Master Planner

Position Summary

The Master Planner is responsible for developing, maintaining, and executing the overall production plan to ensure customer demand is met while optimizing capacity, inventory, labor, materials, and production resources.

This role leads the day-to-day planning activities of the Planning and Production Control team and serves as a key link between Sales, Operations, Purchasing, Engineering, Quality, Warehouse, and Supply Chain. The Master Planner establishes priorities, identifies capacity and material constraints, drives corrective actions, and ensures that production schedules are aligned with business objectives.

Key Responsibilities

Master Production Planning

• Develop and maintain the Master Production Schedule (MPS) based on customer demand, forecasts, inventory levels, capacity, and business priorities.

• Translate customer requirements and demand forecasts into achievable production plans.

• Balance production capacity, labor availability, equipment constraints, material availability, and customer due dates.

• Establish production priorities and sequencing to maximize throughput and minimize delays, overtime, and unnecessary changeovers.

• Monitor the production plan and make adjustments based on changing customer requirements, material shortages, equipment downtime, and capacity constraints.

• Maintain appropriate inventory levels while supporting on-time delivery and minimizing excess and obsolete inventory.

Team Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop Production Planners and Production Control Associates.

• Establish clear goals, priorities, responsibilities, and performance expectations for the planning team.

• Review workload and priorities across the department and allocate resources accordingly.

• Develop standardized planning processes, procedures, and work instructions.

• Provide training and mentorship in MRP/ERP systems, scheduling techniques, capacity planning, and production control.

• Promote accountability, teamwork, continuous improvement, and data-driven decision making.

Production Control

• Monitor daily production performance against the master schedule and production plan.

• Identify schedule risks and proactively communicate potential impacts to management and cross-functional teams.

• Lead recovery plans for missed schedules, material shortages, capacity issues, and other disruptions.

• Coordinate with Production Supervisors to ensure schedules are realistic and executable.

• Track work orders, production status, shortages, and past-due requirements.

• Ensure production orders are properly prioritized, released, and maintained in the ERP/MRP system.

Materials & Inventory

• Partner with Purchasing and Materials Management to ensure timely availability of raw materials, components, and outside services.

• Identify material constraints that may impact production schedules and customer commitments.

• Review inventory levels, safety stocks, lead times, and replenishment requirements.

• Support efforts to reduce excess inventory, shortages, expedites, and inventory discrepancies.

• Escalate critical supply issues and develop alternative plans when necessary.

Capacity Planning

• Conduct short-, medium-, and long-term capacity analysis.

• Identify bottlenecks, resource constraints, and future capacity requirements.

• Work with Operations Management to evaluate overtime, additional shifts, outsourcing, equipment utilization, and staffing requirements.

• Support capital planning and operational decisions with capacity and demand data.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Collaborate closely with Sales/Customer Service to understand customer priorities and delivery requirements.

• Partner with Operations, Engineering, Quality, Purchasing, Warehouse, and Supply Chain to resolve planning and execution issues.

• Participate in S&OP/IBP and other demand-and-capacity planning meetings.

• Communicate changes to production priorities and customer requirements clearly and promptly.

• Provide management with accurate information regarding capacity, schedule attainment, risks, and delivery performance.

Key Performance Indicators

The Master Planner will be accountable for helping drive improvements in:

• On-Time Delivery (OTD)

• Schedule Adherence

• Production Schedule Attainment

• Customer Backlog / Past-Due Orders

• Inventory Turns

• Inventory Accuracy

• Material Availability

• Capacity Utilization

• Production Lead Time

• Expedite Frequency

• Planner/Production Control Team Performance

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Business, Industrial Engineering, or a related field preferred.

• 5+ years of experience in production planning, master scheduling, production control, or supply chain within a manufacturing environment.

• Experience leading or supervising planners, schedulers, or production control personnel.

• Strong understanding of MRP/ERP systems and production planning processes.

• Experience developing and managing a Master Production Schedule.

• Strong knowledge of capacity planning, inventory management, material requirements planning, and production scheduling.

• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills.

• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• APICS/ASCM certification such as CPIM or CSCP.

• Experience with Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement methodologies.

• Experience with S&OP/IBP processes.

• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills and experience working with planning/reporting dashboards.

• Experience with Infor (Syteline)

• Manufacturing experience in automotive and aerospace.

Leadership Competencies

• Strategic and analytical thinking

• Strong decision-making and prioritization

• Team leadership and development

• Cross-functional collaboration

• Accountability and ownership

• Problem solving and root-cause analysis

• Continuous improvement mindset

• Strong communication and escalation skills

• Ability to work effectively under changing priorities

Working Conditions

• Primarily office/planning environment with regular interaction with manufacturing operations.

• Frequent interaction with production floor personnel and cross-functional departments.

• May require occasional overtime or schedule flexibility to support critical production and customer requirements.

Overall Objective

The Master Planner will ensure that the organization has a realistic, achievable, and well-controlled production plan, while leading the Planning and Production Control team to deliver products on time, maintain appropriate inventory levels, optimize available capacity, and respond quickly to changing business requirements