Job Overview

The Production Planning Team Leader leads the plant or site production planning team to ensure robust, feasible, and stable production plans that meet customer service, inventory, and operational performance objectives.

This role is accountable for planning quality, team capability, and cross‑functional alignment, acting as the main interface between SIOP/IBP decisions and day‑to‑day production execution

Job Requirements

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of production planners and/or master schedulers.
• Set clear objectives, priorities, and workload balance across the team.
• Ensure planning roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities are clearly defined and applied.
• Drive a culture of discipline, ownership, and continuous improvement within the planning team
• Oversee development and maintenance of master production schedules and detailed plans.
• Ensure plans are feasible, capacity‑balanced, and aligned with approved SIOP/IBP decisions.
• Validate planning parameters (lead times, lot sizes, yields, routings) and ensure data integrity.
• Ensure proper management of planning horizons (frozen / slushy / liquid) and change control
• Lead capacity planning at the plant level (labor, equipment, shifts).
• Identify short‑term and structural constraints and drive mitigation actions.
• Proactively escalate gaps and scenarios requiring cross‑functional or leadership decisions.
• Support make‑vs‑buy decisions, subcontracting, and load rebalancing where applicable
• Ensure production plans are synchronized with material availability and procurement plans.
• Drive adherence to inventory targets (FG, WIP) while protecting customer service.
• Lead execution of phase‑in / phase‑out plans and obsolescence risk mitigation.
• Reduce firefighting, expedites, and last‑minute rescheduling.
• Drive continuous improvement of planning processes, tools, and ways of working.
• Lead or support implementation and optimization of ERP / APS planning systems.
• Standardize processes and best practices across products, lines, or shifts.
• Upgrade planner capability through training, standards, and coaching

Key Performance indicators:

• Schedule adherence
• STS / STR customer service level
• Inventory DOH
• Capacity utilization
• Expedite rate

What your background should look like

EXPERIENCE/SKILLS:

• Bachelor of Science in Engineering or Supply Chain

• 5 – 10  years experience in large scale manufacturing/production required

• Prior experience leading planners or coordinating planning activities is strongly preferred
• Strong expertise in MPS, MRP, capacity planning, and manufacturing flows.
• Solid understanding of SIOP / IBP principles and execution linkage.
• Hands‑on experience with ERP systems (e.g., SAP, Oracle), APS experience a plus.
• Strong analytical and scenario‑building capability.
• Proven people leadership and coaching skills.
• Structured decision‑making and strong prioritization.
• Ability to balance discipline with agility in a dynamic environment.
• Clear communicator, able to influence across functions.
• Strong accountability mindset and execution focus

Competencies