Master Scheduler - Plant 10

Howmet Aerospace•Whitehall, MI

About The Position

The Master Scheduler is located at Plant 10, Whitehall Casting Operations. This role develops and maintains master schedules that meet customer demand while leveling work released to manufacturing, optimizing inventory and resource utilization, and supporting detailed material and capacity planning as well as financial planning. The scheduler analyzes demand and supply at item, customer, and master-schedule levels, identifies imbalances and alternatives, and recommends actions for approval. The position works across company functions and participates actively in Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP), helping establish priorities when demand exceeds capacity. The role also performs rough-cut capacity planning, maintains capacity and scheduling data, and ensures master schedules comply with company policies and procedures. It involves coordinating with sales, marketing, manufacturing, suppliers, and engineering to improve lead times, ensure material availability, maintain appropriate standards, and resolve capacity or order-promising conflicts. The Master Scheduler serves as an internal educator and consultant on master-scheduling practices and communicates demand constraints and alternatives to management.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.
APICS CPIM certification, or attainment of the certification within one year of assuming the position.
Five years of experience in progressively responsible Production Planning roles in an industrial manufacturing environment.
Previous experience in Master Scheduling and Capacity Planning.
Legally authorized to work in the United States; employment eligibility verification is required at hire. Visa sponsorship is not available.
Superior analytical skills and exceptional oral and written communication skills.
Ability to work effectively in a collaborative, matrixed team environment.
Fluency and practical proficiency in MRP logic, scheduling logs, order policies, capacity planning, input/output control, product structures, routing, and standards maintenance.
Ability to troubleshoot and resolve complex materials issues within the company.
Highly skilled in data analysis, manipulation, and presentation, including Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Visio, and Access.
Strong understanding of the business systems and processes supporting the relevant planning and scheduling functions.

Nice To Haves

Knowledge of master scheduling, demand management, stockroom, purchasing, design cell, and cost accounting techniques.
Previous experience implementing Master Scheduling in a large plant.
Experience with lean manufacturing.
Knowledge of company markets, customers, product lines, and manufacturing facilities.
Knowledge of information systems, order management, and inventory planning.
Knowledge of Oracle.

Responsibilities

Analyze demand and supply at item, customer, and master-schedule levels; identify out-of-balance conditions, alternatives, and recommended actions.
Work with sales, marketing, and manufacturing to understand competitive lead times and identify ways to reduce internal and customer lead times.
Conduct rough-cut capacity planning before publishing master schedules with significant changes.
Summarize daily and weekly master schedules for released orders and compare them with the operating plan to ensure alignment with S&OP commitments.
Follow master-scheduling policy guidelines and procedures.
Educate and train employees throughout the company on master-scheduling issues and practices.
Identify, negotiate, and resolve material-availability, capacity-availability, and order-promising conflicts.
Inform management when demand cannot be met and recommend alternatives for satisfying requested demand.
Create schedules that satisfy customer demand while leveling manufacturing releases and optimizing inventory and resource utilization.
Create schedules suitable for detailed material and capacity planning and financial planning.
Establish working relationships with all company functions and actively participate in S&OP, helping set priorities when demand exceeds capacity.
Run monthly rough-cut capacity planning and maintain and update capacity data for critical plant resources and work centers.
Maintain the policy that no master-schedule item has a release date before the current date.
Maintain scheduling parameters, including lead times, lot sizes, and cycle times.
Liaise with engineering to ensure appropriate labor, machine, and scrap standards are used in master scheduling.
Review each master-scheduled item at least weekly.
Review customer demand and schedules, understand production rhythms, interact with suppliers, and ensure raw-material availability.
Track schedule attainment, throughput, revenue, finished goods, and other measures, and adjust plans as needed.
Coordinate information and decisions among stakeholders, across shifts, and across materials and parts; promote adherence to systems and accurate information.
Balance the needs of departments, suppliers, internal capabilities, and external demand; communicate the rationale for decisions and seek longer-term solutions.
Gather information and feedback to develop solutions and help prevent or avoid potential problems.