Production Planning Manager

Unbox Your Potential: Our customers see us as the industry Leader for trusted, high quality food service essentials and supply chain solutions – and our employees see the value in what they do each day. We offer a culture supported by integrity, growth, relationships, and excellence. We’re looking for a Production Planning Manager – are you ready to explore your career with us?

The Production Planning Manager is responsible for planning within the local production facility including production planning, purchasing, and inventory planning. This role serves as the primary site-level owner of short and midterm planning, ensuring alignment between customer demand, available capacity, material supply, and operational constraints.

Reporting directly to the Director of Operations, the Production Planning Manager works closely with the Master Planning Manager (dotted line) to align site plans with network level supply, capacity, and demand strategies. This role is critical in balancing service, inventory, and asset utilization while driving schedule discipline and continuous improvement across the plant.

How you'll make an impact in this role:

Master Production Scheduling & Execution

• Accountable for activities related to production schedule for the plant across short- and mid-term horizons (daily, weekly, monthly).
• Ensures alignment of demand signals, forecasts, and customer requirements into feasible production schedules that balance capacity, labor, and material availability.
• Monitor schedule adherence and proactively resolve issues related to capacity constraints, material shortages, or operational disruptions.
• Lead daily and weekly scheduling reviews to ensure alignment across production, purchasing, and operations.

Supply, Capacity & Demand Alignment

• Partner with the Corporate Master Planning Manager to align site level- plans with network supply, capacity, and demand strategies.
• Identify capacity risks, bottlenecks, or imbalances and develop mitigation plans in collaboration with plant leadership.
• Support rough-cut and finite capacity planning activities, including scenario analysis for volume changes, new business, or mix shifts.
• Ensure planning assumptions (lead times, lot sizes, cycle times, safety stock) are accurate and maintained in planning systems.

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead and develop a small team responsible for production scheduling, purchasing, and planning activities.
• Establish clear roles, priorities, and performance expectations for the team.
• Coach and mentor team members to strengthen planning capability, analytical rigor, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Foster a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and data driven- decision making.

Purchasing & Material Coordination

• Oversee purchasing and material planning activities to ensure raw materials and components support the production schedule.
• Ensure timely procurement aligned with production requirements while managing inventory levels and working capital.
• Coordinate closely with suppliers and internal stakeholders to resolve shortages, expedites, or supply disruptions.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Serve as the primary planning interface between manufacturing, supply chain, commercial, and corporate planning teams.
• Support new business introductions, volume changes, and customer commitments by assessing capacity and scheduling feasibility.
• Provide clear visibility and communication on schedule changes, risks, and trade-off’s to plant and corporate leadership.

Performance Management & Continuous Improvement

• Track and report key planning and execution of KPIs, including schedule adherence, service (OTIF), inventory, and capacity utilization.
• Identify opportunities to improve planning processes, system usage, and schedule stability.
• Lead or support continuous improvement initiatives related to planning, scheduling, and material flow.

What you'll need to be successful in this role:

• Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering, Supply Chain, or related field preferred.
• Equivalent manufacturing experience with demonstrated CI leadership will be considered.
• 3 to 5 years of experience in manufacturing or operations with hands-on continuous improvement responsibility.
• Proven experience leading Lean or operational improvement initiatives in a plant environment.
• Experience working across multiple sites or supporting network-level initiatives preferred.
• Strong working knowledge of Lean manufacturing and continuous improvement methodologies.
• Ability to map, analyze, and redesign processes end-to-end.
• Data-driven mindset with the ability to translate metrics into action.
• Strong facilitation, communication, and coaching skills.
• Comfortable influencing without authority and working cross-functionally.
• High level of personal accountability, urgency, and bias for execution.