Senior Production Planning Manager

Senior Production Planning Manager This is a hands-on manufacturing leadership role for an experienced planning, scheduling, and ERP professional who will personally own production planning, scheduling, ERP optimization, capacity planning, material planning, inventory accuracy, and manufacturing data integrity. The successful candidate will work directly inside IFS ERP and on the manufacturing floor to identify and solve operational challenges through data analysis, process improvement, and cross-functional execution.

This position is not focused on directing others from a distance. We are looking for someone who enjoys diving into the details, challenging assumptions, validating data, and driving measurable improvements in scheduling, inventory, throughput, labor efficiency, and on-time delivery. Responsibilities:
Production Planning & Scheduling Own and maintain production schedules that balance customer demand, manufacturing capacity, labor availability, material constraints, and customer priorities. Create, release, and maintain finished goods, top-level assembly, and subassembly shop orders within IFS. Review shop orders for readiness before release, including material availability, documentation, routings, and capacity. Monitor shop order progress, schedule adherence, overdue orders, production labor capacity, and work-center loading.

Coordinate with Customer Service and Project Management on date changes, delivery impacts, customer priorities, and realistic commitments. Review completed shop order performance to validate routing times, steps, and labor assumptions. MRP, Material Planning & Inventory Lead MRP planning activities and optimize planning parameters within IFS ERP. Create, maintain, and act on material shortage reports, including recurring shortage and supplier-delivery trends.

Coordinate with Purchasing on supplier dates, commitments, expedite priorities, and part availability. Recommend alternate components and coordinate with Engineering for approved substitutions when needed. Drive improvements in inventory accuracy, inventory turns, critical shortages, open shortages, and material readiness. ERP Optimization, Master Data & Costing Serve as the business owner for planning and scheduling processes within IFS ERP and drive ongoing system optimization.

Analyze ERP data, inventory trends, capacity utilization, and production performance to identify bottlenecks and improvement opportunities. Review and improve BOM accuracy, routing accuracy, lead times, work centers, labor standards, and manufacturing master data. Support manufacturing costing accuracy through validation of labor standards, routings, work centers, and production processes. Develop capacity models and production plans that support growth, operational efficiency, and better delivery performance.

Cross-Functional Leadership & Continuous Improvement Partner with Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, Purchasing, Customer Service, Shipping, Sales, and Finance to improve production flow and delivery performance. Drive improvements in schedule adherence, throughput, labor efficiency, inventory accuracy, and on-time delivery. Lead continuous improvement initiatives focused on waste reduction, process efficiency, operational excellence, and scalable planning practices. Develop and communicate meaningful KPIs, root-cause findings, and actionable recommendations to leadership.

Daily and Weekly Operating Rhythm Daily Focus Weekly Focus Review customer order priorities, overdue shop orders, shortage reports, and schedule risks. Update shop order dates, production priorities, and expected completion timing in IFS. Attend production meetings and communicate delivery impacts to Customer Service and Project Management. Review work-center loading, labor availability, and immediate bottlenecks. Review upcoming customer orders, major constraints, capacity exposures, and schedule adherence.

Analyze work-center capacity, supplier performance, component shortages, inventory accuracy, and lead-time risk. Update Sales and leadership with realistic product-line lead times and planning assumptions. Review KPI trends and recommend…