Production Planner Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

Production Planner Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

This post gives exhaustive explanation of the job description of a production planner. It highlights the key duties, tasks, and responsibilities that typically define the production planner work description in most companies.

This article also reveals the major requirements recruiters for the production planner job commonly expect prospective candidates to meet to be considered for the role.

Please, read on to increase your knowledge of the production planner career:

What Does a Production Planner Do?

The primary responsibility of the production planner is to organize production according to demand and quality standards.

They are responsible for production planning, capacity planning, and scheduling of production following customers’ requirements and requests issued by the sales team or for Make to Stock (MTS) purposes.

Hiring a production planner in an organization helps to guarantee that goods will be produced on time for distribution in a profitable manner.

Production planners find employment in manufacturing or production companies, studio, etc.

The production planner job description entails scheduling product lines to meet changing monthly forecasts while managing inventory levels and schedules.

It also involves reviewing and acting upon order release and exception messages generated, as well as coordinating Bills of Materials in an MRP environment.

Production planners are also responsible for creating weekly production timetable for assigned brands, utilizing tools and systems such as SNP2, JDE, and MPS, and MRP while taking into consideration inventory available and customer service goals/targets.

They are responsible for coordinating production workflow for one or multiple products, as well as planning and prioritizing operations in a manner that guarantees maximum performance with reduced delays.

They are also responsible for ascertaining manpower, equipment, and raw materials needed to cover production demand, and assigning workers and other staff to particular production operations; and scheduling shift according to production needs.

The production planner work description also involves designing weekly manufacturing plan to meet target load objectives and satisfying the organization’s inventory goals.

They also furnish the sales team with lead-time information to enable them appropriately handle customers’ enquiries.

A vital qualification to have to work a production planner is to possess extensive manufacturing experience.

However, experience alone is not enough. Employers also seek individuals with at least an Associate degree in a technical field.

Individuals interested in the production planner career must also have strong project management skills and relevant computer skills to perform their job successfully.

Production Planner Job Description Example/Sample/Template

Production planners perform various functions, which primarily involves production planning, coordinating consignment and manpower needs, and ensuring a smooth material flow in a manufacturing organization.

The key tasks, duties, and responsibilities that majorly make up the production planner job description are listed below:

• Collaborate with production managers to ensure optimum productivity and timely completion of orders
• Create and implement integrated systems for carrying out production processes, such as quality and inventory control, human work factors, and cost analysis; logistics and material flow, and production coordination
• Coordinate between the production program and production sites for on-time delivery of products
• Ensure the availability of engineering data at product sites to support the build schedule
• Supervise and coordinate engineering process improvement with manufacturing sites
• Support the resolution of issues such as shortages, squawks, and taps; internal and external purchase orders and production delays that may influence on-time bundle delivery
• Cultivate systems that guarantee that production schedules align with program schedules
• Provide initiatives for continuous production and engineering improvement
• Create and deliver production status metrics to aid effective decision-making in the organization.

Production Planner Job Description for Resume

You can apply the above sample production planner job description in completing the professional experience section of your resume if you are making one for a new job.

If you are someone who has worked before as a production planner or are presently working in that role and are seeking a new job, your resume should have the job or professional experience section where you can highlight the duties and responsibilities of the position that you have performed or currently carrying out.

You can utilize the production planner duties and responsibilities shared above in completing the professional experience section of your resume and boost its chances of winning you an interview with the recruiter.

Production Planner Requirements – Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities for Career Success

When hiring for the production planner position, recruiters seek for individuals with the right qualities, including skills, abilities, education, etc. to perform the obligations, objectives, and purpose of the production planner role effectively.

To find such candidates to hire, recruiters commonly present a list of requirements that applicants for the production planner job must fulfill to be considered for employment.

See below for major production planner requirements:

• Education: To work as a production planner, applicants are required to have a minimum of High School diploma, but an Associate or Bachelor’s degree in a technical field is often preferred. However, an important qualification for a production planner is to have extensive experience in a manufacturing environment. So, some employers may accept experience in lieu of education
• Knowledge: Production planners must have good understanding of production operations, Quality System Procedure and SOP’s, and a good understanding of continuous improvement/LEAN methods. It is also essential that they have practical experience in production planning, production materials, forecasting and inventory
• Certification: In addition to having professional experience, attaining industry certifications such as the Advancing Productivity, Innovation and Competitive Success (APICS), and Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM) credentials help to increase the knowledge and competence of production planners
• Computer skills: To carry out the duties of a production planner successfully, it is important that applicants are proficient with MRP (Manufacturing Resource Planning)/ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) tools. They should also have advanced knowledge of MS Office Suite, including MS Excel
• Leadership skills: Production planners require influencing skills to be able to motivate and influence the production team towards attaining set targets
• Communications skills: it is also essential for production planners to possess strong verbal and written communication skills for free flow of information in the course of executing their job
• Project Management skills: It is also important that they have project management skills, including exceptional communication, leadership, and risk management skills; scheduling, cost management, and task management skills, etc to keep all aspects of the projects organized and actualized.

Conclusion

If you are a recruiter or HR manager needing to hire for the production planner position in your company, you will need to make and publish a detailed description of the job to inform interested individuals of the duties and responsibilities that will be assigned to the success candidate.

This will help you in getting only competent and qualified candidates applying for the position.

You can use the sample production planner job description provided above as a template in making the perfect description of the role for your company.

You will also find this page helpful if you are an individual interested in the production planner career. You will learn all you need to know about what production planners do and then be able to make better decisions about the career.

Did this post increase your knowledge of the duties and responsibilities of a production planner? Please, leave a comment in the box below. Do also share your job description if you work as a production planner.