Julie Cekansky
Replenishment & Forecasting Analyst
North Canton,OH
Summary
- Experienced business driver with almost 20 years of experience in Inventory Management specializing in replenishment, forecasting, allocation, demand planning and supply chain. Analytical experience in a high sku count and high volume environment. Independent decision making, problem identification, and resolution skills often encountering competing priorities. Strong organizational and follow up skills. Ability to build rapport, cultivate working relationships, and drive collaboration across cross-functional teams. Responsible, dedicated and respected team player with excellent communication skills and attention to detail. Key skills include:
- Demand Planning
- SAP (ECC Production)
- Sigma
- Forecasting & Replenishment
- SAP Hana (Web-Focus - ERP)
- Tableau
- Allocations
- Blue Yonder JDA Demand & Fulfillment
- Microsoft Excel, Power Point, Word, Access
Overview
33
33
years of professional experience
Work History
Sr. Inventory Analyst - Sewing
JoAnn Stores
Hudson, USA
01.2023 - Current
- Responsible for driving sales through proactive management of seasonal inventory levels through effective allocations for 800+ stores and three distribution centers
- Managed a $270M business (40% of total company) of seasonal/fashion product to achieve sales and inventory goals
- Weekly sku count averaging 4k and increasing to 8k during peak selling period
- Across five Category Management teams, created all purchase orders and worked with Buyers, Planners, Logistics, and Store Operations to determine and execute appropriate timing of allocation strategies
- Planned and executed weekly flow of seasonal inventory by sku/site to most desired locations to achieve financial and sell-thru goals of 85%
- Closely worked with Buyers/Planners to determine if product should be rolled out to additional sites, and which sites, increasing sales 30%
- Updated baseline forecasts for 5k replenishable sku's totaling 40M sales units (40% of total company units and 20% total company dollars)
Sr. Replenishment Analyst
JoAnn Stores
01.2007 - 01.2023
- Responsible for forecasting, replenishment and allocation strategies, store in-stocks, DC service levels, and seasonal and replenishable inventory for a $250M business (20% of total company sales volume)
- Utilized demand and fulfillment system to update baseline forecasts, determine promotional lifts, and providing future projections to facilitate replenishment of goods to DC's and Stores
- Forecast variance to planner hovered at 5% on sales units of 45-50M
- Achieved distribution service level and customer in-stock goals on 1.5k replenishable sku's, and sell-thru targets on 3k seasonal sku's
- Managed and maintained replenishment parameters (Minimum Presentation, Safety Stock Levels and Vendor Lead Times) to achieve inventory levels, inventory turn, and store in-stock goals of 90% on high volume sku's, 80% on mid volume sku's, and 70% on low volume sku's
- Collaborated with Buying and Planning to determine purchase quantities
- Created, approved, tracked and maintained purchase orders
- Managed and directed inbound freight by collaborating with vendors to ensure product is flowing as intended; worked to identify and resolve any issues affecting timely receipts
- Developed and executed strategies to allocate product to stores to drive financial and sell-thru goals of 85% or higher
- Worked with Product Development and Sourcing teams to convert product lines to and from different vendors and from Domestic to Import
- Developed and maintained numerous ad hoc reports detailing productivity of seasonal purchases
- Used this reporting to analyze effectiveness of allocation strategies and make adjustments as needed to attain expected sell-thru of 85% or higher
- Was sole Analyst to work with Impact Analytics to create a web-based allocation system specific to JoAnn
- Responsible for all training materials along with training all other analysts on use of new allocation tool
- Selected to make enhancements to numerous SAP transactions which improved efficiencies and expanded/narrowed selection criteria
- Aided in development and training of new Vendor Purchase Order System intended to increase ability to fine for late shipments
- Selected to be on team that upgraded existing JDA Demand and Fulfillment System
- This included making wishlist for upgrade, testing new features, writing training materials, and delivering training of enhancements to other analysts
- Considered a subject matter (SME) in all things related to Forecasting and Replenishment and Allocations
- Mentored and trained numerous team members
- During pandemic in focused product area (Cotton Fabric), sales increased by over 1M units/week
- Weekly allocations executed often exceeded 14M units/week of seasonal product
- Increased sales of $157M, assisted with chasing additional 37M units (with -6% AUC) during Summer/Fall 2020
Merchandise Planner
JoAnn Stores
01.2005 - 01.2007
- Developed sales, margin, and inventory plans for division generating 10% of total company sales in conjunction with Buyer and Finance
- Analyzed sales performance for replenishable and seasonal merchandise to determine appropriate breadth and depth of assortment
- Managed the Open to Buy (OTB) including inbound receipt flow and made adjustments as needed to achieve sales, turn, GMROI
- Determined initial presentation quantities by store to achieve sales and inventory goals
- Developed and implemented store rankings based on sales performance and current trends
- Identified top performing stores for niche market sku's based on sales and demographic information
- Managed the workload and training of entry level Planner within the division
- Collaborated with replenishment analyst to determine replenishment and allocation cycles, and in-store dates of new product
Assistant Store Manager
Kohl's Department Stores
North Canton, USA
01.1996 - 01.2005
- Along with two other Assistant Store Managers, was responsible for overall success of store sales volume of +$30M and an average employee count of 130
- Attained sales, payroll, and credit card goals each month
- Responsible for hiring, training, and achieving strong customer standards which also maintaining high visual standards
- Directly responsible for Softlines area - 60% of total store volume
- Had at minimum, one assistant, five supervisors and 50 associates in which I was directly responsible for hiring, training, scheduling, and growth
- During tenure, had eight assistants and managers in training get promoted
- Ensured freight was merchandised correctly following Plan-o-grams, price changes executed in timely manner, and achieved eight successful inventories
Assistant Market Representative
May Merchandising
St. Louis, USA
05.1996 - 12.1996
- Responsible for area with volume of $140M where I assisted with selection of product which was then 'steered' to eight buyers for over 300 stores
- Assisted with development of private label program which produced sales over $2.5M
- Conducted meetings in New York with buyers and vendors to negotiate pricing and potential sales
Buyer
Dillard's Department Stores
Cleveland, USA
05.1992 - 05.1996
- Selected merchandise and determined floor position for area with $6M in sales
- Achieved 4% sales increase and 2% gross margin increase for FY 1995
- Controlled inventory through trending reorder system, analyzed business daily, weekly, seasonally, and annually
- Directly contributed to private label product development which was 60% of purchases
- Forged strong vendor relations including cost negotiations, shipping, and vendor allowances
- Worked with store planning area regarding new store openings and worked with marketing on weekly basis
Education
Bachelor of Arts & Sciences - Management & Human Resources, Industrial & Organizational Psychology
University of Akron
Skills
- Demand Planning
- Forecasting & Replenishment
- Allocations
- SAP (ECC Production)
- SAP Hana (Web-Focus - ERP)
- Blue Yonder JDA Demand & Fulfillment
- Sigma
- Tableau
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Power Point
- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft Access
- Adhoc analysis
Timeline
Sr. Inventory Analyst - Sewing
JoAnn Stores
01.2023 - Current
Sr. Replenishment Analyst
JoAnn Stores
01.2007 - 01.2023
Merchandise Planner
JoAnn Stores
01.2005 - 01.2007
Assistant Market Representative
May Merchandising
05.1996 - 12.1996
Assistant Store Manager
Kohl's Department Stores
01.1996 - 01.2005
Buyer
Dillard's Department Stores
05.1992 - 05.1996
Bachelor of Arts & Sciences - Management & Human Resources, Industrial & Organizational Psychology
University of Akron
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