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Supply planner skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
5 min read
Quoted experts
Adrian Tan,
Jason Hewitt Ph.D.
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical supply planner skills. We ranked the top skills for supply planners based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 14.6% of supply planner resumes contained supply chain as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a supply planner needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 supply planner skills for your resume and career

1. Supply Chain

A supply chain is a network or a sequence by which finished products of a company are distributed to retailers and then supplied to the end-users. The distribution of products and services from the production line to the final buyers is carried out in a series of steps including; manufacturing, transportation, and their distribution. The whole supply chain consists of different entities including; manufacturers, transportation, warehouses, suppliers, and retailers. The entities ensure that the products retain their originality while also minimizing the cost of delivery.

Here's how supply planners use supply chain:
  • Work on continuous improvement projects to streamline supply chain event management and communication, including corrective action to eliminate disruptions.
  • Initiated proactive crisis management strategies for unplanned supply chain events to minimize customer supply disruptions.

2. Logistics

Logistics is a complete organization and implementation of a problem. Logistics are often considered in a complex business operation, as some works need detailed plannings. Logistics are also used in military action.

Here's how supply planners use logistics:
  • Reported and resolved material shortage and allocation problems for Corp. Production Control and Logistics which allowed continued manufacturing of product.
  • Integrated demand flow material presentation strategies from the supply base, third-party logistics provider, and material presentation to point-of-assembly.

3. Demand Planning

Demand planning is the process of forecasting demand for a product or service and implementing an operational strategy throughout the supply chain to meet it. The goal is to find a balance between having enough inventory to meet customer needs without overstocking. Demand planners work in different departments of an organization to make sales forecasts, adjusting inventory levels to seasonal demand, materials planning, and procurement forecasts.

Here's how supply planners use demand planning:
  • Maintained communication between marketing/sales/QC/demand planning/material planning/DC departments and executives
  • Prepared forecast and sales analysis and communicated with demand planning and business managers to maintain forecast accuracy.

4. Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement is an ongoing process of improvement of products, services, and processes with the help of innovative ideas. It is an organized approach that helps an organization to find its weaknesses and improve them.

Here's how supply planners use continuous improvement:
  • Coordinated development of policies, procedures and guidelines to ensure and to carry on continuous improvement objective and corrective action.
  • Initiated cross-functional Continuous Improvement program and implemented 14 process improvements.

5. Supply Plan

Here's how supply planners use supply plan:
  • Led team responsible for monthly supply and material availability reporting and identifying risks and/or opportunities to the overall supply plan.
  • Coordinate specialized supply planning functions and provide guidance in matters involving technical and quality, procurement and cataloging responsibilities.

6. Strong Analytical

Here's how supply planners use strong analytical:
  • Review inventory levels which includes the EXCESS/OBSOLETE worksheet on a weekly/quarterly basis and incorporate strong analytical decisions when making purchasing decisions.
  • Demonstrated strong analytical and organizational skills.

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7. MRP

MRP is an abbreviation of Material Requirements Planning and refers to the control system which is implemented in the planning and management of the activities related to manufacturing. Through MRP, manufacturers can easily schedule the production and it can also be used for inventory. MRP systems are mostly software-based but the process can also be carried out manually.

Here's how supply planners use mrp:
  • Interpreted and executed the MRP supply recommendations for raw materials and packaging components used in assigned parent products.
  • Expedited or deferred orders using AS400, MRP, and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).

8. Purchase Orders

Here's how supply planners use purchase orders:
  • Generated purchase order for manufacturing plan and follow-up on product shipping information accordingly, ensuring confirmations of order delivery.
  • Issued import purchase orders to suppliers based on extensive analysis of sales/demand data and inventory level in warehouse.

9. ERP

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is computer software used by major corporations and organizations for conducting their management and accounting tasks efficiently. ERP systems bind different business processes with each other allowing smoother flow of data between them resulting in swift project assessment and completion.

Here's how supply planners use erp:
  • Checked ERP system; review BOM and follow up with supplier to make sure material is available.
  • Worked within ROSS (Food Manufacturing ERP Software) to manage inventory associated with supply and demand.

10. Supply Chain Planning

Here's how supply planners use supply chain planning:
  • Monitored and evaluated inventory demand and material on hand to optimize total supply chain planning.
  • Delivered critical supply chain planning and oversight for a global provider of products and systems supporting electrical installations and information networks.

11. Master Data

Master data is the consistent, cohesive identifiers and extended attributes that describe the core entities of a company, including customers, prospects, citizens, vendors, locations, hierarchies, chart of accounts, and the objects around which a business is conducted. Master data enhances and improves data quality and can help eliminate data maintenance across multiple sources. Centralizing all master data enables companies to configure dedicated data governance and compliance processes.

Here's how supply planners use master data:
  • Managed material master data for optimizing the storage and replenishment strategies.
  • Created and maintained assigned purchasing master data.

12. Customer Demand

Here's how supply planners use customer demand:
  • Develop procurement plans to support customer demand while maintaining optimum utilization within factories at all stages of completion.
  • Inventory management analysis necessary to control inventory balances that will meet customer demand without unnecessary carrying cost.

13. Inventory Targets

Here's how supply planners use inventory targets:
  • Monitor and ensure all aspects of supply and deployment plans/actions to support optimum customer service levels and working capital inventory targets.
  • Established inventory targets, tracked and communicated actual and projected performance, and ensured issues were addressed or escalated as required.

14. Inventory Planning

Here's how supply planners use inventory planning:
  • Develop effective inventory planning models.
  • Support and manage the supply and inventory planning process both internal and 3rd party manufacturing capacity planning.

15. Supplier Performance

Supplier performance refers to practices aimed at optimizing a supplier's performance and capabilities.

Here's how supply planners use supplier performance:
  • Measured supplier performance, identified root causes, and implemented corrective actions to improve material availability.
  • Developed strategies to reduce chronic supplier performance issues leading to increased metric performance.
top-skills

What skills help Supply Planners find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What type of skills will young supply planners need?

Adrian TanAdrian Tan LinkedIn profile

Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator, Pennsylvania State University - New Kensington

The feedback from business leaders is that they wish to see a balanced mix of different skills in new graduates. An unexpected skill mentioned is the ability to use spreadsheets such as Excel. Companies do not expect to have to train new employees to use spreadsheets, though it turned out that spreadsheets are widely used (at varying levels of complexity) at all levels in organizations. An assumption here is that if a graduate already has good spreadsheet skills, then the graduate should also have the ability to quickly pick up on other more complex business IT skills required by the organization.
Businesses also need to know if their new employees can effectively interact with internal or external audiences. In this regard, excellent presentation skills are the minimum expectation from businesses. Presentation skills (both formal and informal) include the ability to read people, to communicate, and to covey information appropriately to the different types of audiences they may encounter - and these may sometimes include bored, skeptical, adversarial or even hostile audiences.
Every organization also requires graduates to show that they are good team-players. In addition to that, it is a big advantage if graduates can also demonstrate sound leadership skills in the context of teamwork. This is because new employees with leadership potential are viewed as those who are willing to go the extra mile, able to function with minimum supervision, can roll with the punches to jump back into the fray, and trusted to welcome (instead of to avoid) new assignments or challenges. Leadership skills are also seen as closely aligned with the possession of a corporate entrepreneurial mindset in that such employees are more willing to challenge the status quo, come up with out-of-the-box ideas, and help lead transformation efforts that can guide the organization in the future.

What technical skills for a supply planner stand out to employers?

Jason Hewitt Ph.D.

Lecturer, Pennsylvania State University - Behrend, Erie PA

Zoom for every industry. Industry-specific software is of course important as well. Communication skills, both internally as well as customer facing, are essential in these times of uncertainty.
Do you want to know more?
Read more about what experts have to say about supply planner

List of supply planner skills to add to your resume

Supply planner skills

The most important skills for a supply planner resume and required skills for a supply planner to have include:

  • Supply Chain
  • Logistics
  • Demand Planning
  • Continuous Improvement
  • Supply Plan
  • Strong Analytical
  • MRP
  • Purchase Orders
  • ERP
  • Supply Chain Planning
  • Master Data
  • Customer Demand
  • Inventory Targets
  • Inventory Planning
  • Supplier Performance
  • Production Planning
  • Capacity Planning
  • Product Availability
  • Customer Orders
  • JDA
  • KPI
  • Manage Inventory
  • Capacity Constraints
  • Inventory Control
  • Master Production Schedule
  • Distribution Centers
  • Lean Six Sigma
  • On-Time Delivery
  • SAP APO
  • Obsolete Inventory
  • Corrective Action
  • Commodities
  • POS
  • Lean Manufacturing
  • Product Line
  • Goods Inventory
  • Cost Savings
  • Material Availability
  • John Deere
  • DRP
  • Customer Satisfaction
  • Cycle Management
  • Strategic Sourcing
  • BOM
  • FG
  • WIP
  • OEM
  • Delivery Performance
  • Enterprise Resource Planning

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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