Description
POSITION PURPOSE
This role is responsible for developing and executing medium and long term demand and capacity planning processes across the Americas region which includes covers four manufacturing plants. This role reports directly to the Regional Vice President Operations and serves as a key liaison between Sales Supply Chain Manufacturing Engineering Plant Operations and HR.
Key responsibilities include:
Leading the regional Sales Inventory and Operations Planning (SIOP) process and capacity planning activities.
Translating demand forecasts into medium and long term production plans to ensure operational alignment. Each plant has a production planner that plans the weekly daily and shift loads by work center in that specific plant.
Providing analysis and recommendations that inform the annual budget and long-term strategy.
Supporting decision-making in a low-volume high-mix manufacturing environment.
This position requires strong analytical skills cross-functional collaboration and the ability to manage complex planning challenges in a global capital goods manufacturing business across four manufacturing sites.
PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES
Capacity & Factory Loading
Analyze actual orders and forecasted demand to determine optimal factory allocation across 4 plants (considering lead-time capability cost and capacity).
Create and maintain a rolling 1224 month capacity outlook by product family value stream and work center.
Requirements Forecasting
Develop forward-looking requirements for:
Equipment & tooling: specific machine types takt-time assumptions changeover/time loss utilization targets.
Manufacturing floor space: bays/cells material flow buffer/kanban sizing.
Labor & shifts: headcount by skill shift structure per work area overtime and temp strategies.
Supplier spend & capacity: align external capacity with internal plans; highlight risk ramp and long-lead items.
SIOP Leadership & Governance
Lead weekly SIOP cadence: demand review supply/capacity review executive alignment; publish gap-to-plan and mitigation actions.
Facilitate monthly capacity reviews with the Regional Vice President Operations and plant leaders; drive decisions on load leveling outsourcing and investment.
Provide inputs to the annual operating budget (CapEx OpEx staffing) and annual strategic plan (capacity expansions footprint automation).
Cross-Functional Engagement
Sales: validate demand signals program launches customer priorities.
SCM: confirm supplier capacity lead times risk and cost impacts.
Manufacturing Engineering: define equipment/process requirements and routings.
Plant & HR Managers: plan staffing shifts training/skill ramp and hiring timelines.
Analytics & Tools
Build and maintain Power BI dashboards and Excel models (scenario planning sensitivity analysis constraints modeling).
Use ERP/MRP (SAP preferred) for master data routings BOMs and capacity buckets; improve data quality where needed.
Drive standard work for capacity planning across plants; document assumptions decisions and KPI ownership.
Success Measures (KPIs)
Factory load adherence (% orders produced at planned site)
On-time delivery (OTD) vs committed dates
Capacity accuracy (forecast vs actual at 4/8/12-week horizons)
Labor and equipment utilization vs targets
SIOP schedule adherence and decision closure rate
Supplier capacity alignment and long-lead hit rate
Budget accuracy for CapEx staffing and supplier spend
NATURE AND SCOPE
This role is part of the Americas Operations Team supporting four manufacturing sites. This will be an individual contributor role with heavy cross-functional partners. Reports directly to the Regional Vice President Operations.
KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS
Bachelors degree in Industrial Engineering Supply Chain/Operations Manufacturing Engineering Business Analytics or related field.
Minimum 7 years in capacity planning SIOP production planning or operations within capital equipment / low-volume high-mix environments.
Proven experience allocating production across multiple plants/sites.
Strong cross-functional leadership with dotted-line influence; comfortable leading meetings and driving decisions without direct authority.
Expert-level Excel (Power Query advanced formulas scenario modeling) and Power BI (data modeling DAX visualization).
Experience with SAP (PP/MM modules) strongly preferred.
Familiarity with routings work centers takt/cycle time changeover modeling and constraint-based planning.
Systems thinker with strong quantitative skills and business judgment.
Exceptional communicationable to translate complex analyses into clear recommendations.
Comfortable in ambiguous fast-paced environments; bias for action and follow-through.
Detail-oriented with robust data hygiene and assumption tracking.
Collaborative credible and respectful with plant teams and corporate leaders alike.
WORKING CONDITIONS:
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job. While performing this job the employee is regularly required to stand and walk up to 40% of the time. This position requires occasional lifting to twenty pounds and travel both domestic and internationally up to 25% of the time.
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