Lakeland Dairies Co-operative Society Limited (The Group) is the second largest dairy processor on the island of Ireland.
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The business is complex and ambitious with a milk supply pool of 2 billion litres of milk, drawn from over 3,200 family farms across 16 counties.
With the most modern dairy manufacturing facilities in 7 locations on a cross-border basis, the Group supplies to a broad customer base including some of the worlds foremost blue chip companies across the dairy food ingredients, foodservice and consumer food channels on a domestic Ireland, UK, European and global basis.
Internationally we export some 240 different products to over 100 countries worldwide.
The Groups Agribusiness Division (Lakeland Agri) operates a state-of-the-art Animal Feed Manufacturing Facility and is a leading and innovative provider of the highest quality feeds and agricultural inputs to dairy, beef, and sheep farmers across the north and south of Ireland.
The Role We are seeking an experienced and analytical professional to join Lakeland Dairies in a key planning role, responsible for forecasting milk and dairy product volumes and coordinating production across our sites.
This role plays a vital part in ensuring that milk, cream, butter, powder and casein volumes are accurately forecast, efficiently allocated and aligned with production capacity, customer demand and commercial sales plans.
The successful candidate will work closely with Production, Commercial, Logistics and Finance teams to support daily and weekly operational decisions, manage peak-season capacity, and ensure accurate financial forecasting and invoicing.
Key Responsibilities Forecasting of milk and cream volumes to be allocated to the Lakeland Dairies production sites Forecast butter, powder & casein production available for sale and provide regular updates to the commercial team Maintain milk forecasting models for changes in milk growth or milk allocation assumptions and continually monitor production capacities to process the updated volumes Maintain rolling skim and butterfat processing capacity analysis during the peak processing months Evaluate the weekly production plan in terms of milk processing capacity and re-allocate milk to production sites if required.
Advise on weekly butter and powder production plans by reviewing customer orders versus stock availability using SAP reporting tools.
Daily allocation of milk to the production sites and communication with milk carters on milk deliveries Communication of deliveries of milk products between Lakeland Dairies sites Monitor butter deliveries to Customers and ensure alignment with sales plan during the season Calculating and agreeing prices for milk sales and raising monthly invoices for milk sales Approving purchase invoices of milk and milk products (buttermilk, skim, cream) for payment at agreed prices Assist in the preparation of the annual budgets for finance Assist in the preparation of forecasts for finance Any other duties as may be assigned from time to time in line with your role Qualifications and Experience Essential: A relevant third-level qualification in Supply Chain, Business, Engineering, Agriculture, Finance, Data Analytics or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience Proven experience in production planning, supply planning, forecasting or operations planning, ideally within food, dairy, FMCG or a process manufacturing environment Strong analytical xsokbrc and numerical capability, with the ability to interpret complex data sets and translate forecasts into practical production and allocation plans Demonstrated experience of forecasting volumes and monitoring capacity to support operational and commercial decision-making Experience working in a cross-functional environment, engaging effectively with Production, Commercial, Finance, Logistics and Supply Chain stakeholders Ability to prioritise and make sound decisions in a fast-paced environment, particularly during peak operational periods Competent user of ERP and reporting systems, with strong Excel skills; experience using SAP or similar systems essential Desirable Experience within the dairy, agri-food or milk processing sector, particularly in milk intake, production planning or commodities-based environments Experience forecasting and allocating multi-product outputs (e.g.
butter, powders, casein, cream) across multiple production sites Understanding of milk supply dynamics, seasonality and processing capacity constraints Knowledge of inventory management and stock optimisation, including balancing customer orders against available stock
