Production Planner

Brand: Post Consumer Brands

Categories: Operations Administrative

Locations: Northfield, Minnesota

Position Type: Regular Full-Time

Remote Eligible: No

Req ID: 29427

Job Description

Business Unit Overview

Headquartered in Lakeville, Minn., Post Consumer Brands, a business unit of Post Holdings, Inc., is dedicated to providing people and their pets with delicious food choices for every taste and budget. The company's portfolio includes beloved brands such as Honey Bunches of Oats®, PEBBLES®, Grape-Nuts® and Malt-O-Meal® cereal, and Peter Pan® peanut butter, as well as Nutrish®, Kibbles 'n Bits® and 9Lives® dog and cat food. As a company committed to high standards of quality and to our values, we are driven by one idea: To make lives better by making delicious food accessible for all. For more information about our brands, visit www.postconsumerbrands.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook for the latest news.

Brand

At Post Consumer Brands, we've spent generations showing up for families, starting with breakfast, the most important meal of the day. Our cereals have become a trusted part of daily routines, helping spark conversations, fuel busy mornings, and create everyday moments that bring families closer together, including their furry four-legged family members, who have recently become a part of our story. As families have evolved, so have we. What began at the breakfast table has expanded into snacks, peanut butter, and pet food, because caring for a family means feeding every part of it. With the addition of several iconic pet brands, we've extended our purpose: to make high-quality, accessible food for everyone under the same roof.

This phase is still new, and that's what makes it exciting. As we continue to grow across grocery and pet, we're looking for people who care about good food, thoughtful work, and the kind of impact that stretches from store shelves to kitchen tables, and food bowls, across the country.

Location Description

Northfield, Minn. is home to two Post Consumer Brands manufacturing plants, the Campbell Mill and Ames Mill, two distribution centers, and more than 750 team members. The Campbell Mill plant is 1 million square feet and is home to 7 manufacturing technologies to produce a wide variety of cereal products our customers know and love. Northfield is a town steeped in history, featuring two colleges and the original Ames Mill where the Malt-O-Meal Company got its start.

Responsibilities

The Production Planner is accountable for the establishment and the management of the production schedules for the entire sites including lines, flavor types, display pallets, and co-manufactured products within their portfolio. This includes the creation of production schedules that balance the competing needs of customer service levels, manufacturing efficiencies, and proper lead times while maintaining inventory levels within the range set forth through the Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) process. Primary responsibilities of the Production Planner are to prepare, plan, issue and control production schedules to meet ongoing and promotional demand. It is important to follow the standard processes, leverage technology and improve best practices to positively impact results. Support, implement, and maintain food safety and quality practices as required through SQF. Other key functions the position works with:

• Customer Solutions - to maintain service level targets on customer orders

• Master Supply Planning - to understand and implement the supply plans, to coordinate flavor type changes, and to problem solve and prioritize as needed to maximize customer service levels

• Demand Planning - to increase service levels through refinement and understanding of the demand signal

• Transportation - to coordinate loads to Co-Manufacturers, ensure availability when needed, minimize excess product movement, and schedule direct plant shipments

• Finance - to track and reconcile purchase orders with Co-Manufacturer invoices

• Material Planning - to assure production schedules and modifications are compatible with ingredient and packaging lead times and availability

• Operations - to create schedules as efficiently as possible for processing and packaging given current demand requirements, labor plans, promotions and service levels

• Other Production Planners - to coordinate production plans across networks, and to confirm and increase availability of required finished good and semi-finished good items

• Co-Manufacturing Planning - to coordinate production schedules and requirements across businesses

Responsibilities and Accountabilities :

• Develop and implement appropriate production strategies and best practices for a complex and evolving set of SKU's across production sites, lines, flavor types, and promotions

• Create and maintain long-term and daily production schedules that meet target customer service levels, are operationally efficient, maintain flexibility, and reduce risk of excess inventory

• Responsively adjust production schedules to meet changing demands within the guidelines of lead times, labor planning, packaging and ingredient availability, production lock windows, and stated planning timelines

• Communicate at multiple levels both inside and outside the organization to discuss causes and impacts of schedule changes, compare capacity and demand, and escalate risks for awareness and mitigation

• Use Short Interval Controls on Key Performance Indicators to identify issues and make appropriate revisions within the production schedule. Escalate as needed for root cause analysis or cross-functional problem solving to pursue opportunities and resolve recurring issues

• Align weekly and daily production schedules with the S&OP supply and network plans

• Integrate with operations, warehousing and Co-Manufacturers to achieve operations efficiency through proper production sequencing and understanding of operational limitations

• Demonstrate continuous improvement in the schedule sequencing, routing, labor planning, communication and/or the scheduling process

• Provide recommendations to improve service and reduce costs through process improvements

• Provide cross-functional leadership and expertise within the assigned production sites, lines and flavor types

• All other duties as assigned

Work Location: This position will be in person at our Northfield, MN Manufacturing facility

Qualifications

EDUCATION:

• Bachelor degree in Supply Chain, Business, Accounting or related field is preferred

• Integrated planning systems training like ERP/DRP/MPS/MRP/CRP is required

• Professional certification from APICS and/or ISM is desirable

EXPERIENCE:

• Would prefer a minimum of 5 years of combined related experience operating in areas of inventory control, production scheduling, master planning, demand management, capacity management, materials management, or distribution resource planning; with preference in food processing/packaging

• Strong knowledge of manufacturing systems and processes

• Able to build relationships

The pay range for this position is $61,205 - $85,688 per year.

Post Holdings provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, status as a covered veteran and any other category protected under applicable federal, state, provincial and local laws.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor's legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)