Production Planner

Production Planner

Heartline Staffing, in partnership with Purple Cow Recruiting, is seeking an experienced Production Planner for a full-time, on-site opportunity in Chicago, Illinois. This role is responsible for coordinating the entire production-planning process to ensure products are manufactured efficiently, materials are available when needed, customer demand is met, and plant resources are utilized effectively. The ideal candidate brings at least five years of production-planning experience, strong MRP knowledge, direct manufacturing experience, and the analytical ability to balance demand, capacity, material availability, lead times, and changing production priorities.

The Production Planner develops and manages production schedules while coordinating closely with engineering, procurement, manufacturing, sales, and distribution teams. This position monitors plant performance, identifies bottlenecks, addresses schedule conflicts, supports material availability, and adjusts production plans based on customer demand and operational capacity.

Production Planning and Scheduling:

• Develop and implement production schedules to meet customer demand
• Optimize plant resources and production capacity
• Maintain accurate production orders
• Monitor production progress against established schedules
• Adjust schedules in response to disruptions, shortages, capacity changes, or changing customer demand
• Participate in regular production-scheduling meetings
• Resolve production schedule conflicts
• Support on-time manufacturing and delivery objectives

MRP and Material Planning:

• Use MRP systems to support production and material requirements planning
• Coordinate production requirements with material availability
• Work with procurement to support timely delivery of required materials
• Maintain accurate production and material information
• Monitor material availability against production requirements
• Support inventory and order accuracy
• Identify material constraints that could affect production schedules

Demand Forecasting and Capacity Planning:

• Collaborate with sales to forecast future customer demand
• Adjust production plans based on demand forecasts
• Analyze plant capacity and resource availability
• Identify potential capacity bottlenecks
• Recommend solutions to improve productivity and throughput
• Determine when outsourcing may be required based on plant capacity and product lead times
• Balance internal production capacity against delivery requirements

Cross-Functional Coordination:

• Collaborate with engineering, procurement, manufacturing, sales, and distribution teams
• Coordinate production activities across multiple departments
• Communicate schedule changes and production priorities
• Help resolve conflicting priorities among operational teams
• Support timely material procurement
• Participate in production-performance and scheduling meetings
• Help ensure manufacturing activities remain aligned with customer requirements

Production Analysis and Continuous Improvement:

• Monitor and analyze production data
• Identify production inefficiencies
• Recommend and implement corrective actions
• Assess production-process performance regularly
• Identify opportunities to improve schedule adherence
• Support productivity and throughput improvements
• Help reduce the impact of production bottlenecks and disruptions

Manufacturing Environment:

• This position supports a metal-manufacturing environment and requires an understanding of plant-level production planning, manufacturing lead times, materials, scheduling, capacity constraints, and supply-chain coordination.
• Relevant manufacturing experience may include: Metal Manufacturing, Sheet Metal, Fabricated Components, HVAC Manufacturing, Engineered Building Products, Heavy Manufacturing, Contract Manufacturing

Benefits:

• Medical Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Short-Term Disability
• Paid Time Off
• AFLAC
• 401(k) with Company Match

Requirements:

• Minimum 5 Years of Experience as a Production Planner or Similar Role
• Minimum 1 Year of Experience in Metal Manufacturing
• Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, or Related Field
• Strong Working Knowledge of MRP
• Strong Production Planning Experience
• Production Scheduling Experience
• Demand Forecasting Experience
• Capacity Planning Experience
• Supply Chain Principles Knowledge
• Materials / Procurement Coordination Experience
• Experience Ensuring Accuracy of Production Orders
• Experience Identifying Production Bottlenecks and Developing Solutions
• Experience Resolving Production Schedule Conflicts
• Experience Coordinating Across Engineering, Procurement, Manufacturing, Sales, and/or Distribution
• Strong Analytical and Problem-Solving Skills
• Strong Attention to Detail and Organizational Skills
• Excellent Communication and Interpersonal Skills
• Ability to Work Under Pressure and Meet Aggressive Deadlines
• Microsoft Office Proficiency
• Ability to Work Fully On-Site in Chicago, IL
• APICS Certification Preferred
• HVAC Manufacturing Experience Preferred