Production Planner

Are you an experienced Production Planner, Resource Planner or Manufacturing Planner with strong MRP knowledge and a background in balancing production demand, capacity and materials?

Do you enjoy looking ahead, identifying potential supply or capacity issues before they impact production and working across departments to keep customer delivery on track?

We're supporting a leading manufacturing business in Fareham who are looking to recruit a Long Range Resource Planner to join their Planning team.

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced planner to take ownership of longer-term production requirements, working closely with Production, Purchasing, Customer Services and Finance to ensure resources and materials are aligned with customer demand.

What's the role all about?

As the Long Range Resource Planner, you'll be responsible for balancing supply and demand by interrogating the ERP and MRP systems against available materials, capacity and resources.

Your focus will be ensuring works orders are released on time and that the business has clear visibility of future production requirements, helping protect Customer On-Time Delivery (OTD).

You'll continuously review the forward load, identify potential risks and work with operational stakeholders to resolve constraints before they impact the production schedule.

This is a role for someone who doesn't simply follow an MRP system – you'll need to understand the information, challenge planning data where appropriate and make informed decisions to improve overall supply chain performance.

Key responsibilities

Manage long-range production and resource planning requirements

Balance supply and demand across materials, capacity and manufacturing resources

Review and resolve MRP action messages

Review MRP job creation recommendations and create works orders

Identify potential supply, capacity and resource constraints and escalate risks early

Manage the forward production load to support customer delivery requirements

Support the development and maintenance of the Master Production Schedule

Drive On Time to Release (OTR) performance through daily and weekly planning activities

Challenge planning data integrity to improve replenishment planning

Work closely with Production to support achievement of manufacturing schedules

Coordinate information between Production and Customer Services to maintain alignment with the customer order book

Collaborate with Purchasing to resolve material availability issues

Review excess and obsolete inventory and identify actions to minimise stock impact

Work with Finance to investigate and close WIP variances

Coordinate and communicate daily MRB outputs to the Planning team

Support New Product Introduction (NPI) projects

Provide finite scheduling support using the VAPS MoM system when required

Support customer, BSI and regulatory audits

Identify and implement 5S and continuous improvement opportunities
What you'll need

To succeed in this role, you'll need:

A minimum of 3 years' experience within Production Planning or Resource Planning

Strong knowledge of MRP

Experience with production planning, capacity planning or advanced planning and scheduling

Strong Microsoft Excel skills

Ability to interrogate ERP/MRP information rather than simply process system recommendations

Good understanding of supply and demand within a manufacturing environment

Strong analytical and problem-solving capability

Confidence identifying and escalating risks

Excellent communication skills with the ability to work across multiple departments

Ability to remain calm and make effective decisions when priorities change
Desirable

It would also be beneficial if you have:

Experience working within an engineering or manufacturing environment

APICS or Supply Chain Planning qualification

Experience with Master Production Scheduling

Knowledge of VAPS or similar Advanced Planning & Scheduling systems

Experience supporting NPI projects

Exposure to Lean Manufacturing, 5S or continuous improvement methodologies
About you

You're a proactive planner who naturally looks ahead rather than waiting for problems to occur.

You'll be:

Analytical and data-driven

Confident challenging existing planning assumptions

Highly organised

Resilient when priorities change

Comfortable making decisions

A strong cross-functional communicator

Curious and solutions-focused

Able to work effectively with minimal supervision
Most importantly, you'll understand that effective production planning isn't simply about maintaining a schedule – it's about anticipating risk, balancing competing requirements and ensuring the entire supply chain is positioned to deliver for the customer.

Why join?

This is an opportunity to join a growing manufacturing business where Planning plays a critical role in operational and customer performance.

You'll have visibility across the wider supply chain and work closely with Production, Purchasing, Customer Services and Finance, giving you the opportunity to directly influence manufacturing performance, inventory and customer…