Production Planner

Purple Cow Recruiting•Chicago, IL

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Heartline Staffing, in partnership with Purple Cow Recruiting, is seeking an experienced Production Planner for a full-time, on-site opportunity in Chicago, Illinois. This role is responsible for coordinating the entire production-planning process to ensure products are manufactured efficiently, materials are available when needed, customer demand is met, and plant resources are utilized effectively. The ideal candidate brings at least five years of production-planning experience, strong MRP knowledge, direct manufacturing experience, and the analytical ability to balance demand, capacity, material availability, lead times, and changing production priorities. The Production Planner develops and manages production schedules while coordinating closely with engineering, procurement, manufacturing, sales, and distribution teams. This position monitors plant performance, identifies bottlenecks, addresses schedule conflicts, supports material availability, and adjusts production plans based on customer demand and operational capacity. This position supports a metal-manufacturing environment and requires an understanding of plant-level production planning, manufacturing lead times, materials, scheduling, capacity constraints, and supply-chain coordination.

Requirements

Minimum 5 Years of Experience as a Production Planner or Similar Role REQUIRED
Minimum 1 Year of Experience in Metal Manufacturing REQUIRED
Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, or Related Field REQUIRED
Strong Working Knowledge of MRP REQUIRED
Strong Production Planning Experience REQUIRED
Production Scheduling Experience REQUIRED
Demand Forecasting Experience REQUIRED
Capacity Planning Experience REQUIRED
Supply Chain Principles Knowledge REQUIRED
Materials / Procurement Coordination Experience REQUIRED
Experience Ensuring Accuracy of Production Orders REQUIRED
Experience Identifying Production Bottlenecks and Developing Solutions REQUIRED
Experience Resolving Production Schedule Conflicts REQUIRED
Experience Coordinating Across Engineering, Procurement, Manufacturing, Sales, and/or Distribution REQUIRED
Strong Analytical and Problem-Solving Skills REQUIRED
Strong Attention to Detail and Organizational Skills REQUIRED
Excellent Communication and Interpersonal Skills REQUIRED
Ability to Work Under Pressure and Meet Aggressive Deadlines REQUIRED
Microsoft Office Proficiency REQUIRED
Ability to Work Fully On-Site in Chicago, IL REQUIRED
Candidates from sheet metal, fabricated components, HVAC manufacturing, engineered metal products, or comparable heavy-manufacturing environments may qualify when they demonstrate directly transferable production-planning processes and lead-time management.
Candidates must have hands-on working knowledge of MRP in support of production orders, material requirements, inventory, production scheduling, and plant planning. Comparable MRP/ERP systems may qualify; document the exact platform and how frequently the candidate used it.
A bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, or a closely related field is the stated requirement. Exceptional candidates without the degree should only be considered for manager review when they have substantial directly relevant production-planning experience, strong MRP proficiency, and potentially relevant credentials such as APICS.

Nice To Haves

APICS Certification Preferred
HVAC Manufacturing Experience Preferred
APICS certification such as CPIM or CSCP is preferred but is not a mandatory requirement.

Responsibilities

Develop and implement production schedules to meet customer demand
Optimize plant resources and production capacity
Maintain accurate production orders
Monitor production progress against established schedules
Adjust schedules in response to disruptions, shortages, capacity changes, or changing customer demand
Participate in regular production-scheduling meetings
Resolve production schedule conflicts
Support on-time manufacturing and delivery objectives
Use MRP systems to support production and material requirements planning
Coordinate production requirements with material availability
Work with procurement to support timely delivery of required materials
Maintain accurate production and material information
Monitor material availability against production requirements
Support inventory and order accuracy
Identify material constraints that could affect production schedules
Collaborate with sales to forecast future customer demand
Adjust production plans based on demand forecasts
Analyze plant capacity and resource availability
Identify potential capacity bottlenecks
Recommend solutions to improve productivity and throughput
Determine when outsourcing may be required based on plant capacity and product lead times
Balance internal production capacity against delivery requirements
Collaborate with engineering, procurement, manufacturing, sales, and distribution teams
Coordinate production activities across multiple departments
Communicate schedule changes and production priorities
Help resolve conflicting priorities among operational teams
Support timely material procurement
Participate in production-performance and scheduling meetings
Help ensure manufacturing activities remain aligned with customer requirements
Monitor and analyze production data
Identify production inefficiencies
Recommend and implement corrective actions
Assess production-process performance regularly
Identify opportunities to improve schedule adherence
Support productivity and throughput improvements
Help reduce the impact of production bottlenecks and disruptions