Department Manager Supply Chain Planning

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Department Manager Supply Chain Planning - Applied, Cold Chain & Refrigeration

Job Category: Supply and Logistics

Location:

Oostende, West Flanders, BE

Job Requisition ID: 3255

Daikin Europe NV (DENV) is a subsidiary of Daikin Industries Limited, a Japanese multinational and worldwide the biggest producer and supplier of HVAC-R (heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration) solutions, including heating pumps and cooling technology.
DENV is Daikin’s sales, development, and production headquarters for Europe, the Middle-East and Africa comprising headquarter offices in Brussels and Oostende, 8 production plants, 24 sales subsidiaries and offices and a whole network of independent distributors and dealers across the EMEA region.
Daikin Europe Business Support (DEBS) is a branch of DENV located in Warsaw. As a competency center we aim at being one of the driving forces behind the processes transformation: optimization, standardization and automation in the areas of supply, service, master data, controlling, financial reporting and HR.

Department Manager Supply Chain Planning – Applied, Cold Chain & Refrigeration

Location: Ostend, Belgium (Daikin Europe N.V. headquarters)
Contract: Full-time, permanent
Department: Supply Chain / Operations Planning

About the Role

Are you an experienced supply chain planning leader who thrives in complex, order-driven manufacturing environments? As Department Manager – Applied, Cold Chain & Refrigeration Planning, you take full ownership of the performance and future development of Daikin's European make-to-order (MTO) and assemble-to-order (ATO) planning organisation.

In this senior leadership role, you ensure reliable, on-time customer delivery by balancing customer demand, manufacturing capacity and material availability. At the same time, you build a scalable, efficient and future-proof planning function that supports Daikin's ambitious growth plans in the applied HVAC, cold chain and refrigeration markets.

Your Mission

• Lead and develop the European MTO/ATO order planning organisation through the Operational Planning Manager.
• Deliver operational excellence, planning stability and dependable delivery performance.
• Build strong alignment and collaboration between Sales, Manufacturing, Logistics and Product Management.
• Grow people, processes and planning capabilities across the department.
• Drive productivity and efficiency through standardisation, automation and continuous improvement (PDCA).

Key Responsibilities

Inventory Control and Finished Goods Management

• Act as owner of the finished goods inventory, including stock in transit, and keep inventory levels, working capital and stock accuracy under control.

Operational Planning Leadership

• Ensure stable, predictable execution of order planning and production scheduling.
• Lead structural escalations and make clear prioritisation and allocation decisions when demand and capacity conflict.
• Define, monitor and report planning KPIs (such as delivery reliability, lead time and inventory performance) and drive corrective actions.

Cross-functional and Stakeholder Leadership

• Balance customer expectations with operational and supply constraints.
• Build alignment and trust with stakeholders across European sales companies, factories and support functions.
• Support executive and senior management decision-making on priorities, capacity and trade-offs.

Organisation and People Development

• Coach, develop and inspire your team and future leaders.
• Increase productivity and scalability without proportional headcount growth.
• Foster a culture of ownership, accountability and continuous improvement (PDCA), while setting clear boundaries where needed.

Process Excellence and Digitalisation

• Own the end-to-end order planning processes, standards and ways of working.
• Drive planning automation and digital transformation, and define business requirements for digital planning tools and ERP/APS solutions.

Your Profile

• Proven leadership experience (10+ years) in daily operations, ideally in supply chain planning, order management or operations management.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, combined with an end-to-end supply chain mindset.
• Experience in complex, order-driven manufacturing environments (MTO/ATO), preferably in HVAC, refrigeration, industrial equipment or a comparable engineered-products industr