Materials Planner

Position Overview

Job Purpose

Support and optimize materials management and production planning by managing inventory, maintaining accurate SAP data, coordinating supply chain activities, and helping to align production schedules with customer demand. This role ensures the efficient flow of materials and information across the supply chain, helps to drive continuous improvement initiatives, and meet business objectives related to cost, quality, service levels, and regulatory compliance.

About Fujifilm

Global Business

Fujifilm, celebrating 90 years of innovation in healthcare, graphic arts, optical devices, and high technology products in 2024, leverages proprietary technologies to enhance culture, science, industry, health, and environmental protection. Our corporate culture promotes openness, fairness, and clarity.

Company Overview

If you’re ready to “think ink,” FUJIFILM Imaging Colorants is the place for you! As part of Fujifilm’s global Ink Solutions Group, we develop state-of-the-art aqueous dyes, pigment dispersions, and innovative inks for digital printing applications like packaging, commercial printing, and displays. We’re driven by creativity and a dedication to quality, and we’re looking for passionate problem-solvers to join the team.

We believe in investing in our people, offering a collaborative culture and a flexible environment to help you thrive. If you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and help create solutions that make an impact, let’s make a splash together!

Our manufacturing facility is in New Castle, Delaware, a lively town with rich history, open parks, museums, and a vibrant community that offers recreation and culture at every turn.

Fujifilm is globally headquartered in Tokyo with over 70,000 employees across four key business segments of healthcare, electronics, business innovation, and imaging. We are guided and united by our Group Purpose of “giving our world more smiles.” Visit: https://www.fujifilm.com/us/en/about/region/careers

Job Description

Key Result Areas

Inventory Accuracy: Maintain inventory accuracy of 98% or higher through effective cycle counts and reconciliation processes.

Material Availability: Ensure 99%+ availability of critical raw materials and components to avoid production delays or stoppages.

Cost Reduction: Identify and implement continuous improvement initiatives that reduce materials carrying costs and minimize obsolete or slow-moving inventory to meet KPI and DOI/CCC targets.

SAP Data Integrity: Maintain up-to-date and accurate SAP master data with zero critical errors impacting production or planning workflows including new product setups.

Compliance: Maintain 100% compliance to ISO9001 and ISO14001 standards in materials management.

Stakeholder Collaboration: Foster strong cross-functional collaboration, reflected in positive feedback from Sales, Customer Service, Procurement, and Production teams; promptly escalate and help resolve issues.

Key Roles and Responsibilities

Reporting and Collaboration

• Prepare and present department reports that provide insights into current and forecasted inventory status, identify supply risks, and assess capacity requirements.
• Collaborate with Planning and Customer Service to align materials management with customer demand forecast
• Support the Materials Manager in developing and delivering KPI and business reporting; report and highlight deviations and areas for improvement against agreed performance measures.
• Assist in planning and supporting coordinating new product introductions (NPI) and supplier transitions.

SAP Materials Management

• Administer SAP materials master data, Bills of Material (BoMs), and Routings.
• Maintain and update SAP data, including production hierarchy, lead times, batch sizes, and product routings.
• Review SAP setup configurations to identify operational efficiencies and align processes.
• Oversee and support production management in maintaining material masters, BoMs, routings, and work centers.

Inventory Management and Optimization

• Review inventory levels to minimize costs while achieving performance targets such as Days on Inventory (DOI) and Service Level Agreement (SLA).
• Participate in risk-assessed inventory reviews to support reduction strategies, ensuring supply continuity.
• Collaborate with Finance and Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) teams for disposition of obsolete and slow-moving stock.
• Maintain stock accuracy in SAP through cycle counts to ensure integrity in production and raw material scheduling.
• Coordinate cycle counting and inventory functions across multiple locations.
• Analyze inventory to identify slow-moving and expired items, investigating and addressing accuracy issues.
• Report inventory metrics and provide actionable insights in Continuous Improvement meetings.
• Contribute to the development of inventory strategies for existing items, new products, and phase-outs.
• Coordinate annual physical inventory and stock count activities at third-party warehouses and consignment customer locations.

Production Planning Support

• Crosstrain on developing and communicating master production schedules, incorporating testing, validation, NPI, and EOL considerations.
• Support production order creation, raw material selection, and generation of process logs to initiate manufacturing; monitor material consumption and timely closure of production orders.
• Coordinate with production planners to integrate business planning inputs for NPI and EOL while considering capacity constraints.
• Monitor raw material availability and liaise with Procurement to resolve shortages.
• Participate in daily site meetings to review current production status and highlight operational issues.
• Handle Management of Change (MOC) processes related to the supply chain.
• Assist in setting planning methodologies in SAP (Make-to-Order, Make-to-Forecast) and safety stocks with periodic reviews.

• Support long-term manufacturing planning with rough-cut capacity planning and active participation in the Fixed Planning process.

Leadership and Continuous Improvement

• Collaborate with the Supply Chain team and cross-functional stakeholders to implement best practices and foster a culture of continuous improvement both internally and with suppliers.
• Maintain compliance with relevant standards such as ISO9001 QMS and ISO14001 Environmental, Health, and Safety requirements.
• Establish and maintain strong working relationships with key internal and external stakeholders to support seamless materials management.

Person Specification

We are seeking a qualified materials management specialist with a strong background in supply chain, materials management, production planning, or operations within a manufacturing or industrial environment. They should be proficient in ERP systems, particularly SAP, with hands-on experience managing master data, Bills of Material, and inventory control.  The ideal candidate will be well-versed in inventory optimization strategies, production workflows, and compliance with quality and environmental standards.

Essential Experience

• Minimum of 5 years' experience in a supply chain function or related field.
• Proven experience within a manufacturing environment, preferably in the chemical industry.
• Extensive experience with Material Requirement Planning (MRP), ideally using SAP for production planning and inventory management.
• Demonstrated experience in managing the cycle count process and inventory control

Preferred Experience

• Proficiency with a wide range of software programs; strong capabilities in SAP and Excel are required. Experience with Tableau, Power BI or similar data management/analysis tools is highly desirable.
• Problem-solving skills with experience in continuous improvement tools such as Six Sigma and value stream mapping preferred.
• Working knowledge of ISO9001 and ISO14001 standards

Competencies

• Demonstrates a strong understanding of inventory control, production planning, and supply chain processes, applying problem-solving skills to optimize inventory and operations.
• Proficient in SAP or similar ERP systems for managing materials master data, inventory control, and production scheduling.
• Skilled in data analysis to identify inefficiencies and drive process improvements, with experience in forecast analysis, capacity planning, and demand management.
• Maintains high attention to detail to ensure accuracy and integrity in inventory and production data.
• Experienced in root cause analysis and effectively resolving production and inventory issues.
• Makes timely, balanced decisions that consider customer needs, cost efficiency, and operational constraints.
• Communicates effectively across cross-functional teams, capable of leading meetings, presenting clear reports, and engaging collaboratively in planning processes.
• Experienced in managing change processes (including Management of Change - MOC) with thorough documentation and adherence to formal controls.
• Proactive in risk identification and mitigation to maintain uninterrupted supply continuity.
• Continuously seeks opportunities to improve processes and reduce waste using Lean, Six Sigma, or similar methodologies.
• Knowledgeable in quality management systems (ISO9001) and environmental, health, and safety standards (ISO14001).
• Builds strong partnerships, fostering teamwork and shared accountability.
• Exhibits a positive, enthusiastic attitude with exceptional personal drive, embracing challenges and pursuing goals persistently.

Management Systems for Quality, Environmental, Health, Safety and Ethics

It is the responsibility of the individual to be aware of their own and their department’s Quality, Environment, Health, Safety and Ethics Objectives, Policies, Procedures and to ensure that any actions taken are not contrary to these or have any detrimental impact on the Companies obligations under our Code of Conduct, Legal or Regulatory requirements.

EEO Information

Fujifilm is committed to providing equal opportunities in hiring, promotion and advancement, compensation, benefits, and training regardless of nationality, age, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion, political creed, ideology, national, or social origin, disability, veteran status, etc.

ADA Information

If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please direct your inquiries to our HR Department ([email protected]).