Senior Production Planner

The Senior Production Planner is a subject-matter expert responsible for developing maintaining and optimizing production plans and schedules to meet customer demand financial objectives and operational performance goals. This role owns complex planning decisions across manufacturing work centers balancing capacity materials and customer priorities in a dynamic environment. The Senior Production Planner works cross-functionally with Manufacturing Supply Chain Sales Quality Finance and Warehouse/Shipping to resolve constraints improve throughput and ensure on-time delivery. While not a people manager this position provides leadership through technical expertise mentoring and continuous improvement.

Key Responsibilities:

Production Planning & Scheduling:

• Develop accurate monthly and rolling three-month shipment forecasts by manufacturing segment including volume cost contribution and product mix (stock specials quick-turn).
• Translate forecasts and sales orders into executable daily and weekly production schedules and maintain the Master Production Schedule (MPS).
• Analyze order backlog to predict shipment timing revenue contribution and capacity impacts.
• Identify bottleneck work centers critical orders and special-attention requirements; recommend mitigation and sequencing strategies.
• Plan and schedule rework remakes and order changes driven by quality issues material constraints or sales revisions.

Execution & Performance Monitoring

• Monitor daily progress against shipment service and financial targets; identify risks and implement corrective actions.
• Track production performance metrics schedule adherence and throughput; recommend improvements to reduce setups improve run efficiency and maximize capacity utilization.
• Coordinate completion of orders requiring customer source inspections.
• Partner with Manufacturing and Shipping teams near month-end to align execution with company financial goals.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Manufacturing supervision and operations teams to review schedule performance and adjust plans as conditions change.
• Interface with Inside Sales to provide order status adjust lead times for critical customers and communicate production constraints.
• Collaborate with Materials Management and Purchasing to ensure timely availability of raw materials and alignment to inventory targets.
• Partner with Quality Engineering and Finance to resolve production cost and compliance issues.

Inventory & Materials Planning

• Monitor raw material WIP stock and customer-owned inventory levels to balance service cash flow and storage constraints.
• Support storage space planning for raw materials and finished goods based on business conditions.
• Participate in inventory cycle counts and investigate root causes of inventory discrepancies.
• Support identification and disposition of obsolete or excess materials.

Systems Reporting & Continuous Improvement

• Maintain accurate planning inventory and production data within ERP/MRP systems.
• Develop and deliver planning and performance reports highlighting risks constraints and improvement opportunities.
• Apply Lean 5S and 80/20 principles to improve planning effectiveness and manufacturing flow.
• Support long-range capacity planning and system enhancement initiatives.
• Serve as a planning subject-matter expert in ERP/MRP.
• Monitor and improve MIS support systems for Manufacturing/Shipping/Receiving and function as Manufacturing representative to the MIS Steering Committee.

Leadership Without Direct Authority

• Act as a trusted advisor and mentor to junior planners and cross-functional partners.
• Influence decision-making through data-driven analysis and clear communication.
• Promote organized safe and disciplined planning and execution practices.

Qualifications & Experience:

• Bachelors degree in Business Supply Chain Engineering or related field required (Masters preferred).
• APICS/ASCM certification (CPIM CSCP or equivalent) required or strongly preferred.
• 810 years of progressive experience in production planning and scheduling within a manufacturing or job-shop environment (wire and cable experience a plus).
• Advanced proficiency with ERP/MRP systems Excel and decision-support tools.
• Strong analytical forecasting and problem-solving skills are a must.
• Proven ability to balance competing priorities and influence outcomes without direct authority.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced changing manufacturing environment.

Note: These are the general duties required to fulfill the Sr. Production Planner job description not a detailed description of all work required. New duties and responsibilities may be required to meet the changing demands of the business