Vitacress Real is one of the leading herbal specialists in Europe. With our young and fast growing company, our mission is to let people enjoy food with natural and healthy seasonings.
Herbs are grown all year round, in order to ensure that we can offer consistent quality throughout the year. We like to grow in places where the product grows in the most natural and sustainable way. That is why we grow in the Netherlands, Germany, England, Spain, Portugal and Kenya, among others.
At our location in Venlo, these freshly grown herbs are then packaged for the European market and international consumers.
When you enter our building in Venlo you can taste the freshness and energy of Vitacress Real. You become infected with the passion for the product. Central to this are four values that can be felt by all colleagues. We Grow, We Care, We Inspire and We Smile.
When someone in the bar asks you what your job is, you say:
“Within our Supply Chain team and in collaboration with our growers, I ensure that we always have the best quality product to produce with”.
But of course, you do a lot more…
You will act as our senior planning expert at the epicentre of our growing Herbal company. Responsible for the supply 2 till 6 weeks rolling planning and managing operational sourcing within our existing grower portfolio. As a Senior Supply Chainb Planner, you will monitor with colleagues from sourcing the availability of crops in our international grower network, anticipate on changes in weather conditions and or fluctuations in demand and develop alternative supply options to enable our Operational Planner to do their jobs in the best possible way. Also, you will review performance of our suppliers to help them continuously to improve together with colleagues from sourcing. But there is more:
- On weekly and monthly basis, you review and report the performance per grower with our team Sourcing and initiate actions accordingly.
- In case there are exception-based demand changes within the horizon of 6 weeks you will inform the growers and discuss gaps with team Sourcing. Permanent changes are always discussed with team Sourcing so that necessary adjustments can be implemented within programmed growers.
- Every week you analyze the provided supplier availability of growers against the demand and discuss potential challenges with the Sourcing team.
- In case we are missing volumes on short term then you are in the lead to search for those extra volumes needed within our network of growers. When we have ad-hoc shortages you work closely with our Operational Planner to make sure that we resolve this challenge. Our sourcing team is ready to support if there is insufficient product available at our existing growers.
- When we have quality issues with our growers together with the sourcing team you are the one responsible for defining a new supply schedule.
- Within Vitacress Real we do our own shelf-life testing. When herbs are not performing on shelf life together with our Sourcing team you work on a short-term solution.
- You monitor the progress of delivery performance of the growers and where needed, you come up with an improvement plan together with team Sourcing.
To give you an even better picture … Just another day at the office
You start the day with a phone call from your sourcing colleague, Patrick. He has good news!... he managed to find a new grower to supply basil. There were quite a few challenges since our current growers could not supply enough product due to disappointing weather in southern Europe, so you are very happy that a solution has been found. The daily Sunrise starts at 9:00 AM and that gives you the opportunity to share this good news and to compliment your colleague Patrick #Wecare. After the Sunrise you have a meeting with our Teamleader Quality Control, Piotr. The shelf-life test shows that the dill scores unsatisfactory. This is something that has happened more often lately. This is something you will discuss with the grower. Not good news to share, but it is important to look together for a solution how we can improve this. Then you join a short meeting with our International Key Account Manager Bas and our Demand Planner John. It turns out that the quantities for the next promo week have increased considerably. Important information for you because this means you have to adjust your planning. Together with team Sourcing you will discuss how we will arrive at the quantities. The necessary actions are plotted and then it is time for lunch. Together with your Supply Chain colleague Guus you go for a walk and enjoy a fresh cup of soup in our Greenhouse Cafe.
After lunch you will do the weekly availability check with your Sourcing colleague Claudia to see if there are any potential challenges. Things look good for the next couple of weeks. The quality of basil seems to be improving as the weather improves in the coming weeks. You discuss this with your Supply Chain colleagues and they are also happy with this development. After this you are going to production to share this good news with our Assistant Production Managers as well. In recent weeks we had to sort a lot what means extra work, so good news for everyone that is looks promising upcoming weeks. You end the day with a weekly meeting with your manager Samim. Together you go through the latest developments. Nice to be able to discuss this and share what is going on. Time has come to go home. With satisfaction you look back on this energetic and fun day! No day is the same and that is proven again after today. But this makes you super happy #Wesmile!
To be successful as our new herbal topper you have the following ingredients:
- Preferably 5 years or more demonstrable experience in a similar role and preferably within a production environment.
- You enter the world of fresh herbs. That means there are always great challenges to take on. Every day is different. This gives you energy!
- Someone who is resistant to stress. Solving that puzzle every day gives you a lot of satisfaction and energy. You know how to get things done, but you are also able to analyze afterwards how you can be even better prepared in the future.
- You can work well both individually and in a team. Your motto is “together you achieve more”.
- You like to be in contact with various parties. You have a service-oriented attitude and like to think along. Working together on the best possible solution.
- Your communication skills are very strong. You are a real problem solver, and you like to bring different parties together.
- You are proficient in the English and Dutch language.
- You are also flexible, collegial and result oriented.
- You are very experienced with Excel, and you are used to work with ERP systems.
- And last but not least… working with numbers is something you really like. And business intelligence is well known to you.
But you do not do this alone… our Supply Chain dream team
The total Supply Chain team consists of 19 colleagues: our Supply Chain Manager, Demand Planner, Supply Chain Engineer, two Operational Planners, Senior Supply Chain Planner, Operations Scheduling Specialist, two Logistics Teamleaders and ten Logistics Employees. Your team is the absolute epicenter of our company. There is a winning mentality, and nothing is impossible. Every day, the team, the production lines and the individuals are pushed to the limit. Together with your energetic and skilled colleagues, you oversee all processes and flows. In addition, you work in customer teams with colleagues from Sales, Sourcing and Operations, among others.
What makes working at Vitacress fun?
We Grow. An enormous drive, an enormous growth. Since the start of Vitacress Real about 9 years ago, we have been experiencing enormous growth every year. We will continue to achieve this ambition in the coming years. And we do this together. Our team consists of people who want to get the most out of themselves and their teammates.
We Inspire. We value initiative and input and believe that this makes our organization better. There is also plenty of room for this. After all, together we achieve more. Vitacress Real is active in a niche market. There is a lot that can be optimized, and your input is important. You are a continuous success part of the process.
We Care. We believe growth and development are essential. Furthermore, we want to take good care of people. So, you can also enjoy a delicious fresh soup with the best quality herbs every day, together with your colleagues! People work hard, but social talk is also stimulated by working up a sweat before or after work in the equipped fitness room. Or do you prefer winning the table tennis battles?
We Smile. A great working atmosphere where hard work and having fun go hand-in-hand. Our annually recurring Social Calendar is filled with fun team events.
Are you joining are dream team? This is what we offer:
A super dynamic working environment with talented colleagues who want to take each other to a higher level. You will be included in a knowledge organization that is growing and that focuses on experience and quality.
Mint, thyme, rosemary (or any other herb), as much as you want!
Free access to the Vita-Gym, so you stay fit in body and mind.
A travel allowance from your front door to ours.
A compensation for your old age.
Our Vitality Fund! An annual budget to work on your vitality.
Unlimited access to our online VR Academy!
A great opportunity to share knowledge in an environment with room for own initiative and personal development.
We look forward to your CV! If you still have doubts or do you have questions about what makes this position so great? Then call us (Marlijn de Bruin, 06 11848647). For more information about our organization, we refer you to our website, which is worth a look.