Production Planner

THE VISUAL PAK COMPANIES•Waukegan, IL

5d•$56,561 - $84,841•Onsite

About The Position

The Production Planner serves as a key liaison between Client Service Coordinators (CSCs) and the plant, ensuring effective communication and execution of orders. The role establishes production priorities, tracks progress, resolves scheduling issues, maintains facility requirements, and ensures accurate data in the MRP system. The position has no direct reports. The planner evaluates manufacturing capacity and production-line capabilities, tracks actual progress against planned schedules, and works with the scheduler and production team to resolve problems. The role also supports weekly scheduling, capacity reporting, customer forecast entry, campaign alignment, production-order release, and communication of building schedules to the CSC team. The position is based in Waukegan, Illinois, and is listed as a first-shift role.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management or another relevant field.
Three years of professional experience in a contract manufacturing environment.
Proficiency in mining data and assembling useful reports for management review.
Ability to manage and prioritize multiple tasks simultaneously and accurately.
Positive team-player approach and ability to communicate effectively with all levels of management and cross-functional organizations.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
Ability to work well under pressure and recognize urgency.
Self-motivated, focused, and results-oriented.
Team-centric approach with a service attitude.
Confidence presenting information, offering conclusions, and advocating proactive problem-solving options.
Ability to lift up to 20 pounds; regularly stand, walk, sit, type, grasp or handle objects, and reach with hands and arms; may need to stoop, kneel, or crouch.
Ability to hear and understand work direction in a loud, distracting environment.
Ability to judge distance, identify details, and regularly view a computer screen.
Outstanding written, oral, interpersonal, and outward-behavior communication ability, including listening effectively and adapting communication to the audience.
Advanced Microsoft Office skills, including Excel, Access, and Word.
Proficiency and comfort working with an MRP system, including item and bill-of-material maintenance, forecast maintenance, sales-order maintenance, and purchase orders.

Nice To Haves

APICS certification.
Spanish communication skills; Spanish is identified as a preferred second language.

Responsibilities

Act as a liaison between Client Service Coordinators and the plant to relay key data, execute orders, and meet delivery dates.
Establish production priorities by evaluating manufacturing capacity and the capabilities of each production line.
Track production by gathering data and comparing actual progress against the planned schedule.
Resolve scheduling problems by collecting and analyzing information and coordinating with the scheduler and production team.
Enter, monitor, and maintain accurate data in the internal MRP system, including entry and closure of production orders driven by customer purchase orders.
Initiate orders for release according to the weekly production schedule.
Collaborate with the site-specific scheduler to finalize the weekly schedule and review final outputs week over week.
Generate weekly site capacity reports to help ensure production-line capacity is evenly distributed.
Input customer forecasts into Navision as applicable.
Align the schedule for campaign purposes to achieve optimal efficiencies.
Maintain a matrix of facility requirements, including blend sizes, batch sizes, and minimum and maximum limits, to align orders with the production floor.
Provide weekly building schedules to the CSC team.
Perform other duties as assigned.