Production Planner

Company Description

John Crane, a business of Smiths Group, is a global leader in mission‑critical flow control solutions for energy and process industries that enable efficient and sustainable operations. Our products include mechanical seals and systems, couplings, bearings, filtration systems, and predictive digital monitoring technologies.

We have a global network of more than 200 sites in over 50 countries and employ more than 6,000 people worldwide. We partner with our customers to help them keep their operations safe, reduce downtime, improve efficiency, and meet the latest environmental standards.

John Crane is part of Smiths Group. For over 170 years, Smiths has been pioneering progress by engineering for a better future. We serve millions of people every year, helping to create a safer, more efficient, productive, and better‑connected world across four global markets: energy, security & defense, space & aerospace, and general industrial. Listed on the London Stock Exchange, Smiths employs approximately 16,000 colleagues in over 50 countries.

Under general supervision, plans and prepares manufacturing production schedules and departmental workflows; in addition to, initiating, developing and maintaining supply plans for components and finished products necessary to establish sequence and lead time of each production operation and satisfy the demand, inventory and service levels of the customers while complying with and executing company policies and procedures. Acts as the primary contact for all communication between customer service and the production area impacting customer deliveries, product costs, shop schedules, inventory and efficiency.

• Initiates continuous and effective communications between Customer Service and the production area.
• Responsible for order due date management of the assigned area.
• Meets and exceeds area goals and objectives (accountable for area performance in Materials Management) – On Time Performance and Inventory goals.
• Initiates work orders with appropriate lot sizes to ensure efficient and low cost production, timely delivery, and maintenance of adequate inventory levels. Works with MRP messages to assure continuous flow.
• Monitors currently planned order execution via daily review of appropriate data printouts and supports established ship dates on all customer orders. Coordinates contingency plans to achieve delivery promises when important deviations occur or properly adjusts due dates in the system and informs Customer Service of the changes.
• Coordinates the supply of materials and subcontract operations to meet production schedules.
• Analyzes current inventory for excess and obsolete items and maintains proper inventory levels and quality per policies and procedures.
• Reviews cell capacities and develops both short and long‑term capacity plans, establishing and adjusting schedule dates and relative priorities on work orders, adjusting lot sizes when necessary to meet manufacturing requirements and constraints, customer service and inventory requirements.
• Determines, recommends and provides for alternatives when demands exceed capacities.
• Recommends, implements, and documents new procedures and policies to improve the effectiveness of the operation.
• Gains familiarity with the other Planning functions and acts as a backup as needed.
• Processes paperwork and maintains records as required.

• Bachelor’s Degree in Materials Management or related field or a High School diploma and significant relevant experience, in lieu of a bachelor's degree.
• 4 years of planning, production and materials management experience.
• Experience in an MRP II environment a plus.
• Experience with QAD software a plus.
• APICS certification a plus.

With colleagues stretching across the globe, we are proud of our diversity. To foster inclusivity, we run employee resource groups (ERGs) to provide a safe space for employees to connect and support each other. Our cross‑business ERGs include Veterans, Pride Network, Black Employee Network, Women@Work Network, and Neurodiversity.

Across our company, we recognize excellence, culminating in the Smiths Excellence…