Production Planner

Production Planner

Skelmersdale

£36,000 to £42,000 + Benefits

Cast UK are delighted to be partnering an established and growing UK manufacturer, in their recruitment of a Production Planner to join the team. You'll take ownership of production planning across a varied, project-led manufacturing operation, balancing customer requirements with materials, labour and machine capacity to create realistic and achievable production schedules.

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced Production Planner looking to take ownership of a key operational function, joining a specialist manufacturing business where planning accuracy, visibility and effective communication are critical. The role will initially focus on improving control and visibility across existing manual and Excel-based processes, before playing a key role in the transition to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

• Own and maintain the rolling production plan, initially across a 15-working-day horizon.
• Translate customer requirements and approved manufacturing work into realistic daily and weekly production schedules.
• Balance production requirements across labour, machine capacity, material availability and customer delivery dates.
• Identify bottlenecks, capacity constraints, material shortages and delivery risks at an early stage.
• Work closely with Production, Technical, Purchasing and Stores to agree practical solutions and recovery actions.
• Monitor progress against plan and make controlled adjustments when priorities or constraints change.
• Provide clear visibility of production priorities, exceptions and required decisions to senior management and shop-floor supervisors.
• Improve the structure, accuracy and usability of existing Excel-based planning tools and reports.
• Support the definition, cleansing and validation of planning data for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
• Work with internal teams and the implementation partner to validate work centres, calendars, routings, lead times and planning parameters.
• Become the principal production-planning user of Business Central and support the successful adoption of the new planning process.
• Support continuous improvement across production flow, work-in-progress control and communication between departments.

• At least three years' experience within production planning, production control, manufacturing scheduling or a closely related role.
• Good understanding of multi-stage manufacturing, production routings, capacity, material availability and works orders.
• Experience using an ERP or MRP system within a manufacturing environment.
• Strong Microsoft Excel skills, with the ability to organise, analyse and present operational data accurately.
• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and changing requirements.
• Confident communicating with operators, supervisors, departmental managers and senior stakeholders.
• Ability to make evidence-based decisions and challenge unrealistic dates constructively.