Material Planner

Job Summary

The Material Planner is responsible for analyzing demand forecasts and production plans to determine material requirements, managing inventory levels, and ensuring the timely and cost-effective procurement and delivery of materials. This role is a key link between procurement, production, and operations, and is crucial for maintaining a continuous manufacturing flow.

• Analyze the Master Production Schedule (MPS) and customer demand to calculate raw material and component requirements using the Material Requirements Planning (MRP) system.
• Monitor and adjust material ordering quantities and schedules as necessary based on changes in production priorities, supply chain disruptions, or customer changes.
• Translate production needs into accurate forecasts and purchase requisitions for the Purchasing department.
• Work closely with Production and Design to ensure the accuracy of Bills of Material (BOMs).

• Develop and maintain the daily/weekly production schedule for designated work centers, balancing customer order due dates with available capacity.
• Release and manage production work orders, ensuring all necessary documentation (BOMs, routings) and materials are available at the point of use.
• Proactively identify and report capacity constraints or bottlenecks that could prevent meeting the production plan.
• Work with the shop floor and supervisors to resolve scheduling conflicts and confirm order completion statuses.

• The Material Planner will learn and support expediting internal production orders (a typical Scheduler duty) while the Scheduler will assist in expediting external supplier orders (a typical Planner duty) during critical shortage events.
• System Integrity:
  Both roles are jointly responsible for maintaining the accuracy of critical planning data within the ERP/MRP system, including Bill of Materials (BOMs), material lead times, and routing data.
• S&OP Support:
  Both individuals will collaborate on inputs for the Sales & Operations Planning process, specifically helping to reconcile material forecasts (Planner focus) with capacity projections (Scheduler focus).

• Coordinate and participate in physical inventory counts and cycle counting programs to maintain high inventory accuracy.
• Identify and resolve inventory discrepancies, utilizing root cause analysis to prevent future issues.

• Work with Purchasing to expedite or de‑expedite material orders to align with the production schedule.
• Monitor and report on key supplier performance metrics (e.g., On‑Time Delivery, Quality) and collaborate on improvement initiatives.
• Ensure materials are moved efficiently to the production floor.

• Liaise with the Production team to address and resolve material shortages that could impact the schedule.
• Cross training with the Scheduler to assist in an absence.
• Provide regular reports on material status, potential shortages, inventory levels, and planning KPIs for management.

• This is a working manufacturing and production facility. As such this is a hot, dusty, loud area, and there are always moving parts. Caution and attention to your surroundings need to always be at the front of your mind as safety always starts with you.
• Primarily office-based with frequent engagement across departments and production teams

• May require occasional travel