Mark Bednis

Over the past 7 years I’ve led the development of one of the most sophisticated forecasting and replenishment systems in grocery retail with a focus on on-shelf availability, inventory optimization and efficiency • Owned the deployment of some of JDAs most cutting-edge replenishment functionalities • Led the strategy of bringing replenishment “Closer to the Customer” with item/store level focus • Responsible for developing tactics within the JDA system to deliver on the replenishment strategies to drive OSA and inventory optimization • Built a strong understanding of store operations and the factors which can impact on-shelf availability • Created the Replenishment Applied Machine Learning team to leverage Loblaw’s immense data assets • Built a culture of data driven decision making, continuous process improvement, innovation and experimentation

The purpose of the Replenishment Optimization team is to act as a centre of excellence for Loblaw’s Forecasting and Replenishment systems and processes. The team’s responsibilities include: • Development and maintenance of the Replenishment roadmap • Functional design, testing, training and deployment of all Forecasting and Replenishment system enhancements • Business process design and optimization • Project management support for supply chain teams • System support and issue resolution for over 150 supply chain analysts • Forecasting and Replenishment report creation and governance • Macro supply chain analytics and insights • Supply chain data management • Management of network transitions within the Forecasting and Replenishment systems • Structured training and coaching programs to support F & R systems and processes • Liaise between the business team and IT on system issues and enhancement • Examples of recent projects led by the ROI team: Base history decomposition (Demand planning),Deployment of JDA’s Inventory Optimization, ‘Store Inventory Optimization’ through strategic MPQ reduction and promo netting, New Product Introduction (Demand planning), Multicultural concept store – Supply chain coordination, Forecast Cannibalization business process design, JDA Vendor Collaboration

The goal of the HABA and Offshore Replenishment team was to manage the inventory flow within the Lobalw network to exceed both the service level and inventory budgets. The team’s responsibilities include: • Forecast management within JDA to minimize forecast error • Replenishment management within JDA to balance service level with inventory investment • Collaboration with merchants, vendors, transportation and DC operations on a daily basis • Exceeded HABA service level targets while managing the inventory budget • Managing network transitions to minimize impact to the customer

The functional design team was responsible for ensuring that the deployment of JDA Demand and Fulfillment met the business requirements and was on time and on budget. The team’s responsibilities included: • Building the functional project plan and ensuring all major milestones were delivered on-time • Working the supply chain leadership team to achieve consensus on the business requirements • Leading the collaboration with the JDA consulting team to develop the functional requirements to meet the business requirements • Working with the IT to configure the software to meet the functional requirements and designing enhancements where required • Working with Learning and Training, and Change Management to facilitate the deployment of the new replenishment tool to over 150 users