Tactical Planning Manager

Welcome to Hovis. We are the proud guardians of over 130 years of baking experience that make up our iconic and much-loved brand. We produce bread and bakery products created with Hovis goodness at the heart of each. We deliver around 1.3million loaves, every day of the week throughout the UK and Ireland, where we also make Mothers Pride and Ormo products.

We are 2,800 people working within 8 bakeries, 1 flour mill, and 2 regional distribution centres across the UK. Our success is a result of the hard work of our people; they are experts in their field whether it’s baking, manufacturing, logistics, engineering, or the many departments within the central functions team based in our head office in High Wycombe. We are a values-led business and expect our colleagues to live, breathe, and embed Quality, Accountability, and Trust into their ways of working.

The Role:

The Tactical Planning Team have ownership for the Bread, Other Bakery & Primary Distribution weekly planning process, ensuring the plan meets quality & service targets at optimum cost.

Monitor daily performance against the plan and agree with the Operational & Commercial teams corrective actions, as necessary, to ensure targets are met.

Review daily service performance & work with bakery and head office teams to drive continuous improvement.

The role can be based at either our Nottingham bakery or Head office in High Wycombe with travel.

Key Responsibilities:

• Build the Week Ahead plan (manufacturing & primary distribution), communicate and agree the plan with all sites.
• Execute of the plan at the daily level:
• Manufacturing - maintain Weekly Planner spreadsheet, and chair daily operations conference calls to optimise performance and resolve issues.
• Primary Logistics – create Night Before Plan, agree plan (including basket movements) with sites to maximise utilisation. Monitor adherence to plan and resolve issues.
• Escalation of customer facing issues to Supply Chain & Commercial stakeholders. Communicate and implement agreed action plans.
• Daily service:
• Identify and implement corrective actions in collaboration with bakery & head office teams.
• Weekly activity & performance reporting.
• Support the strategic planning of key events such as Christmas, Easter, plant maintenance, product launches & promotions, ensuring these events are incorporated into the Week Ahead planning process.
• Maintain base data in the planning systems
• Operate the Tactical Planning shift rota, providing Out of Hours contact and holiday cover as agreed.

Desired Skills & Experience:

• 3 years Supply Chain planning experience in FMCG
• IT & spreadsheet literate with experience in SAP
• A ‘self-starter’ with good organisational skills coupled with tenacity and drive to get the job done
• Confident and assertive with the ability to build strong relationships and influence outcomes with a range of stakeholders
• Excellent communication skills providing clear insight through written and verbal presentation
• Excellent analytical skills, with an eye for detail and capability to make decisions based on numerical and graphical data
• Ability to review, improve and implement better business processes
• Seeks out and shares best practice across the organisation

Why work for us and our benefits:

At Hovis, we understand the importance of looking after our colleagues, so we provide a variety of benefits in addition to their salaries. The benefits we provide at Hovis are as varied as the people who receive them but they are offered with the intention of creating value to them personally over and above their salaries

• There is a range of colleague benefits available, which individuals can select based on their needs.
• Our benefits scheme is called Hovis Choice, which offers a variety of savings and cashback offers on day to day living and much more including eyecare vouchers, and a healthcare scheme to suit everyone. It also includes our Cycle to Work scheme where you can obtain a brand new bike at a significant saving
• We offer competitive annual leave entitlement and flexibility where possible in order to create a healthy work-life balance
• We celebrate loyalty with our generous long service and colleague recognition schemes
• We offer three levels of pensions

Hovis values diversity and is committed to promoting equal opportunities in the workplace. Every job applicant, employee or worker will be treated fairly and equally with dignity and respect regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, social class, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religious belief, union membership, political opinion, sex, sexual orientation or any other protected characteristic.