Production Planning & Scheduling Manager
Location: Riverside, CA
Salary Range: $126,000 - $146,000Position Summary The ENC is seeking a highly analytical and execution-oriented Production Planning & Scheduling Manager to build and lead manufacturing planning. This role owns the integrated planning function, establishes and leads Sales, Inventory & Operations Planning (SIOP), and builds the processes and ERP data discipline required for ENC's growth.
The ideal candidate has extensive manufacturing planning, materials management, and ERP/MRP expertise. This leader will balance production capacity, inventory, lead times, and operational constraints while translating the master schedule into executable work-center and station-level plans.
Key ResponsibilitiesThis list of essential duties is not all-inclusive and may be expanded to include other duties, as management may deem necessary from time to time. The team member must be able to perform each essential job duty identified below satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential duties of this position unless doing so would create an undue hardship.
Production Planning & SIOP
- Own and manage the master production schedule, aligning customer backlog and demand forecasts, capacity, material availability, operational constraints, and delivery commitments.
- Establish and lead the SIOP process, including demand and capacity assumptions, scenario recommendations, decision records, and action follow-through. Obtain leadership approval for major commercial, spending, and capacity trade-offs.
- Partner cross-functionally with Sales, Engineering, Supply Chain, Materials, Production, Quality, and Finance to maintain alignment to a single integrated plan.
- Develop production ramp scenarios showing customer build-slot allocation, model and propulsion mix, labor requirements, station capacity and buffers, alternative production rates, and delivery impacts.
- Establish schedule approval and change-control rules, including a protected near-term schedule. Manage changes within delegated authority and escalate conflicts affecting customer commitments, spending, or capacity to the VP of Operations with recommended options.
- Ensure scheduling activities support compliance with safety, quality, and regulatory requirements.
Production Control & Clear-to-Build
- Own the overall Clear-to-Build process, ensuring schedules released to the production floor are supported by required customer configuration approvals, engineering releases, BOMs and drawings, engineering change incorporation, material availability, tooling, labor and station capacity, and applicable quality requirements.
- Establish readiness signoffs from responsible functions, including Procurement confirmation of critical material commitments. Hold schedule release when required conditions are unmet and escalate proposed exceptions to the VP of Operations for a documented decision, with risks, owners, and recovery actions identified.
- Translate the master schedule into work-center and station-level execution plans that support production flow and floor-level accountability. Validate actual progress and constraints through regular production-floor engagement with Manufacturing leadership.
- Verify planning-critical BOM and lead-time inputs with Engineering and Procurement, assign discrepancies to the responsible data owners, and drive timely resolution to prevent material shortages, schedule disruptions, and production delays.
ERP & Planning Data
- Establish ERP planning data standards and validation routines for BOMs, routings, lead times, calendars, and planning parameters with the responsible functions. Maintain planning-owned parameters; Engineering retains technical BOM ownership, and Procurement owns supplier commitments.
- Serve as the planning lead for Epicor implementation, stabilization, and ongoing improvement, ensuring planning logic reflects operational reality.
- Use advanced Excel and ERP reporting tools to support scenario planning and decision-making.
Analytics Risk & Performance
- Serve as the escalation point for complex scheduling and production planning issues.
- Use dependable reporting, capacity modeling, and scenario analysis with available information to identify bottlenecks, constraints, schedule risks, and recovery opportunities. Validate assumptions and improve data reliability as planning capabilities mature.
- Provide early warning of emerging schedule, procurement, and cross-program risks and communicate data-driven recommendations to management and internal stakeholders.
- Establish the weekly planning performance review within the Operations management operating system. Report planned versus actual station starts and completions, upcoming Clear-to-Build status, aging or stalled work in process, and delivery risks; track constraints by age, severity, owner, and recovery date.
Continuous Improvement & Leadership
- Design and implement planning processes, standard work, meeting cadences, responsibilities, escalation rules, and a phased improvement roadmap that supports ENC's growth.
- Lead cross-functional adoption of planning processes, resolve barriers with functional leaders, and use performance results to reduce delays, improve flow, and increase schedule reliability.
Role Scope & Environment
- Maintain direct responsibility for integrated master schedules across multiple customer programs and product platforms sharing constrained manufacturing resources. Integrate demonstrations, R&D builds, pilots, validation periods, and production releases into the same capacity plan.
- Operate effectively in a restart and scale-up environment, making sound decisions despite imperfect data, evolving requirements, and shifting priorities.
- Balance customer, operational, and business priorities while using data to challenge commitments that are not feasible.
Position Requirements - Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Industrial Engineering, Business, or a related field.
- Five or more years of progressive experience in production planning, scheduling, capacity planning, materials management, supply chain planning, or ERP/MRP planning within a high-precision or complex manufacturing environment.
- Deep understanding of manufacturing processes, production planning, inventory management, material availability, capacity planning, customer delivery commitments, and SIOP.
- Strong knowledge of ERP systems such as SAP, Oracle, Epicor, JD Edwards, or similar platforms, including planning master data and scheduling logic.
- Understanding of low-volume, high-mix and engineered-to-order manufacturing environments with complex capacity constraints and long planning horizons.
- Demonstrated ability to manage capacity constraints, production schedules, material requirements, and manufacturing execution workflows.
- Ability to incorporate equipment availability, planned downtime, and maintenance constraints into production capacity plans in coordination with Facilities and Maintenance.
- Knowledge of OEM manufacturing standards and production processes for heavy vehicles or comparable engineered products.
- Demonstrated experience personally building or materially improving a manufacturing planning function, implementing processes across departments, securing adoption, and achieving measurable improvements in readiness, schedule reliability, or production flow.
- Experience implementing, optimizing, or standardizing ERP/MRP planning processes, parameters, and master data.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to use data to challenge assumptions, identify constraints, assess risks, and establish realistic commitments.
- Demonstrated ability to lead process improvement and operational optimization initiatives using metric-driven decision-making and structured improvement methods.
- Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including pivot tables, lookup functions, data analysis, and macros/VBA or equivalent advanced tools.
- Demonstrated ability to coordinate production planning, scheduling, materials, maintenance, manufacturing, engineering, and supply chain teams.
- Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate data-driven insights and recommendations at all organizational levels.
- Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment with changing priorities while maintaining urgency, clarity, and accountability.
- Demonstrated ownership, execution focus, and ability to drive results across functional boundaries.
Preferred Qualifications - APICS certification, including CPIM or CSCP, is strongly preferred.
- Experience in automotive, aerospace, rail, heavy industrial manufacturing, or a related production environment.
- Experience participating in or leading ERP implementations, MRP transformations, or major system transitions.
- Experience planning engineered products from customer order definition and engineering release through procurement, manufacturing, testing, and delivery, including new product introductions and pilot-to-production transitions.
- Project management experience involving production planning, supply chain, manufacturing readiness, or operational execution.
Work Environment This is an onsite position based in Riverside, CA and requires being onsite. This position works in a professional office environment with regular production-floor engagement to validate progress, constraints, and readiness. Standard office equipment includes computers and phones. Production-floor work may involve machinery and noise and requires compliance with site safety procedures and applicable personal protective equipment requirements.
Benefits - Comprehensive benefits package: Medical (including FSA & HSA), dental, vision, life and disability insurance, EAP, mental health, and wellness programs
- 401(k) with employer match
- Paid time off and twelve (12) paid holidays
- Employee referral program
- Career growth and development opportunities
Career Growth at ENC We believe great careers and leaders are built from within. Many of our team members have advanced into roles that lead or into specialized technical positions. We invest in hands-on training, skill development, and long-term career pathways within manufacturing operations.
