Material Planning Manager

Position Summary:

The Materials Planning Manager leads a team of Material Planners, with the responsibility of planning and scheduling the delivery of material from suppliers.  This team is responsible for monitoring the flows of buy items, guaranteeing availability of components in order to avoid material shortages and production downtime, as well as managing inventory levels to meet our customer service and inventory targets.

Position Responsibilities:

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following.  Other duties may be assigned.

·       Manages material planning activity to ensure timely delivery of material to support production operations

·       Serve as an escalation point with Material Planners when Planners are not able to resolve issues effectively

·       Ensure that Planning Team is trained and effectively utilizing ERP tools

·       Ensure that Planning Team is utilizing Trane Standard Work

·       Champion Lean for Materials Planning functions

·       Plan for the development of the Planning Team

·       Drive developing the supply chain and build strong supplier relationships

Team Responsibilities:

·       Perform timely, cost-conscious procurement of production/inventory/MRO items.

·       Receive and analyze requisitions to determine quantity, specifications and delivery requirements.

·       From approved supplier list, recommend and select suppliers to fulfill scheduled plant deliveries.

·       On-boarding of new selected suppliers relative to material planning.

·       Ensure up-to-date part set ups are maintained, including ABC classification, planning methods, and other key inputs into the PFEP and planning processes

·       Ensure optimal inventory levels and safety stock are maintained for their parts

·       Coordinate with Quality Assurance to resolve quality issues with suppliers.

·       Maintain proactive shortage identification and management - help flag root causes & corrective actions.

·       Identify total cost and cash flow opportunities with suppliers.

·       Expedite deliveries to meet and exceed scheduled critical requirements.

·       Maintain material plan at the time fence to ensure continuity of supply.

·       Coordinate with production planners for solutions when parts cannot be delivered as promised.

·       Maintain and continuously evaluate supplier performance and escalate to Procurement when issues occur.

·       Ensure resolution of invoicing discrepancies with suppliers and accounting.

·       Analyze material and capacity availability to provide customer promise dates for sales orders.

·       Maintains item master lead time information based upon process improvements, current constraints, total current demand by product family, and priority information.

·       Manage internal and SOMI/VMI material to meet schedules.

·       Interface with required functional groups to resolve challenging delivery requirements.

·       Develop forecasts and replenishment plans to communicate to supply base.

·       Review open requirements, monitoring vendor performance and expediting where necessary. Ensure that problems relating to delivery, quality or pricing are promptly conveyed to the supplier and resolved in a timely manner.

·       Productivity: identify and implement cost reduction/productivity projects to meet the corporate initiatives/goals. Maintain pipeline and financial records for reporting and tracking productivity.

Key Competencies and Success Factors:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.  The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required.

·       In-depth knowledge of computerized integrated information systems (manufacturing, materials management, production planning, procurement and distribution).

·       Must be focused on bottom line results.

·       Must be a proactive change agent and possess leadership skills to build and maintain a team-oriented environment while leveraging lean methodologies.

·       Must be a flexible, decisive and proactive problem solver.

·       Must be able to work well in high pressure, fast-paced environment.

·       Must be a strong communicator.

·       Must be able to influence external suppliers to achieve fulfillment objectives.

·       Must possess a strong customer service orientation and must provide dedicated support of internal customer requirements.

·       Must possess strong organizational skills, with ability to work on multiple priorities at once.

·       Must be proficient at conflict resolution.

Experience and Skills Required:

·       Bachelor’s degree and 5 years planner/buyer manufacturing experience required.

·       APICS (CPIM) certification preferred

·       Considerable knowledge of industry related supply base.

·       Skilled in production and supplier scheduling.

·       Knowledge of supplier processes and capabilities.

·       Able to provide direction and training to peers as needed.

·       Computer proficient with ERP

·       Basic mathematical skills

·       Experience with rate based or flow line (non-MRP) and job shop manufacturing environments.

·       Experience in operations, inventory management, MRP and lean manufacturing processes.

·       Experience with visual management systems.