About Hansen Industries
Hansen Industries is a leading custom manufacturing company specializing in precision fabrication, machining, assembly, and value-added manufacturing solutions. We are seeking a highly organized and results-driven Production Planning & Scheduling Lead to oversee production planning activities and ensure customer delivery commitments are achieved through effective coordination of internal manufacturing and external subcontracting resources.
Position Summary
The Production Planning & Scheduling Lead is responsible for developing, maintaining, and executing the integrated production plan that aligns customer demand with Hansen's manufacturing capacity, material availability, engineering requirements, and subcontracting capabilities.
This role serves as the central planning function within the organization and works closely with Sales, Customer Service, Engineering, Supply Chain, Manufacturing Foremen, Production Leads, and the Subcontracting Lead to ensure customer orders are delivered on time while maximizing operational efficiency and resource utilization.
The successful candidate will provide visibility into capacity constraints, identify delivery risks, facilitate prioritization decisions, and create realistic production schedules that support customer commitments and business objectives.
This position owns the production plan and scheduling process. Manufacturing Foremen, Production Leads, and the Subcontracting Lead retain ownership of execution within their respective areas.
Key Responsibilities
Production Planning & Scheduling
- Develop and maintain the Master Production Schedule (MPS) to support customer delivery commitments.
- Create and manage detailed production schedules across fabrication, machining, welding, finishing, assembly, inspection, and shipping operations.
- Balance customer demand against available manufacturing and subcontracting capacity.
- Establish production priorities based on customer commitments, order due dates, resource availability, and business objectives.
- Monitor schedule adherence and proactively address risks that could impact customer deliveries.
- Lead weekly and monthly production planning reviews.
- Coordinate work order releases to ensure efficient workflow throughout the facility.
Customer Delivery Management
- Own customer delivery performance from a production planning perspective.
- Work closely with Sales and Customer Service teams to understand customer requirements and delivery commitments.
- Develop mitigation and recovery plans for at-risk shipments.
- Provide accurate and timely updates regarding capacity constraints and delivery risks.
- Support rapid response activities for critical customer orders.
Manufacturing Planning Coordination
- Partner closely with Manufacturing Foremen and Production Leads to develop achievable and realistic production schedules.
- Conduct regular capacity and workload reviews with production teams.
- Ensure schedules reflect actual labor availability, machine capacity, tooling requirements, and operational constraints.
- Collaborate with production leadership to identify bottlenecks and implement corrective actions.
- Support production teams with planning visibility and forward-looking workload forecasts.
- Facilitate agreement on priorities while maintaining alignment to customer commitments.
Subcontracting Planning Coordination
- Work in close partnership with the Subcontracting Lead to determine outsourcing requirements based on capacity, capability, cost, and delivery needs.
- Integrate subcontracted operations into the overall production schedule.
- Maintain visibility of subcontractor capacity and delivery performance.
- Support decision-making regarding make-versus-buy and outsourcing opportunities.
- Coordinate recovery plans when subcontractor performance impacts customer deliveries.
Capacity Planning & Resource Management
- Analyze manufacturing workload against available resources and capacity.
- Identify short-term and long-term capacity constraints.
- Recommend solutions including overtime, shift adjustments, resource balancing, subcontracting, or process improvements.
- Develop forecasting models to support business growth and operational planning.
- Support annual budgeting and resource planning activities.
ERP & Planning Systems Management
- Utilize MIE Trak ERP and planning tools to develop and maintain production schedules.
- Ensure planning data integrity including routings, lead times, work center capacities, and scheduling parameters.
- Develop production performance dashboards and reporting tools.
- Analyze schedule performance and planning accuracy metrics.
- Support ERP optimization initiatives and continuous process improvements.
Continuous Improvement
- Drive improvements in production planning processes and scheduling methodologies.
- Reduce schedule disruptions and improve planning accuracy.
- Identify and eliminate inefficiencies affecting throughput and delivery performance.
- Support Lean Manufacturing and operational excellence initiatives.
- Establish standardized planning processes and best practices.
Accountability & Decision-Making
To ensure clear ownership and effective collaboration:
Production Planning & Scheduling Lead
Responsible for:
- What work needs to be completed and when.
- Master scheduling and capacity planning.
- Prioritization based on customer commitments and business needs.
- Delivery risk identification and escalation.
- Cross-functional planning coordination.
- Schedule visibility and performance reporting.
Manufacturing Foremen & Production Leads
Responsible for:
- How work is executed on the shop floor.
- Labor allocation and workforce management.
- Daily operational execution.
- Productivity, quality, and safety performance.
- Escalation of production issues impacting schedule attainment.
Subcontracting Lead
Responsible for:
- Execution of outsourced manufacturing activities.
- Supplier and subcontractor relationships.
- External production performance.
- Management of subcontractor quality, cost, and delivery performance.
The Production Planning & Scheduling Lead will collaborate closely with both Manufacturing Leadership and the Subcontracting Lead to develop executable schedules and ensure alignment across all manufacturing resources. This position is intended to coordinate, facilitate, and optimize planning activities, not to replace or override the operational authority of manufacturing or subcontracting leadership.
Qualifications
Education
- Diploma or Degree in Operations Management, Supply Chain, Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Business Administration, or related field.
- APICS/CPIM, CSCP, Lean Manufacturing, or equivalent professional certification is considered an asset.
Experience
- Minimum 5 years of experience in production planning, scheduling, or operations planning within a manufacturing environment.
- Experience in custom manufacturing, job-shop, fabrication, machining, or industrial manufacturing environments preferred.
- Experience coordinating both internal manufacturing operations and external subcontracting activities.
- Strong ERP experience, preferably MIE Trak or similar manufacturing ERP systems.
- Demonstrated success improving on-time delivery and schedule performance.
Skills & Competencies
- Strong production planning and scheduling expertise.
- Solid understanding of manufacturing operations and capacity planning.
- Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Strong ERP and advanced Excel capabilities.
- Ability to influence and coordinate across multiple departments.
- Excellent communication and organizational skills.
- Strong attention to detail and ability to manage competing priorities.
- Data-driven decision-making mindset.
- Continuous improvement orientation.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- On-Time Delivery (OTD)
- Schedule Adherence
- Production Plan Accuracy
- Manufacturing Capacity Utilization
- Backlog Management
- Work Order Throughput
- Production Lead Time
- Expedite Rate
- Subcontractor Delivery Performance
- Customer Delivery Performance
- ERP Data Accuracy
Pay: $85,000.00-$90,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Casual dress
- Company events
- Dental care
- Disability insurance
- Employee assistance program
- Extended health care
- Life insurance
- Mileage reimbursement
- On-site parking
- Profit sharing
- Tuition reimbursement
- Vision care
Work Location: In person
