From a small family business to a multi-billion-dollar global company, Sonoco has been changing the face of products and packaging since 1899 — all while keeping the heart of “People Build Businesses” alive.
Our talented people are at the core of our growth, constantly reinventing the Sonoco wheel with brilliant solutions every year. Today we are a world leader in global packaging solutions with diversified operations in over 34 countries. We're extremely proud of our portfolio of brands, our achievements in sustainability and industrialization and the groundbreaking work accomplished by our people.
Reporting directly to the Plant Manager, the production planner takes direction from all leadership functions, operations, admin, etc. The Production Planner schedules manufacturing equipment and raw materials to efficiently meet customer demand. The position is responsible for scheduling jobs to minimize downtime, effectively utilizing equipment and to ensuring on-time delivery. This position has indirect contact with customers to ensure the plant is providing excellent customer service and support.
Safety:
Sonoco prides itself on its world class safety performance. All team members are expected to be actively involved in the safety process, including responsibility for their own personal safety and participation in team & process improvement related activities.
What you'll be doing:
- Provides administration and supervision of plant production control and planning as directed.
- Supervises and directs the warehouse/planning and shipping/receiving functions as directed.
- Supervises and directs the purchasing and storeroom function as directed.
- Oversees planning and production scheduling of cans, ends, and plates for entire plant.
- Work with Procurement & Supply Chain on the purchasing of raw material, dunnage, coatings and packaging supplies.
- Scheduling. develops metal processing production schedules to meet internal production & external sales requirements while minimizing changeovers, downtime, maintaining the appropriate inventory levels. This includes shipments of scrap and finished goods.
- Provides daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly production, spoilage, sales, and production schedule data.
- Provides necessary records for raw material and finished goods inventory reporting systems, maintains, manages, reviews, and advises action on inventory reconciliation and resolution of problems. Coordinates and reviews semi-annual inventory.
- Supervises the receipt, storage, and control of raw material for use in production, initiates substitution requests for raw material as needed, and maintains and reviews rough cut capacity planning.
- May arrange for the ordering and shipment of metal and supplies with group purchasing.
- Forecasts production, sales, and metal requirements for plant and group office use.
- Maintains and directs routine material/production review meetings with plant production management personnel.
- Schedules raw materials for use in production and coordinates with group offices the shipment and in-plant inventories of metal.
- Assists the group sales function in budget and forecast comparisons.
- Assists the group sales function in customer inquiries and activities. Maintains and seeks resolution of customer complaints.
- Coordinates customer releases and orders with outside warehousing and other plants within the group.
- Assists in procuring transportation for customer and warehouse movement of finished products.
- May assist and advise the plant purchasing function in implementation of central stores reporting system and in seeking competitive pricing of goods and services.
- Reviews and orders ODM’s needed for production.
- Assists Customer Service Reps (CSR) with customer forecasts.
- Performs CSR duties: May handle all aspects of SMP Processing Customer Service (CSR) responsibilities.
Challenges:
- Complexity of scheduling 24/7 operation with multiple and complex delivery points.
- Vendor quality/supply issues impacting plans & the ability to navigate difficult supply chains for remediation.
This position is located at our Milwaukee, Wisconsin facility.
We'd love to hear from you if:
- 4-year degree preferred – 4+ years of experience can substitute.
- Oracle, QAD experience required.
- Communication, Operations, vendors, Computer Literacy (Oracle, Outlook, MS Office),
- Problem Solving, Conflict Resolution, Strategic Thinking, Attention to Detail and Flexibility.
Compensation:
The annual base salary range for this role is from $107,760 to $121,230, plus a quarterly target bonus of 12.5%.
At Sonoco Products Company, we offer a comprehensive total rewards package, including competitive pay and benefits. *Benefits listed below are for employees located in the U.S. Specific benefits and wellbeing programs may vary depending on your location (within the U.S. or global), or if you are a union employee.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents, including FSA and HSA options
- 401(k) retirement plan with company match
- Wellbeing tools and resources to support holistic health, including an Employee Assistance Program with a variety of services
- Paid time off and holidays to recreate, rejuvenate and care for the health of yourself and family
- Variety of company paid and voluntary employee-paid insurance plans including life, personal accident, and disability insurance
- Tuition reimbursement
We are an equal opportunity employer, and we strictly prohibit and do not tolerate discrimination against employees, applicants or any other covered persons because of race, color, religion, national origin or ancestry, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, marital status, gender identity or expression, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any legally protected characteristic.
Skills Required
- Oracle experience
- QAD experience
- Four-year degree
- At least four years of experience may substitute for a four-year degree
- Computer literacy, including Oracle, Outlook, and Microsoft Office
- Communication skills
- Operations knowledge
- Vendor management experience
- Problem-solving skills
- Conflict-resolution skills
- Strategic-thinking skills
- Attention to detail
- Flexibility
Sonoco Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Sonoco and has not been reviewed or approved by Sonoco.
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Retirement Support — A 401(k) with a strong employer match, including safe‑harbor and year‑end true‑up features, is highlighted in recent plan materials. This level of retirement support is presented as a competitive component of total rewards.
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Healthcare Strength — Medical, dental, and vision coverage, alongside disability, EAP, and FSA/HSA options, form a comprehensive core package. This breadth is characterized as competitive and adds meaningful value to overall compensation.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is considered fair to competitive across many roles, with production and skilled trades pointing to solid hourly rates and overtime opportunities. Relative positioning against similar‑sized firms is portrayed as favorable.
Sonoco Insights
What We Do
Founded in 1899, Sonoco (NYSE: SON) is a leading manufacturer of consumer, industrial, healthcare and protective packaging. With more than 19,000 employees working in 34 countries, Sonoco serves many of the world’s best-known brands. Our integrated packaging solutions help define brand personalities, create unique customer experiences and enhance the quality of products and the quality of life for people around the world. It’s all in the service of our purpose: Better Packaging. Better Life. Sonoco is committed to creating sustainable products, services and programs for our customers, employees and communities. Sonoco was listed as one of Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies for 2021 as well as being included in Barron’s 100 Most Sustainable Companies for the third year in a row. Learn more at Sonoco.com







