Advanced Associate, Production Planner

Pearson • Cedar Rapids, IA

5d • $15 - $16 • Onsite

About The Position

The Production Coordinator plays a critical role in facilitating production workflows to ensure the successful delivery of paper assessments. This position works closely with program delivery teams and operations subject matter experts to support procurement, packaging and distribution, order fulfillment, and data processing.

Requirements

• An associates degree is preferred for this position. However, candidates who possess a combination of relevant education and professional experience will also be considered.
• Proficiency in Microsoft software applications, specifically Excel and Word, is required to perform daily tasks efficiently.
• Strong personal computer (PC) skills are necessary for managing information and executing job responsibilities.
• Prior experience working within a team environment is required.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills are required for this role. The ability to communicate effectively with users, team members, and management is essential, as is the capability to drive decisions and coordinate activities across multiple stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with Oracle or similar enterprise resource planning systems is preferred.
• A minimum of two years’ experience supporting cross-functional business teams or project teams is preferred, as this background helps ensure effective collaboration and project execution.

Responsibilities

• Procurement Support: The Production Coordinator releases planned requisitions in Oracle ERP and processes manual requests for unplanned requisitions as needed. They also handle supplier assignments in coordination with program delivery and procurement teams.
• Production Order Processing: The Production Coordinator is instrumental in facilitating accurate and efficient processing of production orders. This role encompasses oversight of order test file imports, including user acceptance testing to ensure all data conforms to organizational standards. The coordinator also manages the integration of sales orders into the Oracle system, supporting downstream production and fulfillment activities. Key responsibilities include executing production jobs to generate personalized and generic materials necessary for order completion, such as headers, inbound and outbound labels, and PreID labels—each essential for precise processing and delivery. Additionally, the Production Coordinator rigorously monitors automated order imports, promptly identifies and reports errors, and systematically removes faulty or problematic data and files and manages sales order cancellation requests to uphold the integrity and reliability of production workflows.
• Inventory Management Support: Creating and Maintaining Oracle discrete jobs to support inventory management is an important function of the Production Coordinator role. This includes work order release management, processing discrete job cancellation requests and maintenance to purge the system of unused or unneeded jobs.
• Processing Support: The Production Coordinator manages job submissions, prepares control sheets, and sets up Oracle workflow to process student response data in Operations Processing.
• Print Production Support: The Production Coordinator is responsible for releasing jobs to the production queue in Prisma for Packaging and Distribution Support and managing communication on print queue status, including print prioritization. They are also responsible for moving Report Assembly print jobs to the print server for printing at the Owatonna facility and for adding those jobs to the Pearson One schedule and updating the print parameters in Prisma to support those processes.
• Stakeholder Communication: Transparent communication with stakeholders is an essential part of the job. The Production Coordinator provides regular updates on workflow status, and errors and issues encountered.
• Team Participation and Status Monitoring: Participation in regular team meetings allows the Production Coordinator to monitor work status and identify any barriers, risks, or incidents that may impact production activities. Active engagement with the team supports problem-solving and continuous improvement.
• Process Improvement: The Production Coordinator is expected to provide input, observations, and recommendations for enhancing the efficiency and quality of Production Coordinator processes, systems, and tools. Ongoing evaluation and feedback contribute to operational excellence.
• Relationship Building and Partnership: Building productive relationships, exercising independent judgment, and effective collaboration are all essential components of the role. The Production Coordinator fosters unity and is critical to establishing trust and reliability with all the partners and stakeholders of the production planning team.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: Associate degree