Production Planner

Production Planner / Manufacturing Process Planner Direct Hire | $75,000–$80,000/year | 1st Shift | Hampton, VA

Kelly Services is hiring an experienced Production Planner / Manufacturing Process Planner for a direct-hire opportunity with a defense manufacturing organization in Hampton, VA.

If you enjoy coordinating production, solving scheduling challenges, working with ERP systems, and partnering with manufacturing teams to keep complex products moving through the shop, this could be a strong next step.

This role combines production planning, capacity management, manufacturing process development, ERP coordination, and continuous improvement in a highly technical manufacturing environment supporting defense-related products.

Location:

Hampton, VA

Salary: $75,000–$80,000 annually

Shift: 1st Shift

Hours:

7:00 AM–3:30 PM

Employment Type:

Direct Hire

• $75,000–$80,000 annual salary
• Direct-hire opportunity
• Consistent 1st-shift schedule
• Work in a specialized defense manufacturing environment
• High-visibility role supporting production, machining, fabrication, and assembly
• Opportunity to influence production flow, capacity, quality, and cost
• Work closely with supervisors, engineering, receiving, operations, and shop teams
• Use ERP, capacity planning, routing, BOM, and manufacturing process knowledge
• Opportunity to improve processes rather than simply maintain schedules
• Strong fit for someone who enjoys both analytical work and shop-floor interaction

As a Production Planner / Manufacturing Process Planner, you'll help ensure materials, machines, people, and production priorities are aligned to meet customer and manufacturing requirements.

Your responsibilities may include:

• Reviewing and prioritizing production schedules
• Balancing workload and resource capacity across manufacturing departments
• Identifying overdue materials and production constraints
• Establishing sequencing and completion dates based on job priorities
• Coordinating movement of materials throughout the facility
• Monitoring the status and location of work-in-process materials
• Reviewing work orders for accuracy and completeness
• Coordinating with receiving to ensure parts are available when machining or fabrication is scheduled
• Generating capacity and workload reports
• Establishing daily priorities by work center or resource group
• Working directly with supervisors to balance workload and production requirements
• Expediting critical operations when schedules are at risk
• Adjusting schedules when material shortages, equipment issues, or changing priorities arise

A major part of this role involves translating engineering requirements into clear manufacturing plans.

You'll:

• Work within an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system
• Review components, subcomponents, routing sheets, and travelers
• Develop and update manufacturing routing sheets
• Enter and maintain bills of material
• Develop temporary routings for rework, special handling, or production workarounds
• Review repeat production jobs against current engineering and contract requirements
• Evaluate existing processes for quality, productivity, cost, and flow improvements
• Create operation sketches and manufacturing instructions
• Help determine the most efficient sequence of machining, fabrication, and assembly operations

You'll also support continuous improvement efforts throughout the operation by:

• Developing improved manufacturing processes
• Applying Lean manufacturing principles
• Supporting preventive and corrective action activities
  
  Participating in Root Cause Analysis
• Reviewing quality and cost data to identify process variation
• Investigating cost overruns and production inefficiencies
• Identifying opportunities to improve productivity, quality, and material flow
• Developing packaging or handling methods to protect finished products during transportation
• Troubleshooting manufacturing processes using analytical and statistical tools

This could be a strong fit if you have experience in:

• Production planning
• Manufacturing planning
• Production control
• Manufacturing engineering
• Process planning
• Machining or fabrication environments
• Aerospace or defense manufacturing
• Complex engineered-to-order manufacturing

We're especially interested in candidates who understand:

• Production scheduling and capacity planning
• ERP or MRP systems
• Bills of material
• Routings and travelers
• Work centers and machine capacity
• Machining, fabrication, and assembly processes
• Manufacturing work standards
• Shop-floor scheduling and workflow
• Quality and cost improvement
• Root Cause Analysis
• Lean manufacturing principles

• Strong ERP system knowledge
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills
• Microsoft Word, Outlook, and related business applications
• Ability to analyze production workload by machine, department, and labor availability
• Understanding of machining, fabrication, and assembly fundamentals
• Ability to read and understand technical manufacturing…