PRODUCTION PLANNING MANAGER - JOB #1135

Enstrom Helicopter Corporation•Menominee, MI

6d•$85,000 - $115,000

About The Position

Enstrom Helicopter Corporation is seeking an experienced Production Planning Manager to lead production planning, scheduling, material requirements, inventory planning, and capacity coordination across its manufacturing operation. The role translates business demand into realistic production plans and ensures materials, resources, and schedules are aligned to support aircraft manufacturing and customer commitments. It focuses on building a proactive, organized, and data-driven planning function. The manager leads and strengthens production planning and control processes, maintains short-, intermediate-, and long-range visibility of production, material, inventory, and capacity requirements, and coordinates priorities across departments. The position also supports ERP/MRP data accuracy, reporting, process improvement, and cross-functional communication with operational teams.

Requirements

Experience in production planning, manufacturing scheduling, materials management, inventory planning, or related manufacturing operations.
Strong understanding of ERP/MRP systems and how they support production planning and material requirements.
Knowledge of manufacturing workflows, inventory management, purchasing, and production scheduling.
Ability to evaluate production requirements, material availability, and capacity constraints.
Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
Proficiency with Microsoft Excel and familiarity with business reporting and data analysis.
Ability to manage competing priorities and communicate effectively across departments.
Experience collaborating with manufacturing, purchasing, engineering, and other operational teams.
Ability to identify process improvements and support disciplined planning practices.

Nice To Haves

Hands-on experience using ERP/MRP systems, including Harris Data, NetSuite, or comparable manufacturing platforms.
Experience developing reports, dashboards, and data queries using SQL Server, Power BI, Excel, or comparable reporting tools.
Experience improving ERP/MRP planning parameters, master data, and system-generated planning recommendations.
Experience with production capacity planning, inventory optimization, and material requirements planning.
Experience in aerospace, aviation, or other complex manufacturing environments.
Experience supporting ERP implementations, system improvements, or manufacturing process optimization.

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain production plans and schedules based on approved demand, customer requirements, inventory needs, and manufacturing priorities.
Translate business demand into actionable production and material requirements within the MRP system.
Coordinate production schedules and priorities across manufacturing departments.
Evaluate schedule feasibility based on material availability, labor requirements, production capacity, and known constraints.
Identify potential shortages, scheduling conflicts, and capacity concerns before they affect production.
Monitor planned versus actual production performance and recommend adjustments.
Maintain short-, intermediate-, and long-range visibility of production, material, inventory, and capacity requirements.
Communicate planning changes and priorities across departments.
Review MRP recommendations, planned orders, work orders, forecasts, inventory requirements, and exception conditions.
Improve planning parameters and system data, including lead times, safety stock, lot sizes, and planning horizons.
Work with Purchasing to identify material shortages, supplier constraints, and procurement priorities.
Evaluate production requirements against available manufacturing capacity, identify workload imbalances, and recommend scheduling or resource adjustments.
Support inventory planning strategies that balance material availability, production needs, and inventory investment.
Improve planning accuracy and reduce unnecessary schedule disruptions.
Use ERP/MRP systems to maintain accurate production schedules, material requirements, inventory information, and planning data.
Develop, maintain, and improve business reports, dashboards, and data analysis using ERP systems and available reporting tools.
Work with operational leaders to identify opportunities for improved planning processes, system utilization, and reporting.
Support data accuracy and consistency across production planning, inventory, purchasing, and manufacturing activities.
Identify opportunities to improve workflows, reduce manual processes, and strengthen planning visibility.
Partner with internal teams to improve the reliability and usefulness of planning information.
Coordinate with Production, Purchasing, Engineering, Quality, Finance, and Aftermarket/Sales to align production priorities with customer commitments and business needs.
Communicate schedule changes, material concerns, and capacity constraints; coordinate solutions to planning challenges.
Improve visibility into manufacturing requirements and operational priorities and support continuous improvement initiatives that strengthen production performance and on-time delivery.