Supply Planning Manager

Posting Date: Feb 9, 2026

Department: Integrated Planning

Business Unit:

Country: South Africa

State: Western Cape

Location: Cape Town

Req Id: 102369

Division

Supply Chain

Department

Planning

Job Purpose

Responsible for leading, managing, and optimising the end-to-end supply planning portfolios across all Cipla One Africa–based manufacturing sites. Owns demand fulfilment and customer service performance for third-party suppliers while ensuring alignment with business, service, and cost objectives. Leads the Inbound Logistics Team within the supply planning function and is accountable for the effective management and cost control of third-party service providers. Inherently complex and multi-faceted role, requiring a strong balance of analytical, strategic, operational, and transactional capabilities. Works closely with multiple internal and external stakeholders, fostering collaborative and cross-functional partnerships across local and global teams to ensure continuity of supply, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.

Accountabilities

Manage, lead and drive the Supply S&OP and Reconciliation S&OP Process
Lead and manage relevant sales and operations execution meetings with suppliers
Manage, lead, develop and build strong team relationships for a team of supply planners and logistics coordinators.
Assess stock prioritization, pull forward and deferral request based on demand movements in conjunction with demand planner
Analyse and propose stock to norm (STN) requirements for all SKU’s. Ensure stock holding conforms with inventory policy and targets and investigate deviations for corrective actions. Alternatively provide scenarios for decision making on proposed stock holding.
Identify and review items with excess inventory and propose action plan.
Manage short-dated stock and drive demand shaping with Marketing, mitigation planning with Commercial team.
Lead and Manage the COPE for the SA business.
Minimise write off costs on slow moving stock by proposing change in stock policy or demand shaping actions to reduce write off.
Preparation of supply planning related reports for monthly supplier engagement meetings. Leading Supply S&OP meetings and compiling and presenting of presentation decks
Provide reporting and root cause analysis for monthly on excess and shortfall stock as well as key drivers to inventory forward.
Manage Section 21 supply process
Liaise with Cipla India for SA Market supply commitment visibility
Manage 3rd Party QA on post importation testing (PIT) (where applicable)
Provide reporting to commercial team on PIT Results & QA release timelines
Manage replenishment requirement views for maintaining STN. Drive and maintain half yearly STN review and signoff for the SA Product Portfolio
Provide front end feedback to the supply sites on latest demand movements
Coordinate discussions with demand planners on the opportunities and risks regarding demand and supply.
Manage, develop and improve inventory strategies on existing, new and phased-out products
Track stock supply point delivery vs actual, conduct required follow up to ensure service delivery.
Manage, support & coordinate the vendor coalitions within Supply Chain Planning team in the efforts to ensure supply security of products.

Continuous Improvement

Manage analytics, reporting and continuous improvements required for supply visibility and commitments, including risk & opportunity identification
Joint Lead with Demand Planning Manager and CI & Digital Manager with process, automation and system streamlining and improvement plans
Drive SKU STN analytics and segmentation in day to day planning activities
Custodian of STN
Driving Digitalization and automation of analytics and reporting in supply chain.
Lead and Manage the Logistics Team in for SA Business, including 3rd Party Logistics Service Providers.
Driving best practice and cost saving for shipping and transport, whilst ensuring shortest route to Cipla Distribution Gateway (CDG)

Education Qualification

Relevant Post Graduate Diploma/Bachelor's qualification in Supply Chain Management (BCom SCM), Logistics (BLM) or Engineering (B.Eng)

Relevant Work Experience

8+ years of supply planning, supply chain analytics
Must have experience of managing people
Exposure to supply chain and S&OP is a must
Experience in Demand Planning including replenishment forecasting is a plus
Previous exposure on working with statistical forecast is a plus
Previous experience in data analytics/science is a must
CPF or CPIM an advantage
Experience in the FMCG/Pharmaceutical industries is essential
Strong knowledge of exports/imports is essential
Good working knowledge with ERP systems (SAP), Integrated Business Planning (IBP) and BI Platforms

Skills and Attributes

Effective planning, organising and co-ordinating
Results driven
Effective problem-solving and decision-making
Commercial and strategic awareness
Independent and self-directed individual that can drive execution
Influencing capabilities
Effective interpersonal skills, the ability to communicate effectively (written and verbal) and articulate risks with an understanding of overall impact/sensitivity to rest of the business
Attention to detail
Project management skills is a plus
Ability to think strategically and innovatively around total rewards
Data scientist experience is a plus
Ability to apply demand & supply planning principles in the existing system landscape and provide opportunities on enhancement
Being able to coach and transfer knowledge to peers and pipeline talents
Ability to operationalize and adopt planning best practices in day-to-day planning

Job Location

Cape Town