Director of Production & Materials Planning

Director of Production & Materials Planning

$160000 - $200000 per year | Menomonee Falls, WI | On-site | Permanent

We are an established food manufacturer producing a diverse portfolio of products across a multi-site manufacturing network. Currently, we are seeking someone to lead production and materials planning for 3 facilities.

The ideal candidate is a strong manufacturing planning leader who can operate strategically while remaining close to the details. You understand that a production plan must work on the plant floor—not simply look good in a spreadsheet.

You know how to bring structure to a complex planning environment, develop a capable team, improve schedule adherence and capacity utilization, manage inventory responsibly, and give leadership better visibility into risks and opportunities. Most importantly, you can bring people and functions together around one realistic, executable production plan.

This is an opportunity to make a visible impact in a newly elevated, high-profile leadership role. You will have the support of senior leadership and the authority to bring greater structure, consistency, and visibility to the planning function.

You will:

• Lead production and materials planning across three manufacturing plants.
• Help shape and improve planning processes rather than simply maintain existing systems.
• Build and develop a distributed team of production schedulers and material planners.
• Improve schedule adherence, capacity utilization, inventory performance, and customer service.
• Partner directly with Operations, Procurement, Maintenance, Quality, Sales, Finance, Customer Service, and Supply Chain leadership.
• Create the KPIs, dashboards, and reporting tools leaders use to make better business decisions.
• Join an organization where your work will have a direct effect on plant performance and long-term growth.

• Lead production and materials planning across three manufacturing facilities and approximately 500 active SKUs.
• Develop and maintain master production schedules that balance demand, inventory, materials, and manufacturing capacity.
• Use RCCP to identify potential labor, equipment, material, and production-line constraints before they affect customer commitments.
• Oversee detailed production scheduling based on actual plant capacity, changeovers, sanitation, maintenance, staffing, and equipment availability.
• Lead and develop a distributed team of production schedulers and material planners.
• Establish consistent planning processes, expectations, and performance measures across all facilities.
• Partner with Procurement to ensure ingredients, packaging, labels, and other materials are available when production begins.
• Collaborate with plant leadership to resolve scheduling conflicts, capacity limitations, material shortages, and other production risks.
• Support the SIOP/IBP process by translating demand plans into achievable supply and production plans.
• Improve inventory performance while maintaining appropriate service levels and production continuity.
• Evaluate planning technology and advanced planning tools that can improve visibility, accuracy, and decision-making.
• Develop KPIs and reporting around schedule adherence, capacity utilization, inventory, service levels, and planning performance.
• Communicate risks, tradeoffs, and recommendations clearly to senior leadership and cross-functional partners.
• Lead continuous-improvement initiatives using Lean, Kaizen, Six Sigma, or related methodologies.

• 5+ years of production planning, master scheduling, materials planning, or supply planning experience in a manufacturing environment.
• 2+ years leading production planners, material planners, schedulers, or similar planning professionals.
• Direct…