Senior Production Planner - Metal Manufacturing & MRP

Description Production Planner | Chicago, IL Full-Time | On-Site | Production Planning / Supply Chain Metal Manufacturing | Mid-Senior Level Elizabeth Banzhaf, LPN Co-Founder & COO | Heartline Staffing Call or Text: View phone number on click.appcast.io LinkedIn: View Elizabeth's LinkedIn Prefer a quick conversation? Call or text Elizabeth directly. 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.

POSITION OVERVIEW

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

METAL MANUFACTURING REQUIREMENT: The search-specific Job Insights explicitly requires at least one year of metal-manufacturing experience. Candidates from sheet metal, fabricated components, HVAC manufacturing, engineered metal products, or comparable heavy-manufacturing environments may qualify when they demonstrate directly transferable production-planning processes and lead-time management. MRP REQUIREMENT: Candidates must have hands-on working knowledge of MRP in support of production orders, material requirements, inventory, production scheduling, and plant planning. Comparable MRP/ERP systems may qualify; document the exact platform and how frequently the candidate used it. EDUCATION NOTE: A bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, or a closely related field is the stated requirement. Exceptional candidates without the degree should only be considered for manager review when they have substantial directly relevant production-planning experience, strong MRP proficiency, and potentially relevant credentials such as APICS. APICS NOTE: APICS certification such as CPIM or CSCP is preferred but is not a mandatory requirement. Not ready to apply? If you have strong production-planning experience in a metal-manufacturing environment and would prefer to discuss the opportunity first, call or text Elizabeth directly at View phone number on click.appcast.io . #J-18808-Ljbffr Purple Cow Recruiting