Business Planning & Profitability Lead

About Craftsmen Industries

Craftsmen Industries custom manufactures unique specialty trailers and vehicles and large format printed elements for experiential marketing and industrial solutions for brands across the industry spectrum including Boeing, PepsiCo, and Anheuser-Busch. We pride ourselves on creating our products fully in-house from initial design and engineering to fabrication and the finishing touches of graphics and paint.

Our Craftsmen team includes one subsidiary, Schantz Manufacturing. Schantz focuses on custom manufacturing of concession trailers for the fair and festival industry.

Guided by our values, we BUILD by helping bring ideas to life in a dynamic and collaborative environment and we're looking for talented individuals to grow with us!

What Do We Offer?

• Competitive compensation.
• Career development opportunities.
• Benefits including but not limited to Medical, Dental and Vision.
• 401(k) Match and Much More!

Position Title: Business PlanningProfitability Lead

Location: St. Charles, MO

The Business PlanningProfitability Lead drives planning accuracy, operational alignment, and financial controls within a custom, build-to-order manufacturing environment. This role supports variable demand, engineered-to-order products, and aligns sales, engineering, and operations.

Responsible for proactive forecasting and margin protection, the role ensures accurate production planning while managing complexity from changing specifications and scope. It also identifies, quantifies, and assists in recoveries of losses tied to process inefficiencies, defects, supplier variability, and scope changes.

This position combines strong analytical forecasting, and financial acumen to protect and enhance profitability in a non-repetitive manufacturing setting.

Primary Responsibilities

• Consolidate and analyze forecasts across Sales, Engineering, and Production in a custom, build-to-order environment with variable demand and project-based work.
• Develop and maintain project-based forecasts by monitoring demand trends, adjusting for changing specifications, supplier lead times, and order variability to support accurate project execution.
• Prepare monthly S&OP packages, dashboards, and KPI scorecards reflecting a mix of standard and custom project work.
• Facilitate S&OP alignment across Sales, Engineering, Operations, Finance, and Supply Chain to manage shifting priorities and production constraints.
• Coordinate with IT on the automation of reporting and workflows to improve visibility and decision-making across S&OP and margin assurance processes.
• Identify and prioritize margin leakage drivers common in custom manufacturing (rework, scrap, expedite costs, defects, design changes, scope changes, supplier variability).
• Lead structured investigations including fact-finding, cross-functional interviews, process mapping, and root-cause analysis across complex, project-based workflows.
• Maintain a pipeline of opportunities with defined value, ownership, and recovery actions.
• Quantify losses using job cost data, labor tracking, material usage, and expedite impacts within a project-based costing environment.
• Support customer and supplier recovery efforts (credits, back-charges, warranty claims), ensuring financial recovery is captured.
• Partner with Operations and CI teams to reduce variability, eliminate waste, and improve execution across custom builds.

Required Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Finance, Business, Engineering, or related field.

5 years of experience in S&OP, demand/supply planning, cost analysis, project controls, operational finance, or margin recovery within a custom or project-based manufacturing environment.

High proficiency in Excel, ERP/MRP systems; experience with Power BI tools (Power BI, Tableau). Strong analytical and investigative skills with the ability to translate complex, variable data into clear insights and actions.

Proven ability to collaborate cross-functionally (Sales, Engineering, Operations, Finance) and influence without direct authority.

Must demonstrate a consistent and stable work history, along with strong verbal and written communication skills.

Core competencies include: Forecasting and demand modeling in a variable, project-based environment Investigative problem-solving Financial acumen, including cost build-up and margin analysis Cross-functional leadership and effective communication Data-driven decision-making High ownership, accountability, and follow-through

Demonstrated ownership of key performance outcomes, including: Forecast accuracy and bias improvement within S&OP processes Dollars recovered from customer/vendor claims versus targets Verified margin leakage prevented (sustained savings) Cycle time from issue identification through financial recovery Reduction in repeat leakage drivers across projects or production

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with Microsoft Dynamics (Great Plains).

Experience in custom, engineered-to-order manufacturing, fabrication, aerospace/defense, construction/MEP, or other high-mix, low-volume environments.

Experience with advanced planning tools (SAP IBP, Kinaxis, o9, Anaplan) and/or SQL/data modeling.

Lean/Continuous Improvement experience with demonstrated cost savings or margin impact in variable production settings.

Physical Requirements:

Sitting, standing, and walking in office, warehouse and manufacturing environments.

Ability to climb in and out of trailers.

Ability to bend, lift, and position self to move about the office, as needed.

Required use of fingers and hands to operate a computer.

Vision abilities required by this job include close and/or color vision, and ability to adjust focus.

Must have the ability to hear and respond to auditory signals, distinguish tones and pitches in equipment, and use hearing protection during specific tasks.

Craftsmen Industries (and its subsidiaries) is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This means that we consider all applicants for employment and employees eligible for employment without regard to race, marital status or civil union status, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or any other characteristic protected by law. We also provide reasonable accommodations to our applicants and employees with disabilities in order to assist them in the performance of their essential job functions.

To learn more visit www.craftsmenind.com or www.schantzmfg.com.