Planning & Production Control Manager

The Planning & Production Control Manager is responsible for leading and managing the company's production planning, material planning, production control, and delivery performance to ensure that customer requirements are fulfilled efficiently, on time, and in accordance with quality and cost objectives.

The position will oversee the planning and control of production activities from customer demand and order requirements through material availability, production scheduling, capacity utilization, inventory management, and finished-goods delivery.

The role requires close coordination with Sales, Procurement, Warehouse, Production, Quality, Engineering, Finance, and Senior Management to ensure smooth production flow and timely delivery.

Key Responsibilities

Production Planning & Scheduling

• Develop and maintain master production schedules (MPS) based on customer orders, forecasts, inventory levels, production capacity, and delivery requirements.
• Prepare and manage detailed production schedules to optimize manpower, machinery, equipment, and production capacity.
• Ensure production plans are realistic, achievable, and aligned with customer delivery commitments.
• Monitor daily production progress against plan and take corrective action for any deviation.
• Establish appropriate production priorities based on customer requirements, material availability, capacity, and business priorities.
• Review and adjust production schedules in response to urgent orders, changes in customer demand, material shortages, machine breakdowns, quality issues, or other constraints.
• Ensure effective production loading and minimize bottlenecks, idle capacity, overtime, and unnecessary production changeovers.

Material Planning & Control

• Lead material requirements planning based on production schedules, BOMs, inventory levels, lead times, and customer requirements.
• Coordinate with Procurement to ensure timely availability of raw materials, components, packaging materials, and other production requirements.
• Monitor material shortages and establish recovery plans to prevent production interruptions.
• Maintain appropriate inventory levels while minimizing excess, obsolete, and slow-moving inventory.
• Work closely with Warehouse and Procurement teams to improve inventory accuracy and material availability.
• Identify potential supply risks and escalate critical shortages to management in a timely manner.

Production Control

• Monitor and control the execution of production plans to achieve on-time delivery (OTD) and production targets.
• Establish effective production control systems and ensure adherence to agreed schedules.
• Analyze production variances, delays, bottlenecks, and capacity constraints and implement corrective actions.
• Conduct regular production planning/control meetings with relevant departments.
• Ensure production orders and work orders are properly released, monitored, and closed in the relevant ERP/MRP system.
• Improve production flow and reduce waiting time, work-in-progress (WIP), and production lead time.
• Coordinate recovery plans for delayed production and communicate revised delivery commitments to relevant stakeholders.

Capacity Planning

• Conduct short-, medium-, and long-term capacity planning based on demand forecasts and customer requirements.
• Analyze machine, manpower, tooling, and production-line capacity.
• Identify capacity gaps and recommend appropriate solutions, including overtime, additional shifts, outsourcing, manpower deployment, equipment investment, or process improvements.
• Support management in evaluating the capacity impact of new projects and customer programs.
• Develop capacity-loading reports and highlight potential constraints before they impact customer deliveries.

 Inventory Management

• Establish and maintain effective inventory control policies and practices.
• Monitor raw material, WIP, and finished-goods inventory against agreed targets.
• Drive reduction of excess and obsolete inventory.
• Improve inventory turnover and working-capital efficiency.
• Coordinate periodic inventory reviews with Finance, Warehouse, Procurement, and Operations.
• Ensure planning parameters such as minimum/maximum stock, safety stock, lead time, lot size, and reorder points are appropriately maintained.

Customer Delivery & Order Fulfillment

• Ensure production planning supports customer delivery requirements and agreed lead times.
• Monitor order fulfillment and provide accurate delivery status and recovery plans.
• Work closely with Sales to assess the feasibility of new or urgent customer requirements.
• Escalate potential delivery risks and develop mitigation plans proactively.
• Maintain strong focus on on-time delivery, schedule adherence, and customer satisfaction.

ERP / MRP & Data Management

• Ensure accurate planning and production-control data within the ERP/MRP system.
• Maintain and improve planning parameters, BOMs, routings, lead times, inventory data, and production master data in coordination with relevant functions.
• Ensure production transactions and inventory movements are accurately recorded.
• Utilize ERP/MRP information to improve planning accuracy, visibility, and decision-making.
• Identify opportunities for automation and digitalization of planning and production-control processes.

Performance Management & Continuous Improvement

• Establish and monitor departmental KPIs and performance targets.
• Prepare regular management reports covering production plans, achievement, capacity, inventory, material shortages, delivery performance, and key risks.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to improve planning accuracy, production efficiency, inventory turnover, and delivery performance.
• Utilize appropriate methodologies such as Lean Manufacturing, Kaizen, PDCA, and root-cause analysis.
• Identify recurring planning and production issues and implement sustainable corrective and preventive actions.
• Support cost-reduction and productivity-improvement initiatives.

Team Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop the Planning & Production Control team.
• Establish clear responsibilities, performance expectations, and departmental objectives.
• Monitor individual and team performance and provide constructive feedback.
• Develop employees' technical and analytical capabilities in production planning, MRP, inventory control, and production scheduling.
• Promote teamwork, accountability, discipline, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure adequate manpower and competency within the department to support business requirements.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Work closely with Production, Procurement, Warehouse, Quality, Assembly, Finance, and Management to resolve operational issues.
• Facilitate cross-functional discussions on capacity, materials, production priorities, and delivery risks.
• Ensure effective communication of planning changes and priorities throughout the organization.
• Support new product introduction (NPI), product transfers, engineering changes, and other projects from a planning and capacity perspective.

Job Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering, Business Administration, or a related discipline.
• Professional qualifications in Supply Chain, Production Planning, APICS/CPIM, or equivalent would be an advantage.
• Minimum 8 years of relevant experience in production planning, material planning, production control, or supply chain within a manufacturing environment.
• Minimum 3–5 years in a managerial or supervisory capacity.
• Experience in a high-volume, make-to-order, make-to-stock, or mixed manufacturing environment is preferred.
• Experience in electronics, electrical, precision manufacturing, semiconductor-related, automation, or similar industries would be an advantage.

Technical Competencies

The candidate should possess strong knowledge of:

• Production Planning & Control (PPC)
• Material Requirements Planning (MRP)
• Master Production Scheduling (MPS)
• Capacity Requirements Planning (CRP)
• Inventory Management
• Demand & Supply Planning
• Production Scheduling
• BOM and Routing Management
• ERP/MRP systems
• Warehouse and material-flow processes
• Manufacturing lead-time management
• Supply Chain Management
• Lean Manufacturing / Continuous Improvement
• Data analysis and KPI management

ERP/MRP experience: Experience with systems such as SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, Infor, Epicor, or other manufacturing ERP systems is preferred.

Software: Strong Microsoft Excel skills, including data analysis, PivotTables, formulas, and reporting. Experience with Power BI or other analytical tools is an advantage.