What are the responsibilities and job description for the Manager, Production Scheduling position at Mama's Creations?
Mama’s Creations, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAMA) is a leading marketer and manufacturer of fresh deli prepared foods, found in over 8,500 grocery, mass, club and convenience stores nationally. The Company’s broad product portfolio, born as MamaMancini’s, from a rich history in Italian foods, now consists of a variety of high quality, fresh, clean and easy to prepare foods to address the needs of both our consumers and retailers. Our vision is to become a one-stop-shop deli solutions platform, leveraging vertical integration and a diverse family of brands to offer a wide array of prepared foods to meet the changing demands of the modern consumer. For more information, please visit https://mamascreations.com
The Manager, Production Scheduling serves as the operational link between Supply Planning and Plant Operations, translating weekly production plans into executable plant schedules that maximize throughput, labor utilization, equipment efficiency, and customer service. This role partners closely with Production, Warehouse, FSQA, Maintenance, and Planning to coordinate production sequencing, manage operational constraints, and drive schedule adherence. In alignment with our commitment to Grandma Quality, this position ensures production schedules support food safety, product freshness, operational efficiency, and reliable customer service. By balancing production priorities, capacity constraints, labor resources, and operational realities, the Manager, Production Scheduling drives disciplined execution while fostering collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement across the organization.
Key Responsibilities
The Manager, Production Scheduling serves as the operational link between Supply Planning and Plant Operations, translating weekly production plans into executable plant schedules that maximize throughput, labor utilization, equipment efficiency, and customer service. This role partners closely with Production, Warehouse, FSQA, Maintenance, and Planning to coordinate production sequencing, manage operational constraints, and drive schedule adherence. In alignment with our commitment to Grandma Quality, this position ensures production schedules support food safety, product freshness, operational efficiency, and reliable customer service. By balancing production priorities, capacity constraints, labor resources, and operational realities, the Manager, Production Scheduling drives disciplined execution while fostering collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement across the organization.
Key Responsibilities
- Translate weekly production plans issued by the Supply Planning team into detailed, executable production schedules that reflect operational realities and support customer commitments.
- Coordinate production sequencing across manufacturing lines to optimize labor utilization, equipment efficiency, throughput, and schedule attainment.
- Partner closely with Production Managers, Supervisors, Warehouse, FSQA, Maintenance, and other operational stakeholders to ensure schedules are realistic, achievable, and aligned with business priorities.
- Drive schedule adherence across the facility, proactively identifying risks, constraints, and execution gaps while reinforcing accountability to plan.
- Maintain strong communication with plant leadership regarding schedule changes, production challenges, labor constraints, downtime events, and operational priorities.
- Apply a "does this make sense" lens to production schedules and operational performance, ensuring decisions are grounded in reality and support effective execution.
- Monitor schedule attainment, line performance, downtime, changeovers, labor utilization, and other key operational metrics, implementing corrective actions when needed.
- Partner with Supply Planning to communicate operational constraints, capacity limitations, and opportunities for improved performance, nurturing strong cross-functional relationships.
- Support food safety, quality, and regulatory compliance by ensuring scheduling decisions align with operational requirements and Grandma Quality standards.
- Identify opportunities to improve scheduling processes, production flow, communication, and operational coordination, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and craftsmanship.
- Build strong, trust-based relationships across departments, facilitating collaboration and alignment in support of enterprise objectives.
- Support integration of new products, customers, facilities, and operational initiatives through effective scheduling and coordination.
- Track and report key operational KPIs, including:
- Schedule Adherence
- Schedule Attainment
- Labor Utilization
- Line Efficiency
- Production Throughput
- Downtime
- Changeover Performance
- OT Utilization
- Analyze trends and implement corrective actions to improve operational performance, demonstrating ownership and accountability for results.
- Serve as a resource and operational support partner to Production Managers, providing leadership coverage, production coordination, issue resolution, and decision-making support as needed to ensure continuity of operations.
- Other related duties as required for efficient operations.
- Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Operations, Business, Engineering, or related field; equivalent manufacturing experience may be considered
- Minimum 3-5 years of experience in production scheduling, production planning, manufacturing operations, supply chain, or related functions
- Experience working in a manufacturing environment; food manufacturing is preferred
- Experience coordinating activities across multiple operational functions
- Experience with ERP systems, NetSuite preferred, and/or production planning software