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December 13, 2022 | SPOC Automation

SPOC Automation Welcomes Kaila Szmajda as Global Demand Planner


SPOC is pleased to welcome Kaila Szmajda to the team in her new role as Global Demand Planner. She joins SPOC after having graduated from Auburn University's MBA program.

From Trussville, AL, Szmajda received her undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Her time with SPOC started when she worked on the assembly floor during summers off from school. During the summer of 2022, she interned with SPOC, working in global demand planning. Szmajda fell in love not only with the job, but also the company as a whole.

Using her unique previous experience with SPOC, Szmajda will play an essential role in the supply chain of the company, using analytical, marketing, and sales data to effectively estimate future product demand. She will also create and manage company inventory targets based on collaborative sales forecasting, production capacity, and procurement planning. Her role will also involve developing and driving process improvements and leading system implementations to support SPOC's demand forecast and buying functions.

Szmajda will work closely with the sales, engineering, operations, and procurement teams on new product development launches and transitions, in addition to working with those teams to produce forecasts and models estimating future demand for products. She will also lead projects related to inventory strategy across product families and item transitions, including demand plans for phase out/phase in items.

As a global demand planner, Szmajda will also lead  meetings with sales and service teams, product management, engineering, and procurement to ensure that customer demand signals, new product introductions, and other market trends are anticipated. She will drive sales forecast accuracy improvements, perform root cause analysis, and classify global demand risk upside downside, excess, obsolescence, and lead-time risks.

Szmajda filling this important role comes at just the right time as SPOC continues to  grow and scale, to meet the energy needs of the future. As a result of  supply chain challenges, she will help to drive decisions  well in advance and emphasize long term planning as a key enabler in the company's future success. Szmajda's previous experience with the company along with her education, make her the right person to take on this responsibility.