QUESTIONNAIRE-6-52 8104 **Serving the needs of all families with young children,** Carter's Inc. is the largest North American apparel retailer exclusively for babies and young children, encompassing Carter's, OshKosh B'gosh, Skip*Hop and Little Planet brands. Meaningful work, constant learning, genuine people, and a community guided by core values that promote inclusion and innovation is in everything we do. There are many reasons to build your career at Carter's. **ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS** **Production Operations (Buy & WIP), PO, and Vendor Management** + Work directly with vendors to maintain accurate and timely production operation data in the systems + Understand the logic and lead times of the Buy & Production and Time & Action (T&A) calendars + Communicate with vendors and cross-functional teams (US Planning, Sourcing and HK Production Planning) to proactively support execution of manufacturing activities + Identify potential delivery risks, outline possible root causes, work with vendors on solutions to eliminate or mitigate risks at the earliest stage + Collaborate with other functional departments (Sourcing/QA/Logistics) to solve production and delivery related issues + Be a Subject Matter Expert for the vendor community on production planning processes/rules; communicate and monitor any special shipping needs for specific customers (preferably Wal-Mart, Target USA, Costco etc...) + Act as a gatekeeper to ensure vendors' commitment to all required production planning processes / rules **Reporting and Analytics** + Prepare and deliver timely and accurate production risk reporting and negotiate better deliveries where possible + Conduct analysis on delivery performance and drive for improvement to meet KPI + Monitor timely shipment booking request and shipment closure utilizing automated reporting for designated vendors **Operational Improvement Projects** + Assist in documenting process and building training materials + Actively participate in system / reporting enhancement projects to strengthen operational efficiency + Partner with team members from other offices and other key related stakeholders on ad-hoc projects + Identify tools or reporting capabilities to further optimize data quality and automate reporting within the Production Planning department **REQUIREMENTS** + At least 4 years of working experience in Apparel manufacturing with advanced knowledge of end to end supply chain processes. Experience in US/Canada market is preferable + Highly analytical, well organized, and systematic with problem-solving skills + Willing to challenge status-quo and explore potential improvement opportunities + Hands on and through risk analysis of production, sensitive to numbers + Good command of written and spoken English + Advanced communication skills; capable of providing direction and conveying concepts to vendors + Advanced skills using Microsoft Office applications (Especially Excel)