Production Planning Manager

Job Summary

Ourvita is the largest Europe-based CDMO for food supplements, with a strong global presence. Backed by over 3,000 dedicated professionals worldwide, we pride ourselves on a customer-centric approach and a culture built on expertise, resilience, service quality, and consumer insight working together to create innovative and impactful solutions. Our vision is to make high-quality health and medical products accessible whenever and wherever they are needed, transforming lives and advancing healthcare globally. Through our commitment to development, distribution, and strategic partnerships, we strive to deliver excellence across the entire value chain. We are currently seeking a skilled and experienced Production Planning Manager to join our team and contribute to this mission.

The Production Planning Manager is responsible for leading the development and execution of production plans and schedules to ensure efficient utilization of labor, materials, and equipment while meeting customer demand and delivery commitments. This role oversees short-term production scheduling (S&OE) while supporting longer-term planning inputs (S&OP), ensuring alignment between demand, capacity, and supply. The position leads the production planning function, drives continuous improvement, and partners cross-functionally with Sales, Operations, Quality, Warehouse, and Supply Chain to achieve operational excellence.

Your responsibilities will include:
Production Planning & Scheduling Execution

• Own and manage the short-term production scheduling process (daily/weekly planning).
• Develop and maintain executable production schedules aligned with customer demand and delivery commitments.
• Monitor production progress and adjust schedules as necessary to address capacity, labor, or material constraints.
• Partner with Operations to ensure high schedule adherence, first-pass yield, and on-time completion of production orders.
• Process of orders received from sales (Sales Tracker) into Master Production Schedule-Batch cutting, based on customer promise date and material availability. (Largo)

S&OP / S&OE Alignment & Capacity Planning

• Support the S&OP process by providing short-term execution insights and capacity constraints.
• Translate demand forecasts into actionable production plans and capacity requirements.
• Partner with Supply Chain and Operations to identify and resolve gaps in capacity or materials.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Collaborate with Sales, Customer Service, Quality, Warehouse, and Manufacturing teams to ensure alignment on production priorities.
• Coordinate production schedules to meet customer delivery timelines and service level agreements.
• Support new product launches by ensuring readiness in production schedules and capacity planning.

Inventory & Materials Optimization

• Partner with sourcing and inventory teams to ensure timely availability of materials.
• Balance production schedules with inventory targets to optimize working capital and reduce excess or shortages.
• Support finished goods planning and inventory management processes.
• ERP, Data Management & Reporting
• Own and maintain planning data within ERP systems, including routings, production rates, and schedules.
• Monitor key performance indicators such as:
  • Schedule adherence
  • On-time delivery
  • Capacity utilization
• Provide regular reporting and analysis to leadership regarding production and planning performance including weekly production dashboard (Backlog, OTIF, Plant attainment, Production value)
• Update Monthly Ops Dashboards including production yield, OTIF and backlogs.

Continuous Improvement & Compliance

• Identify inefficiencies in planning and scheduling processes and implement improvements.
• Drive lean manufacturing and process optimization initiatives.
• Ensure compliance with cGMP, safety, and company policies.
• Develop and standardize SOPs related to production planning and scheduling.

Leadership & Team Management

• Lead, coach, and develop production planner(s) and scheduling personnel.
• Establish clear priorities, performance expectations, and accountability for schedule execution.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement, collaboration, and operational excellence.
  

Other Duties and Responsibilities:
Understand and adhere to Good Manufacturing Practices.
Safety Protocol:

• Stop any observed unsafe acts and obey facility safety rules and procedures.
• Correct or report any observed safety hazards.
• Support safety policies and programs.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Provides leadership and direction to the team.
• Carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organization?s policies and applicable laws
• Help mentor and support career development of team members.
• Interviews, hires, and trains employees; plans, assigns, and directs work; appraises performance; rewards and disciplines employees; addresses complaints and resolves problems.

This list of duties and responsibilities is not all-inclusive and may be expanded to include other duties and responsibilities, as deemed necessary from time to time.

Qualifications:
Education / Experience / Certifications:

• Bachelor?s degree in Supply Chain, Operations, Business, or related field preferred.
• 5 8 years of experience in production planning, scheduling, or supply chain within a manufacturing environment.
• 2+ years of leadership or supervisory experience preferred.
• APICS certification as CPIM (Certified in Planning and Inventory Management) or Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) preferred.
• Experience in contract manufacturing or cGMP-regulated environments strongly preferred.
• Background in a batch manufacturing environment preferred.
• Equivalent combination of education and/or experience may be considered.
  

Skills Required:

• Strong expertise in production scheduling, capacity planning, and demand alignment.
• Experience with ERP/MRP systems (e.g., Sage, SAP, Oracle).
• Strong Excel capabilities, Pivot tables, V -look up, etc.
• Analytical mindset with strong problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration abilities.
• Ability to make sound, logical decisions in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Working knowledge of lean manufacturing and continuous improvement principles.

??????At Ourvita, we are committed to providing our employees with a supportive and engaging work environment that fosters growth and development. We offer competitive market pay, annual bonus, and a benefits package including:

• Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage
• Basic Life, Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D), Short Term Disability (STD) at no cost to employees
• Retirement Plan 401(k) match
• Holiday pay and Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Opportunities for advancement
• Fitness discounts
• Tuition Reimbursement

If you are a motivated and skilled Production Planning Manager with a passion for excellence, we encourage you to apply today and join our dynamic team at Ourvita.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should submit their application online using the link below.