Production Planner and Scheduler

What we do- Aspen•East Providence, RI

7d•Onsite

About The Position

The Production Planner / Scheduler owns the production schedule for the East Providence aerogel facility and is the plant’s link between demand and capacity. The role converts demand and inventory signals into a sequenced, capacity-feasible plan of record across Casting, Extraction, Ovens, Slitters, and Label/Packaging, and drives it on the floor through order release, labeling, and real-time re-prioritization. It also carries the forward view — modeling the demand outlook against demonstrated capacity and telling Operations whether we can accommodate it as staffed and equipped, and what must change if we cannot. Measured by schedule attainment, throughput at the constraint, the quality of that capacity guidance, and the accuracy of data in Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree (BA/BS) in Supply Chain, Operations Management, Industrial Engineering, or Business, or equivalent education and 7+ years directly relevant manufacturing experience in lieu of a degree.
5+ years of production scheduling, planning, or materials planning in manufacturing, including hands-on ERP/MRP scheduling and ownership of manufacturing master data.
Demonstrated ability to build a capacity or load model and present the resulting staffing, shift, or equipment recommendation to operations leadership.
Ability to hold a plan under pressure, decide quickly with incomplete information, and communicate clearly to both the floor and management.
On-site, with meaningful floor time and reachability for off-shift escalations.
Computer skills required: advanced Excel (pivot tables, lookups, scenario modeling); Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations; Power BI or equivalent.
Working knowledge of Lean methods; ability to write clear SOPs.

Nice To Haves

Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (production control, master planning, product information management).
Continuous or batch process manufacturing, chemical processing, composites, coating/converting, or roll goods.
APICS/ASCM (CPIM or CSCP) or Lean/Six Sigma Green Belt or above; SQL or Power Query for reporting.
Labeling and barcoding systems, lot/serial traceability, and new product introduction or capacity expansion.

Responsibilities

Build and maintain the daily, weekly, and rolling multi-week schedule from demand, forecast, safety stock, and inventory position, sequencing every stage to demonstrated capacity.
Schedule to the constraint: protect the bottleneck and optimize for changeover, family and thickness grouping, oven cure cycles, slitter nesting, and lot continuity.
Balance the plan against material availability, WIP holds, equipment and tooling, maintenance windows, and staffing by shift.
Generate and issue labels tied to the correct order, part, lot, quantity, and revision; control reprints and voids with full traceability.
Release only work that is materially available and sequenced; keep labels and travelers matched to the schedule and the WIP present and verify label and quantity at close-out.
Partner with Quality on lot traceability, CoA linkage, customer-specific labeling, and segregation of held or non-conforming material.
Translate the Supply Chain demand signal into a capacity load by stage — run hours, batches, crews, and shifts required versus available — and model the effect of demand changes, downtime, and yield variation.
Maintain the model that converts the rolling outlook into required headcount, shift pattern, equipment hours, and utilization, refreshed each planning cycle.
Answer Plant Operations on every material demand shift: can we accommodate it, by when, and what would have to change — shift, overtime, crew, or equipment — with cost and lead-time implications.
Own the plan of record and its time fence, publish attainment and past-due aging, and root-cause each miss to material, equipment, labor, quality, or planning.
Maintain the parameters behind a credible plan — lead times, run rates, yields, batch sizes, safety stock — and the analysis supporting staffing and capital requests.
Serve as the primary scheduling contact across all shifts and lead daily production, tier, and cross-functional planning discussions.
Re-prioritize in real time for downtime, shortages, quality holds, or customer escalations, and communicate the revised sequence unambiguously.
Translate between commercial urgency and floor reality: a defensible commit date for Sales, an executable plan for Operations, and constraints escalated early with options and a recommendation.
Keep the schedule and capacity outlook visible and current so anyone on the floor can see what is running now and what is next.
Create, release, schedule, and maintain production orders in Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations, keeping status accurate through the lifecycle.
Own scheduling master data — formulas, routes, resource capacity, calendars, coverage, lead times — on which every capacity model depends; run and interpret MRP with judgment.
Correct transactional integrity issues and reconcile system to physical inventory with Materials and Finance.
Build the load boards, capacity models, dashboards, and attainment reporting in Excel or Power BI.
Document and improve the scheduling process — intake, sequencing, release rules, escalation, SOPs — applying Lean to reduce lead time, WIP, and changeover loss.
Adopt and follow Aspen’s core values — We do the right thing, We are problem solvers, We are allies, and We drive forward.
Performs other related duties as assigned by management.