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SENIOR INVENTORY ANALYST - JOB #1138

Position: Senior Inventory Analyst

Reports To: Supply Chain Manager

Status: Full-Time, On-Site, Menominee, MI, Salary, Exempt

Pay Range: $70,000-$85,000 Per Year, Based on Experience and Qualifications.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Senior Inventory Analyst serves as the primary analytical resource for inventory management within the Supply Chain organization and is responsible for developing comprehensive visibility of the company's inventory position, performance, risks, and opportunities.

The position analyzes inventory levels, consumption, demand, accuracy, movement, aging, shortages, excess and obsolete exposure, service levels, and inventory investment to provide Supply Chain leadership with accurate information and actionable recommendations.

The Senior Inventory Analyst works closely with Planning, Purchasing, Shipping/Receiving/Warehouse, Production, Finance, Quality, and other functions to identify inventory-related issues, determine underlying causes, and support development of effective inventory strategies and corrective actions.

This is a senior individual-contributor position. The role provides analytical and technical expertise rather than direct personnel management and is expected to advance the company's inventory management capability through data driven analysis, standardized methodologies, improved reporting, and continuous improvement.

BASIC WORKER FUNCTION

The Senior Inventory Analyst is expected to develop a holistic understanding of the company's inventory and provide management with clear visibility of what inventory the company holds, why it is held, how effectively it supports business requirements, and where inventory-related risks or opportunities exist.

The position is expected to move inventory analysis beyond basic reporting by identifying trends, relationships, root causes, and emerging conditions requiring management attention.

The Senior Inventory Analyst is expected to challenge unsupported assumptions, identify weaknesses in inventory data and policies, and develop fact-based recommendations that balance material availability, customer and production requirements, service levels, inventory risk, and working-capital considerations.

Success in this position is measured by the accuracy and usefulness of inventory analysis, early identification of inventory risks, effectiveness of recommendations, improvement in inventory visibility and control, and contribution to better inventory management decisions.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF TASKS

Inventory Analysis amp; Management

• Maintain comprehensive analytical visibility of company inventory across appropriate categories, locations, programs, and demand sources.

• Analyze inventory levels, usage, movement, demand, age, value, availability, and other relevant inventory characteristics.

• Identify excess, obsolete, slow-moving, inactive, shortage-risk, and otherwise abnormal inventory conditions.

• Investigate significant changes in inventory levels and identify the underlying operational or planning drivers.

• Analyze whether inventory levels appropriately support current and anticipated business requirements.

• Identify inventory conditions requiring corrective action or management attention.

• Develop fact-based recommendations for improving inventory performance and utilization.

• Monitor the results of approved inventory actions and determine whether intended outcomes are being achieved.

Inventory Policy amp; Parameter Analysis

• Analyze the effectiveness of safety-stock levels, order quantities, inventory classifications, service-level objectives, and other inventory related planning parameters.

• Evaluate historical consumption, forecast demand, production requirements, aftermarket demand, lead times, order quantities, shortages, and other factors affecting inventory requirements.

• Identify inventory parameters that appear inconsistent with actual demand, consumption, lead-time, or operating conditions.

• Develop analytical recommendations supporting changes to inventory policies and planning parameters.

• Evaluate the potential inventory, service-level, and working-capital implications of proposed policy changes.

• Monitor inventory performance following implementation of approved parameter or policy changes.

• Support development and refinement of inventory-management methodologies and analytical standards.

Inventory Accuracy amp; Cycle-Count Analysis

• Analyze inventory-record accuracy and cycle-count performance.

• Develop and maintain inventory classification and risk-based cycle-counting methodologies.

• Recommend cycle-count frequencies and priorities based on value, usage, criticality, historical accuracy, and other relevant risk factors.

• Analyze cycle-count discrepancies and identify recurring patterns or systemic causes.

• Perform root-cause analysis of significant or recurring inventory variances.

• Identify transaction, process, system, data, training, or physical-control conditions contributing to inventory inaccuracies.

• Develop recommendations for corrective actions and monitor their effectiveness.

• Develop and maintain inventory-accuracy metrics and management reporting.

Excess, Obsolete amp; Slow-Moving Inventory

• Develop and maintain visibility of excess, obsolete, slow-moving, inactive, and potentially stranded inventory.

• Establish analytical methodologies for identifying and categorizing inventory exposure.

• Analyze the causes of excess and obsolete inventory, including changes in demand, aircraft configuration, engineering requirements, purchasing quantities, planning parameters, minimum order quantities, and other relevant factors.

• Coordinate with Planning, Purchasing, Engineering, Aftermarket, Finance, and other functions to evaluate potential disposition or utilization alternatives.

• Quantify inventory exposure and provide management with recommended actions.

• Monitor trends in excess and obsolete inventory and identify recurring causes requiring systemic correction.

Inventory Investment amp; Working-Capital Analysis

• Analyze inventory investment and identify significant drivers of increases or decreases in inventory value.

• Develop visibility of inventory value by relevant category, program, commodity, status, demand source, or other management dimension.

• Analyze inventory turns, days of supply, consumption rates, aging, and other appropriate inventory-efficiency measures.

• Identify opportunities to reduce unnecessary inventory investment without creating unacceptable material-availability or service-level risk.

• Support development of inventory forecasts and inventory-investment projections.

• Provide analysis supporting management evaluation of working-capital and inventory investment decisions.

• Work with Finance to reconcile operational and financial views of inventory when appropriate.

Demand, Consumption amp; Service-Level Analysis

• Analyze historical inventory consumption and compare actual usage with forecasted or planned demand.

• Identify significant differences between forecast and actual consumption and investigate potential causes.

• Evaluate inventory performance against established service-level or material-availability objectives.

• Identify items or categories experiencing recurring shortages despite existing inventory policies.

• Identify inventory held in excess of demonstrated or reasonably anticipated requirements.

• Provide inventory-performance feedback to Planning and Supply Chain leadership to support refinement of forecasts, safety stock, order policies, and other planning assumptions.

Inventory Data Integrity

• Monitor the quality and consistency of inventory-related data used for operational and management decision-making.

• Identify inaccurate, obsolete, inconsistent, or incomplete inventory information.

• Investigate discrepancies between physical inventory conditions, MRP/system records, planning information, and analytical reporting.

• Coordinate with appropriate functional owners to correct identified data issues.

• Validate that corrections produce the intended analytical and operational results.

• Support establishment of standardized definitions and methodologies for inventory reporting and performance measurement.

Inventory Analytics amp; Decision Support

• Develop and maintain inventory reports, dashboards, analytical models, and performance indicators.

• Transform inventory and operational data into concise management information and actionable recommendations.

• Identify trends, anomalies, relationships, and emerging risks that may not be apparent from standard reports.

• Perform scenario analysis involving changes in demand, safety stock, order quantities, lead times, service levels, inventory policies, and other relevant variables.

• Quantify the potential operational and financial impact of proposed inventory-management actions.

• Provide the Supply Chain Manager and organizational leadership with clear analysis of significant inventory conditions, including the issue, cause, impact, alternatives, and recommended action.

• Support recurring Supply Chain, operational-planning, and management reviews with inventory analysis and decision-support information.

Systems amp; Analytical Capability Development

• Serve as a Supply Chain subject-matter resource for inventory reporting and analytical requirements within MRP, ERP, business-intelligence, and decision-support systems.

• Assist in defining inventory data and reporting requirements for system improvements.

• Participate in testing and validation of inventory-related system, reporting, and analytical changes.

• Develop repeatable analytical tools and methodologies that reduce dependency on manual or ad hoc analysis.

• Support development of improved inventory dashboards and decision-support capabilities.

• Participate in future MRP/ERP and business-intelligence implementations affecting inventory management.

Continuous Improvement

• Identify opportunities to improve inventory-management methodologies, reporting, data quality, analytical processes, and decision support.

• Perform root-cause analysis of recurring inventory problems and recommend systemic corrective actions.

• Develop and document standardized inventory-analysis procedures and methodologies.

• Monitor implemented improvements to determine whether intended results are achieved.

• Participate in cross-functional Supply Chain and operational improvement initiatives.

• Promote data-driven inventory-management practices throughout the organization.

Key Performance Indicators

The Senior Inventory Analyst is accountable for the quality, timeliness, and effectiveness of inventory analysis and decision support. Key performance indicators may include:

• Inventory record accuracy trends

• Cycle-count accuracy and variance trends

• Excess and obsolete inventory exposure

• Slow-moving and inactive inventory

• Inventory aging

• Inventory turns

• Days of supply

• Inventory investment and value trends

• Safety-stock effectiveness

• Material availability/service-level performance

• Inventory shortage trends

• Forecast versus actual consumption