Manager, Production Planning

Summary

The Manager, Production Planning is responsible for leading the Bio Supplies Production Planning group and represents the site on global, cross‑functional and cross‑site teams. The incumbent is also responsible for developing and executing a production plan that maximizes the utilization of manufacturing capacities and manages Diagnostics, Cell Therapy and WIP inventories toward financial targets. This position requires basic knowledge of manufacturing and the ability to analyze and offer contingency plans when situations arise that may impact throughput and the supply plan.

The Manager, Production Planning must be able to analyze, manage, motivate, negotiate, and propose solutions. As guided by company objectives, the Manager, Production Planning plays a significant role in ensuring proper process controls, reports and systems are in place, allowing flexibility to demand signals while optimizing revenue plans, production throughput and efficiencies, and on‑time delivery metrics. The position oversees a staff of Production Planners and Supply Planners and will be responsible for performance management and career development of these employees.

The position ensures effective planning, compliance with cGMP and SOX regulations and other regulatory requirements.

• Prepares production plans and manufacturing activity levels in support of financial and inventory targets. Develops detailed manufacturing activity loads. Monitors manufacturing performance against budget and communicates issues that require corrective action with alternative solutions. Ensures timely resolution of issues that impede the flow of production and market supply.
• Establishes capacity requirements and provides risk/benefit analysis as related to manufacturing activity levels.
• Oversees the development and execution of production plans, including decision making regarding planned and unplanned downtime, project implementation, manufacturing constraints, and opportunities to ensure throughput is sufficient to meet delivery and financial objectives. Makes recommendations on how to address issues requiring resources beyond the Production Planner/Supply Planner scope of responsibility.
• Meets "On Time, In Full" (OTIF) objectives monthly. Participates in the weekly manufacturing/packaging schedule review to prioritize production orders to meet OTIF.
• Manages Diagnostics and Cell Therapy inventories. Develops WIP targets and manages inventory toward financial goals. Ensures sufficient levels of unrestricted WIP are available to meet weekly production schedules. Monitors WIP expiry to prevent expiration prior to use.
• Maintains proper inventory levels at each WIP stage to avoid shortages and excesses. Selects WIP to maximize throughput for stages with excess inventory. Ensures timely identification and destruction of excess WIP inventory. Monitors WIP levels and production plans for all site areas to proactively adjust production plans based on performance of supplying/receiving departments.
• Collaborates with Finance and Warehouse to provide updates on scrap identification and destruction progress.
• Oversees product allocations to minimize scrap.
• Oversees the quarterly Excess & Obsolete (E&O) Process and verifies scrap projections are met as planned.
• Provides management with weekly/monthly analysis of production department performance for Diagnostics and Cell Therapy.
• Leads daily meetings and monitors KPIs to meet site goals.
• Prioritizes manufacturing, quality and logistics to meet market demands. Communicates barriers in meeting required activity levels and provides alternative solutions for capacity and throughput improvements.
• Ensures SAP is utilized compliantly to track inventory, schedule manufacturing, create/release manufacturing orders and create product inspection lots. Provides expertise in SAP Planning, Scheduling, Inventory Management and Master Data management to the site. Participates in SAP functionality implementation projects and in the implementation of new software/applications required for new products. Manages ongoing maintenance of computer applications.
• Ensures all production orders are created…