Material Planning Manager - Contract Manufacturing - Suave Brands : Job Details

Job Title: Material Planning Manager – Contract Manufacturing

Location: Chicago, IL (co-located at Contract Manufacturer)

Company Profile

Suave Brands Company LLC (SBC) is located in Hackensack NJ. It currently encompasses two consumer brands, Suave and Chapstick, and is owned by private equity firm Yellow Wood Partners.

Suave is a well-known consumer brand, with 80% aided brand awareness, putting it in the top 3 best-known hair care brands in the market today. The brand has a longstanding history and was founded 75+ years ago. One out of every four households uses Suave shampoo and one out of every five households uses Suave body wash.

Chapstick is the most well-known lip care brand in the country, with 95% aided brand awareness. The brand sells 122M units in the United States per year, and boasts a 20% share of the lip care market by dollar sales.

Yellow Wood Partners is a Boston-based private investment firm that invests exclusively in the consumer industry. The firm seeks to acquire branded consumer products that sell into a variety of consumer channels, including mass, drug, food, specialty, value, club and e-commerce. Yellow Wood's investment and operating strategy is based on utilizing the firm's functional operating resources to help maximize brand performance by driving organic growth and increasing operating efficiencies while acquiring additional brands into a limited number of platform companies in its concentrated investment portfolio. Yellow Wood believes in a philosophy of working closely and collaboratively with management teams, resulting in greater alignment and co-ownership of outcomes.

Business Highlights

• In the 12 months ending December 2022, Suave generated ~$660M in retail sales in tracked channels. Suave holds the #1 market share position in hair care by volume in the mass, food, and drug channels and #2 volume market share position in body wash.
• Chapstick sold just under $200M in retail sales in the 12 months ending August 2023, and holds the #1 market share position in lip care by volume in the United States.

About the Role

Suave Brands is seeking a collaborative and proactive Material Planning Manager responsible for Suave's full CMO network while co-located with one of our key contract manufacturing partners in Chicago. This role is focused on enabling and supporting suppliers in effective material planning and production scheduling, ensuring alignment with Suave's supply chain priorities. Acting as a partner and liaison, this individual will work side-by-side with suppliers to improve planning accuracy, inventory reliability, and schedule adherence, while fostering strong operational relationships.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate with contract manufacturing partners to build and maintain rolling material requirements plans (MRP) that balance production needs with inventory efficiency.
• Partner with suppliers to align production schedules with Suave demand signals and capacity availability.
• Oversee cascading of Suave's forecast to the extended supplier network ensuring accuracy at component levels and monitoring capacity both short and longer term.
• Facilitate weekly planning and scheduling discussions with suppliers, ensuring transparency on material availability, risks, and priorities.
• Support suppliers in managing safety stock, lead times, and slow-moving/obsolete materials, providing insight and tools to optimize performance.
• Act as the primary on-site liaison for Suave Brands, enabling quick resolution of production and material issues while supporting long-term planning improvements.
• Develop and implement a materials inventory holding strategy across the total supply network to balance cost, service, and risk.
• Identify, analyze, and mitigate sources of material waste (e.g., obsolescence, scrap, slow-moving stock).
• Partner with suppliers and logistics providers to optimize lead times, replenishment cycles, and delivery performance.
• Implement and manage systems, tools, and analytics to improve visibility and decision-making for materials management.
• Coordinate with Suave's Supply Chain, Procurement, and Logistics teams to ensure suppliers have the right inputs, visibility, and escalation pathways.
• Provide suppliers with analysis and data-driven insights to improve service levels, inventory turns, and schedule reliability.
• Drive continuous improvement by sharing best practices, identifying inefficiencies, and enabling suppliers to achieve cost and service improvements.
• Monitor and report on KPIs (schedule adherence, OTIF, inventory turns, supplier responsiveness), highlighting opportunities for collaborative improvement.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Operations, Business, or related field (APICS/CPIM certification a plus).
• 7+ years of experience in material planning, production scheduling, or supply planning, preferably in CPG or manufacturing.
• Strong knowledge of MRP/ERP systems and supply chain planning processes.
• Experience working directly with contract manufacturing organizations or external suppliers.
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills with the ability to influence without direct authority.
• Strong analytical skills with proficiency in Excel; ability to create actionable insights for supplier partners.
• Comfortable working in a co-located, fast-paced, supplier-facing role requiring diplomacy and collaboration.