What are the responsibilities and job description for the Production Planner position at Superior Lubricants?
We’re looking for someone who can make a real impact on how our production runs day to day.
As our Production Planner, you’ll play a key role in building and managing production schedules that keep operations running efficiently and customers supplied on time. This is a hands-on role where you’ll work across purchasing, production, and inventory to align priorities, solve problems, and drive continuous improvement.
- Paid weekly every Thursday
- 8 paid holidays & generous time off accruals
- 401k w/ employer match
- Company paid STD, LTD, and life insurance
- Company sponsored events and supportive family-owned culture
Summary:
The Production Planner is responsible for planning, scheduling, and coordinating production activities to ensure efficient plant operations and on-time product availability. This role develops and maintains production schedules that align customer demand, inventory targets, staffing, and raw material availability with plant capacity. The Production Planner serves as a key link between Purchasing, Manufacturing, Inventory, and Sales to maintain smooth production flow, minimize downtime, and optimize efficiency. This is a hands-on operational role with direct oversight of the Production Coordinator.
Essential Duties of Position:
- Develop and maintain daily, weekly, and long-range production schedules that align plant capacity with customer demand, inventory targets, staffing, and raw material availability
- Review production orders, sales forecasts, bills of materials, inventory levels, and production specifications to establish and adjust achievable production plans
- Revise schedules as needed to address design changes, material shortages, machine downtime, urgent orders, backlogs, or shifting priorities
- Coordinate closely with Purchasing, Manufacturing, Quality, Inventory, and Plant Operations to ensure material availability and smooth production flow
- Monitor production progress, identify bottlenecks or capacity constraints, and work with plant leadership to resolve scheduling conflicts and workflow inefficiencies
- Provide strategic insight on maintaining proper ERP planning data, including lead times, safety stock levels, reorder points, and scheduling parameters to support accurate planning
- Analyze production, inventory, and schedule performance data to improve forecast accuracy, reduce waste, and optimize throughput
- Generate and maintain reports and KPIs related to schedule attainment, production output, inventory levels, and capacity utilization
- Supervise and support the Production Coordinator, providing daily guidance, oversight of scheduling accuracy, and clear communication of schedule priorities across departments
- Recommend and implement improvements to planning tools, scheduling processes, and workflow efficiency, and perform other duties as assigned by management
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- Strong knowledge of production planning, scheduling, and inventory control principles
- Experience using ERP systems for production planning and scheduling (Acumatica preferred)
- Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office, especially Excel
- Ability to read and interpret production schedules, bills of materials, and manufacturing documentation
- Ability to understand prints/drawings used in production planning
- Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills
- Excellent communication and coordination skills across multiple departments
- Ability to prioritize multiple tasks, adapt quickly to changes, and work effectively under pressure
- Strong attention to detail with proven follow-up and time management skills
- Ability to safely navigate a manufacturing environment and perform extended periods of computer-based work
Qualifications:
- High school diploma or equivalent (required)
- Associate or bachelor’s degree in Operations, Supply Chain, Business, or related field (preferred)
- Minimum 3 - 5 years of experience in production planning, scheduling, or manufacturing operations required
- Prior experience in a manufacturing or plant environment strongly preferred
- Previous lead or supervisory experience preferred
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.
We are committed to providing a workplace free of discrimination and harassment and to ensuring equal opportunity in all aspects of employment.
If you require a reasonable accommodation to complete the application or interview process, please let your recruiter know or indicate this during the application process so we can provide appropriate assistance.
Salary : $70,000 - $80,000