Senior Production Planner

The Panther Group is seeking an experienced Senior Production Planner for a growing manufacturing organization in Franklin, MA. This is an excellent opportunity for a planning professional who thrives in a low-volume, high-mix manufacturing environment and has a strong understanding of production scheduling, material planning, capacity management, and ERP systems.

The ideal candidate will be responsible for driving production schedules, balancing capacity and material availability, and ensuring customer delivery commitments are met while supporting continuous improvement initiatives across the organization.

• Develop, maintain, and manage the master production schedule across multiple manufacturing cells.
• Analyze material availability, capacity, lead times, and customer priorities to establish and maintain achievable delivery schedules.
• Release and prioritize work orders to support production requirements and maximize throughput.
• Monitor inventory levels for raw materials and subassemblies and proactively initiate work orders to support production demand.
• Partner with supply chain teams to identify and resolve material shortages while maintaining accurate delivery forecasts.
• Support quoting activities, product configurations, and new assembly setup within the ERP system.
• Collaborate with Engineering and Supply Chain teams to maintain accurate bills of materials (BOMs) and implement engineering changes.
• Manage Engineering Change Orders (ECOs) and ensure changes are properly reflected in active work orders.
• Work closely with production and warehouse teams to ensure materials are available and prioritized appropriately.
• Communicate production status, schedule changes, and delivery risks to manufacturing leadership and project teams.
• Analyze operational metrics including production efficiency, capacity utilization, and schedule attainment.
• Coordinate the disposition, return, and restocking of excess or canceled materials.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives focused on production planning, scheduling accuracy, and supply chain responsiveness.
• Mentor junior planners and contribute to long-term capacity planning and operational strategy.

• Minimum of 7 years of experience in production planning, master scheduling, or supply chain operations within a manufacturing environment.
• Strong experience creating and managing production schedules and work order releases.
• Experience balancing production capacity, material availability, and customer delivery requirements.
• Working knowledge of ERP/MRP systems.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Operations, Business, Engineering, or a related field.
• APICS CPIM, CSCP, or similar supply chain certification.
• Experience in a low-volume, high-mix manufacturing environment.
• Experience leading planning activities across multiple production cells or complex manufacturing operations.

Pay is up to $55 per hour DOE