Senior Production Planner

Sauder is a family-owned group of manufacturing businesses headquartered in Archbold, Ohio. Across our businesses, Sauder Woodworking, Sauder Building Products, and Sauder Manufacturing, we design, manufacture, and market furniture, cabinetry, and specialized commercial furnishings that serve customers throughout North America. With a legacy spanning more than 90 years, we are united by a commitment to craftsmanship, innovation, customer service, and creating opportunities for our team members and communities.

The Senior Production Planner is responsible for developing and managing production plans that balance customer demand, inventory strategies, manufacturing efficiency, material availability, capacity, and business priorities. This role uses various MRP strategies, reporting/analytics, and AI-enabled tools to identify risks, resolve constraints, improve planning decisions, and support stable execution.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop and maintain production plans that support demand, service levels, inventory targets, lot size strategies, and available capacity.
• Review MRP outputs, planned orders, production orders, and production schedules to identify material, capacity, labor, sequencing, inventory, and service-level risks.
• Recommend safety stock, reorder point, target stock, minimum order quantity, rounding value, and lot size parameters based on demand, lead time, capacity, service level, and inventory considerations.
• Use reporting, analytics, and AI-enabled tools to summarize exceptions, identify trends, support scenario analysis, and improve decision-making.
• Collaborate cross functionally with business stakeholders (manufacturing, procurement, sales/demand planning, order fulfillment, IT) to optimize planning parameters, align priorities, and resolve execution issues.
• Maintain accurate planning master data, including capacities, routings, lead times, lot size settings, safety stock values, and other key planning inputs.
• Monitor material availability, exceptions, past-due orders, priority needs, repair/remake requirements, and schedule adherence; communicate risks and recovery plans.
• Coordinate planned downtime, maintenance windows, new product introductions, engineering changes, and other events that impact schedule execution or resource utilization.
• Support continuous improvement efforts that promote schedule stability, optimize planning processes, increase inventory health, and ensure master data integrity.
• Prepare and communicate KPI results, exception summaries, scenario recommendations, project updates, risk assessments, and action plans.
• Provide backup support for other production planning team roles as needed.

QUALIFICATIONS 

Essential Knowledge & Skills

• Strong knowledge of production planning, MRP, capacity planning, inventory management, safety stock planning, lot size optimization, detailed scheduling, and manufacturing execution.
• Ability to analyze demand, supply, inventory, capacity, material availability, service level, safety stock, lot size, and schedule performance data.
• Proficiency with ERP/MRP planning systems; SAP S/4HANA, SAP PP/DS, or comparable tools preferred.
• Experience applying Make-to-Stock (MTS), Assemble-to-Order (ATO), and Make-to-Order (MTO) operating models in a dynamic manufacturing environment.
• Experience using AI-enabled tools, automation, or advanced analytics to improve planning productivity, exception management, reporting, communication, and decision support.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel and reporting skills, including KPI and exception reporting.
• Strong problem-solving, prioritization, communication, collaboration, and decision-making skills.
• Working knowledge of Lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, master data governance, planning parameter management, and project execution.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Business, Industrial Engineering, or a related field preferred. Equivalent combination of education, training, and relevant experience may be considered.
• Three or more years of experience in production planning, production scheduling, supply planning, materials planning, manufacturing operations, or a related function preferred.
• Experience in a discrete manufacturing environment with capacity constraints, material dependencies, multi-level bills of material, safety stock considerations, lot size parameters, inventory targets, and changing customer requirements.
• Ability to work cross-functionally with manufacturing, procurement, sales, engineering, maintenance, order fulfillment, IT/business systems, and planning teams.
• Experience supporting process improvement, system enhancement, master data auditing, KPI reporting, planning parameter optimization, or inventory optimization preferred.
• Practical experience using AI tools, automation, or advanced analytics to improve planning analysis, reporting, communication, or workflow efficiency preferred.
• APICS/ASCM certification, Lean certification, Six Sigma experience, AI/data analytics training, or equivalent supply chain training a plus.

Sauder Woodworking Co. will not sponsor applicants for this position for immigration benefits, including but not limited to assisting with obtaining work permission for F-1 students, H-1B professionals, O-1 workers, TN workers, E-3 workers, among other immigration statuses. Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis.