Cost Analyst
Reports To: VP Finance, Thermal Solutions SBG
Location: Orillia, Ontario
Who We Are - Thermon
Thermon is a diversified technology company and a global leader in industrial process heating, temperature maintenance, environmental monitoring, and temporary power distribution solutions. We deliver engineered solutions that enhance operational awareness, safety, reliability, and efficiency while achieving the lowest total cost of ownership.
Thermon offers over 250 products, software, and services across multiple brands, providing a range of offerings from boilers, transportation heaters, and liquid load banks to tubing bundles and heat trace systems. We are the silent guardians of critical infrastructure. From the relentless demands of chemical plants and the intricate networks of rail and transit to the vital pulse of power generation, we innovate solutions that ensure optimal operation, protect critical assets, and maximize efficiency.
We care deeply about the success of our customers, the well-being of our people, and the reliability of every product we design. This drives our unwavering commitment to safety and integrity in everything we do. Through collaboration, we unite a rich legacy of expertise with a trusted global team, partnering side by side with our customers. We transfer the warmth needed to make life work.
Position Summary
The Cost Analyst is a member of the Business Group Finance team responsible for providing cost analysis, cost reporting, and productivity project analysis and planning support to manufacturing operations. This role works closely with Plant Managers, Operations Leaders, Supply Chain teams, and Product Management to ensure operational performance improvement, cost reduction, productivity initiatives, accurate cost capture and documentation on projects, and complexity reduction targets are achieved, and to ensure decisions are data-driven and fact-based.
The position ensures manufacturing and operational leadership understands the drivers of direct (e.g., labor, material, supplies) and indirect (e.g., overhead, administration) costs while supporting continuous improvement efforts, and will from time to time collaborate with the global Operating Excellence and Business Transformation teams on plant- or facility-wide improvement and transformation projects. The Cost Analyst will also play a supporting role in evaluating capital investments, maintaining product costing assumptions, monitoring manufacturing efficiency, and identifying operational cost improvement opportunities and supporting plant productivity initiatives through data-driven analysis.
Key Responsibilities
Manufacturing and Operational Cost Analytics
- Analyze labor, material, and overhead spending trends and actuals.
- Monitor key manufacturing performance metrics including productivity, absorption, efficiency, scrap, yield, and throughput.
- Prepare performance benchmarking analyses across value streams within the assigned facilities and operations.
- Perform variance analysis and identify root causes of significant cost fluctuations.
- Provide recommendations to improve operational and financial performance.
- Support monthly plant performance reviews through preparation of operational and financial metrics.
Cost Reduction & Productivity Analysis
- Support Operations teams in identifying, quantifying, and tracking manufacturing cost reduction and productivity opportunities.
- Support continuous improvement, lean manufacturing, and productivity initiatives through financial analysis.
- Provide financial analysis supporting operational improvement initiatives and investment decisions.
- Monitor actual savings versus planned targets and communicate results to leadership.
Standard Cost Management
- Maintain and update product costs within the ERP system in accordance with established costing methodologies.
- Partner with Operations, Procurement, and Engineering to ensure costing assumptions remain accurate and current.
- Support annual and periodic cost reviews in accordance with established costing methodologies.
- Evaluate the financial impact of changes in labor rates, material costs, production methods, and sourcing strategies.
BOM & Routing Validation
- Review Bills of Materials (BOMs) and routing structures to ensure accurate product costing.
- Partner with Engineering and Manufacturing teams to validate labor standards, routing assumptions, machine rates, and material consumption.
- Analyze variances between actual and expected production costs and recommend corrective actions.
- Support new product introductions and engineering changes by evaluating costing impacts and documenting supporting time-study data.
Capital Investment Analysis
- Support business case development for capital expenditures and operational improvement projects.
- Perform return on investment (ROI), payback, NPV, and sensitivity analyses.
- Track post-implementation results and compare actual benefits to original investment assumptions.
Operational Finance Support
- Partner with Plant Managers and Operations Leaders to provide cost insight and analytics supporting operational decision-making.
- Participate in plant performance reviews and operational planning discussions.
- Support the development of cost improvement and profitability enhancement initiatives.
- Support annual budgeting and periodic forecasting processes for manufacturing operations.
- Prepare monthly cost performance reports, KPI dashboards, and management presentations.
- Analyze forecast-to-actual results and identify key cost drivers.
- Support plant-level and enterprise-wide financial planning activities.
- Collaborate and share learnings and analytical methods with other cost analysts and business FP&A team members.
Required Qualifications
Education
- Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Industrial Engineering, Business Administration, or a related field.
Experience
- 3 to 7 years of experience in FP&A, operations finance, manufacturing finance, cost analysis, or financial analysis.
- Experience supporting industrial/manufacturing environments required.
- Experience working with manufacturing plant operations, supply chain, engineering, or continuous improvement teams.
- Strong understanding of operational performance metrics and metric design and development.
- Ability to develop buy-in and influence operational leaders through data-driven insights.
- Experience with ERP systems, preferably Microsoft D365 or similar platforms.
- Experience with Power BI or other business intelligence tools.
Technical Skills
- Advanced Microsoft Excel and financial modeling capabilities.
- Financial and cost model building.
- Benchmarking.
- Process mapping.
- Analytical and data visualization skills.
- Presentation preparation.
Preferred Knowledge
- Well-rounded understanding of the various costing methodologies.
- Manufacturing operations and production processes in short- and long-cycle businesses.
- Capital investment analysis.
- Productivity and continuous improvement programs.
- Cost reduction initiatives.
- Financial planning and forecasting.
Core Competencies
- Ability to translate complex financial information into actionable recommendations.
- Strong analytical and modeling skills.
- Practical problem-solving skills.
- Effective communication and presentation skills.
- Continuous improvement mindset.
- Strong organizational and project management abilities.
- Ability to work cross-functionally across Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, and Finance.
