Production Planner/Scheduler

VISTA•Elkhart, IN

About The Position

Plan and maintain an executable master production schedule that meets confirmed customer demand while optimizing capacity, materials, and labor. Translate sales forecasts and orders into detailed production schedules and work orders, drive schedule adherence and on-time delivery, and collaborate cross-functionally (Production, Purchasing, Product Management, Engineering, Inside Sales, and Quality) to remove constraints and continuously improve planning accuracy and flow.

Requirements

Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Operations Management, Industrial Engineering, or related field, or equivalent experience.
3–5 years in production planning/scheduling within discrete manufacturing; proven success meeting on-time delivery and schedule adherence KPIs.
Working knowledge of ERP/MRP (work orders, BOMs, routings, lead times) and intermediate to advanced Microsoft Excel (e.g., pivot tables, lookups).
Ability to interpret bills of materials, routings, and manufacturing drawings; understanding of capacity planning and material requirements planning.
Familiarity with Lean/Continuous Improvement concepts (5S, value stream mapping, pull systems, standard work).
Strong analytical problem solving, organization, attention to detail, communication, and collaboration; sense of urgency with calm under pressure.
Comfortable facilitating daily/weekly planning meetings and presenting status; able to work across departments to resolve shortages and expedite priorities.
Flexible, attention to detail, patient, modest, ambitious, deductive reasoning, advanced math skills, and persistence.

Responsibilities

Build and maintain the master production schedule from demand inputs (forecast, orders, backlog) aligned to capacity, material availability, and labor.
Convert the master schedule into time-phased work orders; release, sequence, reschedule, and close orders to meet customer promise dates.
Perform rough-cut and finite capacity analysis; identify bottlenecks and balance load across cells/lines while minimizing changeovers and downtime.
Coordinate material availability with Purchasing; drive shortage resolution with clear dates and priorities using systematic escalation.
Lead daily/weekly planning huddles with Production, Sales and Quality; communicate schedule, constraints, and recovery plans.
Monitor and report planning KPIs (on-time delivery, schedule adherence, capacity utilization, plan vs. actual, WIP ageing), act on trends, and develop or refine additional KPIs as needed to improve planning performance.
Maintain ERP data accuracy (item master, BOMs, routings, lead times, calendars); propose changes through the appropriate document control process.
Provide input on customer commit dates based on capacity and material constraints; ensure alignment between production schedule and sales commitments
Analyze demand changes; update promise dates and proactively notify Inside Sales of impacts; prepare commit reports for key accounts.
Support new product introductions and engineering changes by validating capacity/material readiness and integrating builds into the schedule.
Drive continuous improvement in planning processes (kanban sizing, reorder point logic, lot sizing, takt alignment, standard work).
Partner with Inventory Control to ensure inventory accuracy and reliable planning signals; address discrepancies impacting scheduling and material availability.
Follow all requirements to support Quality Objectives and the company’s management system; complete required training when applicable.
Identify and drive improvements in planning systems and evaluate additional tools to enhance scheduling effectiveness.
Attend and actively participate in cross-functional meetings to communicate planning status, align priorities, and support issue resolution.
Perform other related duties as assigned consistent with the role purpose.
Follow all requirements to support Vista Quality Objectives