- Location: Wilmington, Massachusetts
- Type: Contract
- Job #104928
Job Title: Production Planner/ Supply Chain Analyst
Location: Seattle, Washington
Job Type: Full-time, 6-month On-Going Contract, W2
Schedule: Monday - Friday, Onsite
Pay Range: $38.00 - $40.00 per hour
Job Description: Key Responsibilities Production Planning & Scheduling - Own the weekly and monthly production schedule for all build programs, translating engineering demand into executable floor plans
- Manage the clear-to-build (CTB) process: verify material availability, tooling readiness, work instruction completeness, and labor capacity before committing to each build cycle
- Create and maintain work orders, build sequences, and production milestones in coordination with engineering and operations leadership
- Balance production capacity against demand across multiple concurrent programs with varying complexity and priority
- Adjust plans dynamically as engineering changes, supply delays, or quality issues arise - communicating impacts and recovery plans proactively
- Run daily/weekly production stand-ups to align the floor on priorities, flag blockers, and track progress against commitments.
Supply Chain Coordination - Coordinate with procurement and supply chain to ensure on-time delivery of all materials, components, and purchased parts needed for upcoming builds
- Track long-lead items and critical-path components, escalating risks early when lead times threaten build schedules
- Manage material requirements planning (MRP) manually or through available tools, given the absence of a fully mature ERP system
- Work with receiving and warehouse teams to confirm incoming inventory matches build plan needs and is staged for production
- Maintain accurate bills of material (BOM) consumption tracking and flag discrepancies between planned and actual usage.
Capacity & Resource Planning - Plan labor and staffing needs week-to-week, coordinating with supervisors and contractors to ensure adequate headcount for planned build rates
- Monitor workstation utilization, identify bottlenecks, and recommend rebalancing or overtime as needed to meet commitments
- Coordinate with machine shop and additive manufacturing teams to schedule prototype part fabrication aligned with build timelines
- Track equipment availability and maintenance windows, incorporating downtime into production schedules.
Reporting & Continuous Improvement - Maintain production dashboards tracking schedule adherence, clear-to-build status, and delivery performance
- Publish weekly production status reports to leadership, highlighting risks, recovery actions, and forecast changes
- Conduct root cause analysis on missed builds or schedule slips, driving corrective actions to prevent recurrence
- Identify opportunities to improve planning processes, reduce lead times, and increase schedule predictability
- Support the development and implementation of planning tools and systems as the organization matures beyond manual tracking
Basic Qualifications - High school diploma or equivalent
- 3+ years of experience in production planning, scheduling, or materials coordination in a manufacturing environment
- Experience managing production schedules and coordinating across supply chain, engineering, and shop floor teams
- Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-changing environment
- Proficiency with spreadsheets and planning tools (Excel, Google Sheets, Smartsheet, or equivalent)
- Strong communication skills - ability to drive alignment across cross-functional teams and escalate issues clearly
- Comfort working in environments without fully mature ERP systems, using manual processes and custom tools to track production.
Preferred Qualifications - Bachelor's degree in supply chain management, industrial engineering, operations management, or related field
- 5+ years of experience in production planning in low-volume, high-mix manufacturing (prototype, aerospace, defense, or R&D environments)
- APICS CPIM, CSCP, or equivalent supply chain certification
- Experience with MRP/ERP systems (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite) and understanding of how to operate effectively when systems are immature or absent
- Experience managing clear-to-build processes and production readiness reviews
- Experience planning builds with complex, multi-level BOMs and long-lead procured components
- Familiarity with lean manufacturing principles, kanban, and pull-based production systems
- Experience working in a development or NPI (New Product Introduction) environment where designs change frequently
- Track record of building planning processes from scratch in a growing organization
- Strong analytical skills - ability to model scenarios, forecast capacity, and make data-driven tradeoff recommendations
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