Planning & Inventory Manager
Position Summary
Are you a hands-on supply chain professional who thrives on keeping production plans organized, inventory visibility accurate, and cross-functional teams aligned? We’re looking for a Planning & Inventory Manager to support production planning, inventory coordination, materials planning, and supply chain communication for a fast-paced frozen food manufacturing facility.
In this role, you’ll play a key part in connecting customer demand, plant capacity, material availability, and inventory performance. You’ll collaborate closely with Production, Procurement, Quality, Warehousing, Logistics, Packaging, Sales, Customer Service, and the Production Raw Material team to help build dependable schedules, identify constraints, reduce waste, improve service levels, and support a strong food safety culture.
Key Responsibilities
Production Planning & Scheduling
- Build and maintain short- and long-range production schedules that align customer orders, forecasts, inventory targets, and plant capacity.
- Balance production requirements with labor availability, equipment capacity, cold storage constraints, and material availability.
- Coordinate schedule changes to address customer priorities, production disruptions, and supply shortages.
- Monitor schedule performance, spot potential issues early, and partner with operations leaders to keep plans on track.
- Lead daily and weekly planning meetings with operations and supply chain teams.
Inventory Management
- Support inventory planning and visibility for raw materials, packaging, work-in-process, and finished goods in partnership with the Logistics Manager, Packaging Manager, Production Planning Manager, and other operational leaders.
- Assist in maintaining inventory policies, safety stock levels, reorder points, and inventory targets in coordination with functional managers.
- Monitor inventory aging and shelf-life requirements to minimize product obsolescence and waste.
- Ensure proper stock rotation practices, including FIFO and FEFO methodologies.
- Use inventory trends and data insights to improve turns, reduce carrying costs, and limit excess, aging, or obsolete stock.
Materials Planning
- Help coordinate the flow of ingredients, packaging, and production supplies by working closely with the managers directly responsible for logistics, packaging, and raw material functions.
- Coordinate closely with Procurement, suppliers, and internal department leaders regarding material requirements, delivery schedules, and planning constraints.
- Develop material requirement plans.
- Anticipate potential material shortages and assist Procurement, suppliers, Operations, and functional managers with practical contingency planning.
- Support supplier performance reviews and inventory optimization initiatives.
Demand Planning & Forecasting
- Partner with Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service to review forecasts and demand changes.
- Analyze demand variability and recommend inventory strategies that support customer service goals.
- Participate in the Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process.
- Track forecast accuracy and identify opportunities for improvement.
Inventory Accuracy & Warehouse Coordination
- Ensure inventory transactions are accurately recorded in tracking systems.
- Assist with cycle count and physical inventory programs by providing planning support, data analysis, and follow-up on variances.
- Investigate inventory discrepancies and implement corrective actions.
- Partner with warehouse and logistics leadership to support frozen storage utilization, inventory location visibility, and planning-related inventory coordination.
- Maintain inventory integrity throughout the cold-chain process.
Continuous Improvement
- Analyze planning, inventory, and operational data to identify opportunities for cost reduction and process improvements.
- Develop and implement standard operating procedures for planning and inventory management activities.
- Lead initiatives to reduce stockouts, overstocks, product loss, and inventory write-offs.
- Support Lean Manufacturing and Continuous Improvement initiatives.
Compliance & Food Safety
- Ensure inventory and planning processes comply with food safety standards, GMPs, HACCP requirements, and company policies.
- Support internal and external audits when required.
- Maintain traceability and lot control requirements for all inventory transactions.
Required Qualifications
Education
- Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Business Administration, Logistics, Industrial Engineering, or a related field preferred.
- Equivalent experience may be considered.
Experience
- Minimum of 5 years of experience in production planning, inventory management, supply chain, or operations within a manufacturing environment.
- 3+ years of leadership or supervisory experience preferred.
- Experience in food manufacturing, frozen foods, consumer packaged goods (CPG), or related industries strongly preferred.
- Experience with ERP/MRP systems such as SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, Infor, or similar platforms.
Technical Skills
- Strong understanding of production planning, inventory control, MRP, and demand forecasting.
- Advanced Microsoft Excel skills.
- Experience working with ERP and warehouse management systems.
- Ability to analyze large data sets and translate findings into actionable plans.
- Knowledge of S&OP processes and inventory optimization techniques.
Key Competencies
- Supply Chain Planning
- Inventory Optimization
- Demand Forecasting
- Analytical Thinking
- Problem Solving
- Organizational Skills
- Leadership & Team Development
- Communication & Collaboration
- Continuous Improvement
- Change Management
- Decision Making
- Customer Focus
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Production Schedule Attainment (%)
- Inventory Accuracy (%)
- Inventory Turns
- Customer Service Level / Fill Rate
- Forecast Accuracy
- Raw Material Availability
- Stockout Frequency
- Obsolete Inventory Reduction
- Inventory Carrying Cost
- Order Fulfillment Performance
- Waste and Scrap Reduction
Physical & Environmental Requirements
- Ability to work in a manufacturing environment, including occasional exposure to refrigerated and frozen storage areas.
- Ability to walk production and warehouse floors regularly.
- Ability to operate standard office equipment and computer systems.
- Occasional travel to suppliers, warehouses may be required.
If you’re energized by solving planning challenges, improving inventory visibility, and partnering with logistics, packaging, raw material, and production teams to help manufacturing deliver with confidence, we’d like to hear from you. Apply today and bring your supply chain expertise to a role where collaboration and coordination make a meaningful impact every day.
