Assistant Manager – Production Planning

Position Summary

The Assistant Manager– Production Planning is responsible for overseeing the end-to-end production scheduling process, ensuring optimal plant utilization, material readiness, and on-time customer delivery. Beyond daily coordination, this role requires a highly analytical planner capable of auditing and validating schedules generated by junior planners, identifying bottleneck risks or logical flaws in plans, and implementing data-driven corrective actions to keep operations on track.

Key Responsibilities1. Plan Auditing & Schedule Verification (Core Analytical Focus)

• Audit and approve daily, weekly, and monthly production schedules created by Production Planners to detect errors, unrealistic machine/manpower assumptions, capacity over-commitments, or lead-time gaps before release.
• Conduct continuous Plan vs. Actual (PVA) variance analysis to identify root causes behind schedule slippages, planner calculation errors, or recurring bottlenecks.
• Evaluate line balance, machine cycle times, setup times, and yield factors used by the planning team to ensure the accuracy of master production schedules (MPS).
• Stress-test production plans against real-time plant constraints, material availability, and dynamic order changes to maintain schedule feasibility.

2. Production Planning & Execution Management

• Oversee master production scheduling aligned with customer demand, sales forecasts, inventory strategies, and plant capacity.
• Coordinate with Purchasing and Warehouse teams to verify raw material availability and prevent supply chain shortages from halting production lines.
• Manage urgent customer orders, order changes, and rescheduling requests, ensuring re-prioritization is feasible and minimizes overall disruption.
• Monitor machine availability, planned maintenance schedules, and manpower allocation in close alignment with Manufacturing and Maintenance heads.

3. Team Leadership & Quality Control of Planning Output

• Supervise, mentor, and guide Production Planners and Junior Planning staff in daily planning techniques, analytical problem-solving, and ERP usage.
• Establish standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the planning department to eliminate guesswork and standardize schedule generation.
• Set performance KPIs for planning accuracy, delivery performance (OTIF), and plan adherence across the team.

4. ERP/MRP Systems, Data Integrity & Reporting

• Maintain strict data integrity in the ERP/MRP system, ensuring accurate Bill of Materials (BOM), routings, lead times, and inventory parameters.
• Prepare, analyze, and present key operational metrics including Schedule Adherence Rate, Capacity Utilization, OTIF (On-Time In-Full), and Inventory Turns.
• Recommend and lead continuous improvement initiatives (Kaizen/Lean) within the planning workflow to optimize inventory levels and shorten lead times.

5. Cross-Functional Coordination

• Serve as the central communication bridge between Sales/Customer Service (for delivery commitments) and Production/Quality/Engineering (for floor execution).
• Escalate critical capacity risks or operational bottlenecks early to Senior Management along with proposed solution scenarios.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering, Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Operations Management, or related discipline.
• Experience: Minimum 5–7 years of hands-on production planning/scheduling experience in a manufacturing environment, with at least 2 years in a supervisory or senior planner capacity.
• Analytical Skills: Advanced analytical capability with proven success in schedule auditing, root-cause analysis, and floor constraint modeling.
• Technical Proficiency:
• Advanced experience with major ERP/MRP systems (e.g., SAP, Oracle, Dynamics 365, Infor).
• Expert-level Microsoft Excel skills (vlookups, index/match, pivot tables, scenario modeling).
• Leadership & Soft Skills: Strong decision-making, conflict resolution, communication, and team mentorship abilities under tight operational deadlines.

Pay: RM5,500.00 - RM9,500.00 per month

Benefits:

• Free parking

Work Location: In person