Material Planning Section Manager

Job purpose

Responsible for overseeing material planning and inventory control activities by managing planning processes, optimizing inventory levels, coordinating with cross-functional stakeholders, and leading the planning team in order to ensure material availability, operational continuity, and alignment with production and business requirements.

Key accountability areas

Material planning oversight

Oversee material planning activities to ensure alignment with production schedules and operational requirements.

Review and approve material requirements based on demand forecasts, production plans, and inventory status.

Ensure timely issuance and accuracy of material requisitions to procurement.

Monitor planning parameters and ensure effective execution of material plans.

Inventory control and optimization

Monitor stock levels of raw materials, components, and consumables to prevent shortages and overstocking.

Define and control inventory parameters including safety stock, reorder levels, and coverage targets.

Ensure inventory accuracy in coordination with warehouse teams and resolve discrepancies.

Drive optimization of inventory levels in line with cost and service objectives.

Stakeholder coordination and issue resolution

Coordinate with procurement to ensure timely supplier deliveries aligned with production requirements.

Collaborate with production planning to ensure material availability supports manufacturing schedules.

Liaise with sales, logistics, and quality teams to ensure smooth material flow.

Act as escalation point for material planning issues and resolve cross-functional conflicts.

Performance management and reporting

Own section KPIs related to material availability, inventory accuracy, and order fulfillment.

Monitor performance against targets and ensure achievement of defined KPIs.

Prepare and review material planning reports and provide insights to management.

Drive corrective actions to improve planning accuracy and operational performance.

Risk management and continuity planning

Identify risks related to material shortages, supplier delays, and forecast inaccuracies.

Develop and implement mitigation plans including safety stock adjustments and alternative sourcing.

Monitor critical materials and ensure continuity of supply to avoid production disruptions.

Team supervision and development

Supervise and guide the material planning team to ensure effective execution of responsibilities.

Allocate tasks, monitor performance, and ensure adherence to planning standards.

Support development of team capabilities and enhance planning knowledge and skills.

Promote best practices and continuous improvement within the team.

Role accountability

HR proficiency

Ability to recruit, recognize, and cultivate high performers to create a robust second line of management.

Ability to recognize low performers and guide them to improve or release them.

Ability to treat subordinates equally without any discrimination.

Assessment criteria of subordinates is performance that leads to planned results.

Ensure availability of delegation of authority matrix to have sufficient delegations as per company policy.

Responsibility

Must take full responsibility for his operation as per the job description and the required deliverables from this position, taking into consideration the general company guidelines.

Able to anticipate problems and make the necessary proactive steps to prevent them.

Ability to take necessary and proper timely decisions.

Delivery

Deliver the required results in a timely manner with required quality and cost.

Making a tangible difference

Must make a tangible difference to his area of operation and exceed business expectations.

Business planning and performance

Able to transform the corporate goals into business plans.

Able to plan, follow-up, and execute those plans, whether they are annual or development plans.

Monitor the plan performance and initiate action to strengthen results and take corrective action accordingly.

Provide periodic work progress reports.

Responsible for monitoring and controlling budgets and expenses to achieve optimum cost efficiency.

Organizational development

Develop the organizational structure according to the current requirements taking into consideration future and development plans.

Ensure availability of job descriptions for all job roles and deployment.

Business process improvements

Develop, coordinate well-defined written systems, policies, procedures, and seek automation opportunities as much as possible.

Should be conversant and able to navigate through IT solutions especially those relevant to his job and business.

Promote the automated systems and use them fully to spread its culture.

Quality

Quality is considered as alfanar’s prime competitive advantage; as such, managers are expected to act accordingly.

Adaptation

Adapt to new and alternative techniques, technologies, management structures, and business models.

Health, safety and environment

Ensure a safe, secure, and legal work environment as per the standard regulations.

Academic qualification

Bachelor degree in electrical engineering or mechanical engineering.

Work experience

6 to 10 years.

Technical / functional competencies

Materials flow analysis.

Material requirements planning (MRP/MRPII).