Production Planner

Trane Technologies•Columbia, SC

7d•Onsite

About The Position

The Production Planner is responsible for developing, maintaining, and optimizing production plans and forecasts in alignment with the Master Production Schedule and overall plant objectives. This role plays a critical part in balancing plant supply and demand requirements to support customer service, efficient capacity and resource utilization, operational performance, and inventory targets. The Production Planner works cross-functionally with Operations, Purchasing, Sales, Marketing, Engineering, and Materials teams to translate demand signals into executable production plans. This position has a strong emphasis on forecast management, schedule integrity, material readiness, and proactive issue resolution to ensure the plant can meet customer commitments while maintaining operational efficiency.

Requirements

Strong ability to balance supply and demand needs within a dynamic plant environment.
Demonstrated capability in managing, maintaining, and improving forecasts to support production planning and inventory decisions.
Ability to make complex decisions with limited time and information based on current plant priorities and business needs.
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, multi-tasked manufacturing environment.
Strong problem-solving, analytical thinking, ownership mindset, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to independently resolve issues.
Strong data analysis and data manipulation skills to support planning, forecasting, and decision-making.
Working knowledge of ERP systems, MRP logic, and production planning processes.
Understanding of product configurations, options, substitutions, and critical functions/components.
Strong customer service orientation with a commitment to supporting internal and external customer requirements.
Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively across multiple functions and levels of the organization.
Ability to identify risks proactively and develop practical solutions to maintain schedule performance and customer commitments.
High school diploma required
Minimum of 3 years of experience in a manufacturing environment.
Experience in production planning, forecasting, inventory management, MRP, and lean manufacturing processes.
Proficiency with ERP systems and Microsoft Office applications with a focus on Excel.
Intermediate mathematical, analytical, and problem-solving skills.

Nice To Haves

BS/BA degree in Business, Supply Chain, Operations, or a related field preferred.
APICS Certification in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM) preferred.
Experience with visual management systems preferred.

Responsibilities

Develop, review, and maintain production plans and schedules in alignment with the Master Production Schedule and plant priorities.
Manage and maintain demand forecasts, ensuring forecast accuracy, timely updates, and alignment with customer demand patterns, business inputs, and plant capacity constraints.
Balance plant supply and demand requirements by adjusting production plans to support service, inventory, and operational objectives.
Establish production priorities based on customer demand, forecasted demand, master scheduling requirements, inventory objectives, and service level goals.
Partner with cross-functional teams to evaluate demand changes, capacity limitations, material constraints, and operational risks, and translate those inputs into actionable production plans.
Reconcile order discrepancies, customer order changes, and shifting priorities to minimize disruption to the production schedule.
Communicate with Operations, Purchasing, Sales, Marketing, Engineering, and other stakeholders to ensure alignment on customer priorities, forecast changes, and production requirements.
Review and maintain system planning data, including item attributes, routings, planning parameters, lead times, safety stocks, and other system settings required to drive effective MRP outputs.
Monitor component availability and coordinate with buyers to expedite materials when necessary to support production schedules and customer requirements.
Build and manage multi-phase production schedules for standard manufacturing, engineered-to-order (ETO), and design-to-order (DTO) requirements.
Plan manufacturing timelines, material requirements, and workflow sequencing to support efficient execution and on-time delivery.
Continuously evaluate forecast inputs, demand trends, inventory positions, and capacity availability to recommend schedule and production plan adjustments.
Reschedule production based on changes in material availability, forecast updates, customer demand, and manufacturing lead times.
Manage planning activities related to rejected, rework, and nonconforming product to minimize disruption and protect delivery performance.
Coordinate manufacturing activities and monitor schedule adherence and production performance against plan.
Develop, track, and manage key performance metrics such as On-Time Shipment (OTS), productivity, revenue, past due backlog, unit production, forecast accuracy, and schedule attainment.
Continuously evaluate Customer Estimated Ship Dates, re-calculating and updating at key milestones.
Participate in daily cross-functional meetings to resolve delayed shipments, component shortages, overtime requirements, production constraints, and other material or scheduling issues.
Identify opportunities to improve forecast processes, planning parameters, schedule stability, and overall plant planning effectiveness.
Perform other duties as assigned.