Production Planning Manager

Summary

The Production Planning Manager leads the finite production scheduling process for the plant, ensuring production plans are accurate, attainable, clear-to-build, and aligned with customer service, supply priorities, and manufacturing performance goals. This role owns the creation and ongoing maintenance of the production schedule while partnering closely with Supply Planning, Materials Planning, Operations, and cross-functional teams to balance demand, capacity, materials availability, validation needs, and line efficiency. The Production Planning Manager is responsible for monitoring plant attainment and other critical metrics, identifying root causes when performance gaps occur, and driving practical solutions that improve schedule adherence, optimize SKU and line sequencing, increase OEE, and protect customer service levels. This position requires a detail-oriented, analytical, and influential planning leader who can manage competing priorities, support process improvement, and deliver sustainable results in a fast-paced CPG manufacturing environment.

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of this position include:

• Own the creation, maintenance, and continuous improvement of the finite production schedule, ensuring plans are accurate, executable, and aligned with business and plant priorities.
• Monitor plant attainment and other critical production planning metrics; investigate schedule misses, identify root causes, and partner with stakeholders to implement corrective actions.
• Schedule SKUs and production lines efficiently to improve validation time, support manufacturing performance metrics, increase OEE, and protect customer service levels.
• Partner with Materials Planning and Operations to issue feasible, attainable, clear-to-build production schedules that account for materials availability, capacity, labor, and operational constraints.
• Collaborate with Supply Planning to ensure high-priority demand, inventory needs, and service risks are appropriately reflected in the production schedule.
• Maintain and improve planning master data, including CPH and related scheduling assumptions, to support accurate timelines, realistic production plans, and effective decision-making.
• Lead communication and alignment across Supply Planning, Materials Planning, Operations, and other cross-functional partners to manage schedule changes, risks, and tradeoffs.
• Support larger projects and process improvement initiatives that strengthen planning discipline, improve schedule stability, and enhance end-to-end supply chain execution.

Requirements

The requirements of this position include:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain, Operations Management, or a related field required.
• 5+ years of CPG industry, supply chain, production planning, or manufacturing planning experience with a strong understanding of end-to-end supply chain processes.
• Experience leading planning processes, coordinating cross-functional work, and influencing teams across Supply Planning, Materials Planning, Operations, and related functions.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and experience working in SAP or a similar ERP/planning system.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to assess performance gaps, identify root causes, and translate data into clear actions.
• Detail-oriented, self-directed, and comfortable taking initiative while consistently producing high-quality, sustainable results.
• Strong communication and influencing skills, with the ability to align stakeholders, explain tradeoffs, and drive decisions across functions.
• Demonstrated ability to balance large projects, process improvement initiatives, daily execution, and competing cross-functional priorities.
• Professional demeanor with strong written and verbal communication skills.