Planning Manager

Rotherham, South Yorkshire | Permanent | Salary + Benefits

Take ownership of planning and help drive manufacturing performance.

We’re looking for an experienced Planning Manager to lead the planning function within a busy manufacturing environment.

Reporting to the Operations Manager and managing a team of approximately 3, you’ll be responsible for aligning customer demand, production capacity, materials and inventory to deliver strong customer service and efficient plant performance.

This is a key role working closely with Operations, Production, Customer Service, Sales, Procurement, Quality, Engineering and Finance.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead production planning, scheduling and master production plans.

• Own the site S&OP process, balancing demand, capacity and inventory.

• Lead short-, medium- and long-term capacity planning.

• Drive On-Time Delivery, schedule adherence and production attainment.

• Identify capacity constraints, bottlenecks and material risks and develop recovery plans.

• Ensure material availability and work with Procurement to resolve shortages.

• Optimise inventory, including slow-moving and obsolete stock.

• Manage planning data, parameters, routings, lead times and capacity within ERP/MRP systems.

• Develop planning reports, dashboards and KPIs.

• Improve forecast accuracy, planning accuracy and schedule adherence.

• Lead continuous improvement, cost-saving and digitalisation initiatives.

• Lead, coach and develop the Planning team.

• Provide clear planning risks, opportunities and recommendations to site leadership.

About You

You’ll ideally have:

• 5+ years’ experience in a manufacturing planning environment.

• Previous experience leading planning, scheduling or supply chain activities.

• Strong knowledge of production planning, capacity planning, inventory management and MRP/ERP systems.

• Strong analytical, numerical and problem-solving skills.

• Excellent Excel skills.

• Strong communication, stakeholder management and influencing skills.

• Commercial awareness and sound business judgement.

• The ability to manage competing priorities and work effectively under pressure.

• A proactive, continuous-improvement mindset.

• A degree in Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Operations, Business or Engineering, or equivalent relevant experience.

Desirable

• APICS / ASCM CPIM or CSCP.

• SAP and/or Power BI experience.

• Previous people-management experience.

• Experience in aerospace, engineering or advanced manufacturing.

Key Measures of Success

You’ll have a direct impact on:

Customer OTD | Schedule Adherence | Forecast Accuracy | Production Attainment | Capacity Utilisation | Inventory | Material Availability | Backlog | Manufacturing Throughput | Working Capital | Continuous Improvement

The Opportunity

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced Planning Manager to take ownership of a critical manufacturing function and make a measurable impact across customer service, production efficiency, inventory and capacity.

The role is based in Rotherham, with occasional travel to suppliers, customers and other sites, typically less than 10%.

If you’re an experienced manufacturing planner who enjoys using data to drive decisions, solving problems and developing teams, we’d like to hear from you.

INDHP