Role Summary:

The Production Planner III is responsible for advanced planning, scheduling, and coordination of manufacturing operations to meet customer demand and inventory targets. This role supports continuous improvement efforts, mentors junior planners, and collaborates cross-functionally with procurement, production, engineering, and quality teams to optimize material.

Essential Job Duties and Responsibilities:

• Develop, manage, and maintain comprehensive production schedules for complex, high-priority, and customer-critical manufacturing projects.

• Review MRP outputs and project requirements to identify discrepancies, conflicting dates, inaccurate demand, and other conditions that may negatively impact schedules.

• Analyze project schedules and material requirements to identify risks early and develop mitigation plans with cross-functional teams.

• Lead shortage and material-risk management for assigned projects, including critical shortages, supplier commitments, open purchase orders, inventory, and expected material availability.

• Partner with Procurement to establish and monitor expediting priorities and supplier recovery plans for materials that threaten project schedules or customer commitments.

• Coordinate material readiness and kitting activities across complex projects, ensuring material constraints are identified and addressed before impacting manufacturing.

• Lead cross-functional planning discussions with Procurement, Manufacturing, Engineering, Shipping, Project Management, and other stakeholders to resolve schedule constraints and competing priorities.

• Monitor project and work order execution through completion; identify root causes of schedule delays and coordinate corrective actions.

• Provide accurate project schedule, production status, material status, shortage, and risk information to management and cross-functional stakeholders.

• Develop and maintain planning reports, dashboards, and KPIs; analyze performance data to identify trends, recurring issues, and improvement opportunities.

• Lead or support root-cause analysis and corrective actions related to schedule performance, material availability, production delays, and planning processes.

• Develop, standardize, and improve planning processes, tools, reports, and workflows to increase schedule accuracy and planning efficiency.

• Support capacity planning and resource allocation by identifying manufacturing constraints and their potential impact on project schedules.

• Support integration of new products, engineering changes, project changes, and other complex requirements into manufacturing plans.

• Review BOMs, routings, item information, MRP parameters, and ERP data to identify and resolve planning issues.

• Serve as a subject-matter expert for production planning, MRP, scheduling, material readiness, and project execution; establish planning best practices and consistency.

• Provide technical guidance, training, and mentorship to Planner I, Planner II, and other personnel involved in planning activities.

• Represent Production Planning in cross-functional initiatives and improvement projects and support management with analysis and recommendations for operational and customer-delivery decisions.

Minimum Qualifications - (Education, Experience, and Skills)

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Operations Management, Business, or a related field. Equivalent experience will be considered in lieu of degree.

Experience:

• Minimum 5-7 years of experience in production planning, preferably in a manufacturing environment.
• Experience with ERP/MRP systems (SAP, Oracle, Infor, or similar).
• APICS CPIM or CSCP certification preferred.

Skills:

• Strong understanding of manufacturing processes, lead times, and capacity planning.
• Proficient in Excel and data analysis tools; experience with advanced planning tools is a plus.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills; able to interact with all levels of the organization.
• Analytical mindset with strong problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

Other Requirements:

Must be able to work in a highly functioning team environment. Display the highest levels of honesty, integrity, and professionalism. Take pride in your work and in the company. Communicate openly and strive for peak performance in daily tasks. Know and deliver the quality service RENA's customers have come to expect including the ability to work extended hours during peak periods.

This job description is intended to summarize the type and level of work performed by the incumbent and is not an exhaustive list of duties, responsibilities, and requirements.