Production Planner

Role overview

The Production Planner will own the creation and upkeep of practical production plans for blending and filling activities. The position focuses on making the best use of plant capacity, keeping customer orders on track, and balancing demand with inventory and operational limits.

Production planning and scheduling

• Prepare weekly production schedules for blending and filling work.
• Build the production sequence by taking into account tank availability, line capacity, pack sizes, and the need to reduce changeovers, contamination risk, and downtime.
• Update schedules quickly when urgent orders come in, equipment fails, or materials are not available.

Order fulfilment and prioritisation

• Convert sales orders into workable production plans.
• Set order priority using delivery dates, customer importance, and order risk.
• Monitor order movement and flag any likely delays or issues early.

SAP and system administration

• Create and maintain process orders, job orders, reservations, and material staging records.
• Keep BOM usage, batch traceability, and production confirmations accurate.
• Check and resolve mismatches between system records and actual stock.

Cross-functional coordination

• Work closely with Sales and Customer Service on order amendments.
• Coordinate with Procurement on material delays.
• Align with Operations on execution limitations and with Quality on QC status.
• Serve as the main point of coordination for production priorities.

Performance tracking and improvement

• Monitor and report plan adherence, lead time adherence, equipment utilisation, and schedule changes or disruptions.
• Spot process bottlenecks and recommend practical improvements.
• Contribute to planning efficiency through better sequencing, reduced changeover time, and improved forecast feedback.
• Support digital and automation initiatives such as scheduling tools and SAP improvements.

Requirements

The ideal candidate holds a diploma or degree in Supply Chain, Engineering, Operations Management, or a similar discipline.

They should bring 3 to 5 years of experience in production planning or scheduling, preferably in lubricants, chemicals, or another process industry. Prior exposure to SAP is strongly preferred.

Key strengths include a solid understanding of blending and filling operations, tank and line constraints, strong attention to detail, dependable data accuracy, excellent coordination and communication, the ability to perform under pressure, and proficiency in Excel for planning and basic analysis.