Manufacturing Engineer

Manager – Yard & Port Operations Planning

Location: Little Rock, Arkansas

A leading heavy industrial manufacturing and logistics operation is seeking a Manager – Yard & Port Operations Planning to lead integrated planning, inventory visibility, dispatch readiness, and operational coordination across yard, rail, truck, barge, and port activities supporting a large-scale manufacturing environment.

This is a plant-based planning and operating-cadence leadership role responsible for translating production schedules, inventory flow, customer priorities, and logistics activity into an executable daily and weekly operating plan across Yard, Port, Rail, and Dispatch operations.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the daily and weekly integrated planning process across inbound materials, port arrivals, unloading, internal movements, production releases, staging, and outbound customer shipments
• Coordinate daily operational planning meetings and communicate prioritized move/load/unload schedules by shift, zone, customer priority, and execution owner
• Manage yard and port capacity planning including storage locations, staging lanes, FIFO sequencing, congestion management, and shipment readiness
• Maintain inventory visibility and location accuracy through SAP/ERP/WMS systems, cycle counts, reconciliation processes, physical verification, and inventory governance
• Coordinate planning activities across yard operations, rail, port, logistics, supply chain, quality, maintenance, production, and contract management teams
• Support dispatch readiness through loading plan validation, BOL/documentation control, staging coordination, material release tracking, and shipment prioritization
• Monitor and escalate operational risks related to congestion, detention/demurrage, staging capacity, equipment constraints, delayed shipments, or inventory discrepancies
• Forecast manpower, equipment, trailer, crane, forklift, and operational support requirements to meet production and shipment demands
• Utilize KPI dashboards, reporting tools, and operational metrics to improve planning accuracy, inventory control, dwell time, re-handling, and handling cost per ton
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on operational flow, planning discipline, documentation accuracy, and shipment reliability
• Lead and develop planners, inventory coordinators, SAP/WMS coordinators, dispatch support personnel, and documentation staff
• Support PR/GRN processes, operational documentation, planning records, inventory corrections, and audit-ready operational controls

Qualifications

• 7–10+ years of experience in yard planning, logistics planning, inventory control, supply chain planning, warehouse/yard management, heavy industrial logistics, manufacturing operations, or related environments
• 3–5+ years of leadership experience managing planners, inventory coordinators, documentation staff, or cross-functional operational planning processes
• Strong understanding of yard, rail, truck, barge, port, inventory, and dispatch operations within a manufacturing or industrial environment
• Experience with SAP/ERP/WMS systems, online transaction discipline, inventory reconciliation, cycle counts, physical verification, and operational data management
• Strong Excel, KPI reporting, planning-board management, and analytical problem-solving skills
• Ability to work in a fast-paced manufacturing environment supporting shift-based operations, weekends, and customer-critical shipment schedules
• Strong communication, coordination, and cross-functional leadership skills

Preferred Experience

• Heavy industrial manufacturing, steel, pipe, plate, structural steel, rail transloading, port operations, energy infrastructure, or large-scale logistics environments strongly preferred
• Experience supporting facility start-ups, yard expansions, logistics ramp-ups, or major material flow transformations
• Familiarity with BOL processes, loading plans, shipment documentation, packing/banding/dunnage requirements, and customer-specific shipping controls
• Experience with KPI dashboards, continuous improvement, 5S, visual management, root-cause analysis, and operational performance systems
• Exposure to production planning, S&OP processes, contract management, carrier coordination, and demurrage/detention management preferred

Leadership Profile

The ideal candidate is a highly organized operational planning leader who can manage complex logistics and inventory flows while driving communication, accountability, planning accuracy, and cross-functional coordination across manufacturing, logistics, yard, rail, and port operations.