenge commercial assumptions and reconcile differences between statistical forecasts, sales expectations, and financial plans. • Measure and improve forecast accuracy and bias using clearly defined product and planning hierarchies. Apply differentiated forecasting methods for fast movers, long-tail products, intermittent demand, new products, and products approaching end of life. • Support assortment reviews and SKU rationalization by providing demand, service, inventory, and obsolescence analysis. 3. Supply, production, and import planning • Develop feasible supply and production plans across local plants, global supplying locations, contract manufacturers, and external suppliers. • Balance demand against material, machine, labor, supplier, import, and logistics constraints. • Convert the consensus demand plan into purchasing, production, and supply requirements. • Incorporate supplier lead times, manufacturing lead times, import lead times, minimum order