Planning Manager

1. Job Purpose

To lead and manage production planning, scheduling, material coordination, and delivery control for sheet metal manufacturing operations. Ensure optimal utilization of manpower, machines, materials, and production capacity to meet customer requirements, delivery commitments, quality standards, and cost targets.

2. Key Responsibilities

A. Production Planning and Scheduling

• Develop and maintain daily, weekly, and monthly production plans based on customer orders, forecasts, and delivery schedules.
• Prepare detailed production schedules for laser cutting, punching, shearing, bending, welding, grinding, assembly, and finishing processes.
• Ensure production priorities are aligned with customer delivery dates and business objectives.
• Monitor production progress against planned schedules and take corrective action to prevent delays.
• Coordinate with production teams to optimize machine capacity, manpower allocation, and workflow.
• Identify bottlenecks and implement recovery plans to meet delivery commitments.

B. Material Planning and Inventory Control

• Coordinate with Purchasing, Stores, and Warehouse departments to ensure timely availability of raw materials, including sheet metal, coils, tubes, and fabrication components.
• Review Bills of Materials (BOM), material requirements, and inventory levels.
• Monitor material shortages, excess stock, scrap, and obsolete inventory.
• Ensure materials are available according to production schedules while maintaining optimum inventory levels.
• Coordinate material substitutions and engineering changes with relevant departments.

C. Customer Order and Delivery Management

• Review customer purchase orders, delivery requirements, and production lead times.
• Establish realistic delivery schedules in coordination with Sales and Customer Service.
• Monitor order status and communicate potential delays to relevant stakeholders.
• Ensure on-time delivery performance meets established company targets.
• Support urgent orders, customer expedites, and schedule changes.

D. Capacity Planning and Resource Optimization

• Analyze machine capacity, production loading, manpower requirements, and overtime needs.
• Balance workloads across machines, production lines, and work centers.
• Identify capacity constraints and recommend additional shifts, subcontracting, or process improvements.
• Improve production flow and reduce waiting time, setup time, and work-in-progress (WIP).
• Support new product introduction (NPI) and new project planning.