Report to: Director of Operations

Position Summary

The Materials & Production Planning Manager is responsible for ensuring the right raw materials, components, and tooling resources are available at the right time and in the right quantities to support a tooling manufacturing environment. This role owns MRP-driven material planning, inventory integrity, and production control, acting as the operational link between engineering, purchasing, manufacturing, and suppliers.

This position is accountable for material availability, inventory accuracy, and schedule adherence while driving continuous improvement in planning systems, MRP parameters, and supply chain execution.

Position Responsibilities- Essential:

Production Control & MRP Leadership

• Own and administer the MRP system to ensure accurate demand, lead times, lot sizes, safety stock, and planning parameters for all raw materials, purchased components, and subcontracted operations.
• Translate customer orders, engineering releases, and production schedules into material and capacity requirements.
• Release, manage, and control planned orders, purchase requisitions, and work orders through the ERP/MRP system.
• Drive schedule adherence, WIP velocity, and on-time delivery by maintaining tight alignment between material flow and shop floor execution.

Raw Material & Tooling Inventory Management

• Maintain optimal inventory levels for steel, alloys, castings, forgings, purchased components, and outsourced operations to support tooling builds.
• Balance availability vs. working capital through safety stock, reorder point, and lot-sizing strategies.
• Control slow-moving, obsolete, and excess inventory and drive disposition strategies.
• Ensure inventory accuracy through cycle counting, root-cause analysis, and system discipline.

Supply Chain & Purchasing Integration

• Partner with Purchasing to ensure supplier lead times, MOQ, and delivery performance are aligned to production needs.
• Support supplier development initiatives to improve lead time, reliability, and material quality.
• Establish and manage delivery schedules, expediting, and recovery plans when supply issues threaten production.

Data, Systems & Process Ownership

• Maintain clean, reliable item master, BOM, routing, and lead-time data within the ERP/MRP system.
• Develop and maintain standard operating procedures (SOPs) for material planning, production control, and inventory management.
• Produce and analyze KPIs including:

-Schedule adherence

-Material availability

-Inventory turns

-On-time supplier delivery

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Serve as the materials and planning authority in production meetings, SOP, and capacity planning sessions.
• Collaborate closely with Engineering, Production, and Quality to align priorities and resolve constraints.
• Lead and develop the Production Control & Materials team, setting expectations, building skills, and driving accountability.

Essential Competencies

• Deep understanding of how material flow drives production performance
• Highly analytical with the ability to turn MRP data into actionable plans
• Strong communicator who can align engineering, purchasing, and manufacturing
• Confident decision-maker in fast-moving, constraint-driven environments
• Natural leader who builds discipline, accountability, and continuous improvement

Experience & Education

• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain, Engineering, Logistics, or Business
• 10+ years of experience in production control, materials management, or manufacturing supply chain, preferably in tooling, precision machining, or engineered-to-order manufacturing
• 5+ years in a leadership or supervisory role ideally in a manufacturing environment
• Strong hands-on experience with ERP/MRP systems (Dynamics 365, Tecsys, or similar strongly preferred)
• Proven expertise in:
• MRP logic, BOMs, routings, and lead-time management
• Raw material planning and inventory optimization
• Production scheduling and shop-floor control
• Advanced Excel and data-analysis skills
• Experience supporting international suppliers and logistics is a plus