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Job ID:  29556

Title:  Production Planner (16 Month Contract)

Location: 

Waterdown, ON, CA, L9H 0C5

Production Planner (16 Month Contract)

Reference #29556

Waterdown, Ontario

 

 

About the Role

We are seeking a skilled, detail-oriented and proactive Production Planner to join our team.  This mid-level role is responsible for leading production planning activities, driving continuous improvement initiatives and optimizing production schedules to ensure efficient manufacturing operations while meeting customer demand.  The ideal candidate demonstrates intense ownership, meticulous attention to detail and strong accountability, along with the ability to work collaboratively across departments.

 

 

Key Responsibilities

 

  • Work Order & Production Scheduling
    • Maintain Work Order (WO) date integrity, adjusting in the system based on MRP suggestions and shortage situations
    • Analyze and act on Material Availability reports, ensuring on-time WO start and completion
    • Open, release and close manufacturing Work Orders with high accuracy and traceability
    • Oversee Kanban planning processes, identifying opportunities for optimization and standardization
    • Provide strategic input into factory scheduling and ensure planning alignment with business priorities
  • Inventory & Material Coordination
    • Partner with Inventory Control Group (stockroom) to proactively maintain material availability, POU replenishment and material movement for current and future demand
    • Lead collaboration with Purchasing to resolve material shortages and implement recovery actions for upcoming WOs
    • Monitor and resolve Point-of-Use inventory discrepancies, supporting root cause investigations and corrective actions
    • Support and complete monthly cycle counts and annual WIP counts
  • Cross-Functional Communication & Reporting
    • Collaborate with Production Supervisors to recover at-risk schedules, prioritize WOs and optimize work center capacity
    • Provide strategic updates to the Master Scheduler, flagging risks to customer deliveries and recommending recovery plans
    • Lead reporting on schedule performance (e.g., WO completion metrics, root cause analysis) and present findings to leadership
    • Facilitate strong workflow communication across production, supply chain, quality and engineering teams
    • Contribute scheduling insights to daily Operations Status meetings and support scenario planning as needed
  • Engineering & Product Changes
    • Direct and coordinate all activities related to the implementation of engineering changes (ECR, ECO)
    • Implement product changes within the MRP system and track inventory consumption
  • Continuous Improvement & Process Optimization
    • Drive and support Continuous Improvement (CI) and Kaizen initiatives related to planning, scheduling and material flow.
    • Generate and analyze weekly metrics related to on-time WO completions to drive improvement
    • Lead root cause investigations for scheduling misses and implement process or system-level corrective actions
    • Own and continuously improve planning documentation
    • Assist the work center supervisor with capacity planning for assigned work orders and feedback information to the Master Schedulers for consistent improvement in factory scheduling

 

 

Required Qualifications & Skills

  • Education & Experience
    • Bachelor’s degree in Materials Management, Operations Management, Business, or a related field with 2+ years of experience in production planning
    • OR 6+ years of progressive experience in Production Planning within an MRPII environment
  • Technical Skills
    • Proficiency in ERP/MRP systems (SAP, Oracle, etc.)
    • Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, with familiarity in PowerBI or similar analytics tools
    • Knowledge of Bill of Materials (BOM), routings, lead times and capacity constraints
    • Experience with Engineering Change processes and integration into planning systems
  • Soft Skills
    • Intense ownership – takes full responsibility for planning outcomes and drives solutions proactively
    • Meticulous attention to detail – ensures high accuracy across planning, system transactions, and inventory management
    • Strong accountability – consistently delivers on commitments, owns results and holds others accountable
    • Problem solving and analytical skills – uses data to drive action and resolves issues with urgency
    • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills – collaborates effectively across teams and leadership levels
    • Highly organized with efficient time management – manages competing priorities, anticipates risk, and aligns daily actions with business goals 
    • Resilient, action-oriented and results-driven – thrives under pressure and adapts to changing priorities
    • Continuous improvement advocate – identifies gaps, recommends enhancements and supports implantation of lean processes

 

 

Preferred Qualifications

 

  • Experience in manufacturing, aerospace, or defense industries
  • Experience managing engineering changes within planning organization
  • APICS (CPIM) or similar certification is a plus
  • Working knowledge of lean manufacturing principles and process improvement methodologies (e.g., Kaizen, 5S, Value Stream Mapping)

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