Agricultural Planner

About the Role:

Agricultural

Planner - Broilers
Are you passionate about building and maintaining working relationship? Looking for a new challenge? Do you have an understanding of supply chain and planning, with experience within this environment?

As an inclusive, forward-thinking business, we take pride in our approach to planning across Avara Foods and are looking for a highly competent and motivated
Agricultural Planner **to join our Agricultural Planning Team, based at our Hereford, Tram In site.

This is an excellent opportunity for a customer focused planner with a strong sense of urgency and prioritisation. Someone with the ability to think on their feet and react in an everchanging environment.

Purpose of the role:

As an Agricultural Planner for Broilers, you will ensure the Avara processing plants are supplied with the required numbers and weights of birds to cover their order profile on a daily basis.

This is achieved through the careful management of placement numbers, growth rates, stocking numbers and cycle lengths.

You will analyse performance trends and utilise them in future decision making and work collaboratively with all areas of the business to achieve the best result for all.

Your key responsibilities as an Agricultural Planner will include:

• Creating and maintain processing plans to ensure that factory demand is met on a daily basis
• Ensuring that plans are kept up to date with the latest information including weights and mortalities
• Communicate daily and weekly plans to those who require it including farms, factory and various other parties
• To manage plans over a number of weeks in order to forecast how weight and performance is changing and understand what needs to be done in order to maintain target weight set out by the business
• Plan broiler chick placements in order to ensure that factory supply is in line with what the business requires
• Effectively manage placement densities, grower turnarounds, cycle lengths and any additional placement requests as and when required, e.g., Trials, new sites/housing
• Assist the Hatchery Planner with delivering the chick plan through capacity monitoring and chick purchases from 3rd parties.
• Manage parameters within Mtech and ensure information is kept up to date and entered correctly, including placement information and 3rd party delivery notes
• Communicate to our extensive grower, base their next planned chick placement.
• Liaise with 3rd party companies to buy or sell live birds as / when necessary, in line with maintaining target weight
• Ensure that the correct paperwork is sent to the factory when third party sales occur
• Coordinate with farms and area managers to ensure that information is accurate and is received in a timely manner
• Monitor planned weights against actual weights on a daily basis
• Monitor performance and to highlight to the management team any anomalies or significant drops in performance
• Develop strong working relationships with Avara's farming partners and communicate information/plans accordingly
• Assist in the development of agricultural planning systems in support of Avara's planning process and to manage changes as part of a wider IT project
• Develop and maintain performance metrics which demonstrate strong understanding and control over plan performance
• Ensure that our agricultural processes are not planned to break legislation, permit restrictions or our assurance scheme standards e.g., stocking densities
• Assist in any ancillary tasks to help improve Avara's operations
• Support the rest of the Ag Planning Dept as necessary

What we are looking for:

• Demonstrates understanding of supply chain and planning
• Previous experience in a demand/supply or factory planning role desirable
• Strong IT skills competent in Excel
• Strong numeracy and analytical skills
• Confident, open, collaborative communicator
• Structured and organised punctual with the ability to work to strict deadlines and multitask
• Capable of organising and delivering change projects
• Good verbal and especially numerical reasoning
• Approachable, personable and team focused
• Proactive selfstarter with a strong work ethic
• Naturally inquisitive with an eye for detail

Avara Foods is one of the UK's largest food businesses, supplying chicken and turkey to the nation's most popular supermarkets and restaurants.

We are a fully integrated business controlling the whole product supply chain, which include feed mills, farms, hatcheries and factories with associated transport and logistics functions that employ more than 7000 people.

This is achieved by investing in people, utilising the latest technology and being uncompromising in our commitment to high quality and food standards.

All our facilities are Covid secure, with protective measures and precautions in place to keep our people safe.

What's in it for you?
As an
Agricultural Planner you will enjoy a secure,

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