Production Planning Manager/Scheduler

OGI•Sand Springs, OK

11d•Onsite

About The Position

The Production Planning & Project Controls Manager is responsible for developing, owning, and maintaining the master production schedule to ensure customer commitments are met while maximizing operational efficiency. This role owns the master production schedule by translating customer demand, engineering releases, material availability, labor capacity, and manufacturing constraints into a realistic and executable production plan while continuously balancing capacity, priorities, and customer commitments. Working closely with Sales, Engineering, Purchasing, Project Management, and Operations, this position proactively identifies capacity constraints, bottlenecks, and schedule risks before they impact delivery performance. Through effective cross-functional coordination, continuous schedule optimization, and clear communication, this position provides leadership with accurate visibility into production capacity, priorities, and recovery plans, enabling informed decision-making and on-time customer delivery. The position also communicates with external customers and arranges freight and generates shipping documents. Key performance indicators for this position include production schedule adherence, on-time delivery, and capacity utilization. This position provides leadership with accurate visibility into manufacturing capacity, schedule risk, resource utilization, and recovery plans to support informed operational decision-making and customer commitments.

Requirements

Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
Excellent organizational and planning abilities.
Effective communication and cross-functional collaboration.
Ability to prioritize competing demands in a fast-paced environment.
High attention to detail and data accuracy.
Sound decision-making using operational data.
Advanced Microsoft Excel skills for analysis, reporting, and capacity planning.
Ability to influence without direct authority across Engineering, Purchasing, Project Management, and Operations.
Bachelor’s degree in business, industrial management, operations management, supply chain management, or related field preferred.
Minimum of 3–5 years of experience in production planning, production scheduling, manufacturing operations, project controls, or a leadership position within a production/manufacturing facility preferred.
Experience working with ERP systems (Epicor preferred).
Strong organizational and communication skills.
Experience in metal fabrication, custom manufacturing, engineered-to-order manufacturing, pressure vessels, heaters, welding, assembly, or similar industrial manufacturing environment preferred.
Strong understanding of manufacturing workflow, labor capacity, resource loading, bottleneck management, and production constraints.
Ability to read and interpret production schedules, job routers, drawings release status, labor-hour estimates, quoted hours, actual hours, and completion commitments.
Experience using ERP systems, production scheduling tools, spreadsheets, Microsoft 365, and/or project management systems.
Strong analytical skills with the ability to compare demand, capacity, labor availability, and schedule risk.
Ability to manage multiple jobs, competing priorities, and changing production constraints simultaneously.
Strong communication skills with the ability to work across Operations, Project Management, Engineering, Purchasing, Fabrication, Assembly, Quality, and Shipping.
Ability to work under pressure, make fact-based decisions, and support schedule recovery efforts.

Nice To Haves

Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, APICS/CPIM, PMP, or related certification is a plus.

Responsibilities

Develop, maintain, and manage the master production schedule to ensure customer commitments and business objectives are achieved.
Translate customer orders, project priorities, engineering releases, material availability, labor capacity, and production constraints into an achievable manufacturing schedule.
Coordinate production priorities across all manufacturing departments to maximize throughput and on-time delivery.
Monitor shop activity to ensure labor resources are focused on scheduled priority work and escalate misalignment when production execution deviates from the approved schedule.
Monitor production progress daily and adjust schedules as necessary to address changing priorities, material shortages, equipment issues, and labor constraints.
Analyze production capacity, labor availability, machine utilization, and material readiness to balance workloads and optimize manufacturing resources.
Compare quoted hours, remaining hours, actual hours, and available labor capacity to validate schedule feasibility and identify emerging delivery risks.
Identify production bottlenecks, schedule conflicts, and capacity constraints, and develop proactive recovery plans to minimize customer impact.
Analyze labor capacity and recommend schedule adjustments, overtime, additional shifts, outsourcing, or labor reallocation when required to meet customer commitments.
Partner with Engineering to ensure timely release of drawings, bills of materials, and work instructions required to support production schedules.
Collaborate with Purchasing and Supply Chain to monitor material availability, long-lead items, and supplier performance that may affect production schedules.
Maintain visibility of jobs delayed by engineering releases, customer approvals, material shortages, supplier performance, or long-lead items, and communicate expected schedule impact.
Work closely with Project Management and Customer Service to communicate schedule changes, delivery risks, and recovery plans.
Lead or participate in production scheduling meetings, providing updates on schedule performance, constraints, priorities, and delivery risks.
Maintain accurate production schedules and ensure scheduling data is current and reliable.
Monitor key performance indicators including schedule adherence, on-time delivery, work center loading, capacity utilization, and schedule stability.
Recommend improvements to scheduling processes, production flow, inventory management, and resource utilization to increase operational efficiency.
Provide Sales and Executive Leadership with realistic production lead times, capacity forecasts, and delivery commitments based on current manufacturing conditions.
Develop short-, medium-, and long-range production plans based on customer demand, forecasted workload, and available resources.
Develop rolling capacity forecasts that identify future resource constraints, labor shortages, and work-center loading issues before they impact customer deliveries.
Prepare reports and presentations for leadership that provide visibility into production capacity, workload, bottlenecks, delivery risks, and recovery strategies.
Ensure compliance with company policies, quality standards, and safety requirements while developing production schedules.
Participate in continuous improvement initiatives focused on reducing lead times, improving schedule accuracy, and increasing manufacturing efficiency.
Coordinate with customers prior to shipping to schedule freight and generate necessary shipping documents.
Perform other duties as assigned to support manufacturing operations and organizational objectives.
This position may have supervisory responsibilities depending on organizational structure. The position is expected to provide direction, priorities, and accountability to cross-functional teams involved in production execution whether or not direct reports are assigned.