Assistant Planner
Location: Wednesbury
Salary: Competitive
Role: Onsite
About the Role:
We are looking for an organised and analytical Assistant Planner to join a Central Planning team within a fast-paced manufacturing environment. This is a key role supporting the delivery of effective production and material plans, ensuring customer demand is met while balancing operational capacity and supply chain requirements.
Working closely with Production, Procurement, Warehouse, Sales, and Transport teams, you will play an important role in keeping production schedules on track, materials available, and supporting continuous improvement across the planning function.
This is an excellent opportunity for someone with experience in production planning, supply chain, or material planning who is looking to develop their career within a busy FMCG manufacturing environment.
Key Responsibilities:
Production & Schedule Planning
- Support the creation and maintenance of short, medium, and long-term production plans aligned with customer demand and operational capacity.
- Monitor production schedules, identify potential risks, and escalate issues impacting delivery, efficiency, or capacity.
- Support planning activity across multiple production areas and sites.
- Act as a key communication link between the Central Planning team and shop-floor operations.
Material & Inventory Planning
- Assist with material planning to ensure raw materials and components are available when required.
- Monitor stock levels and support initiatives to reduce excess and obsolete inventory.
- Work closely with Procurement and Goods In teams to resolve shortages and prevent supply disruption
Demand Planning & Reporting
- Support analysis of customer demand forecasts, actual requirements, and changing trends.
- Identify variances and support alignment between demand, production, and material availability.
- Produce planning reports, KPI updates, and dashboards covering measures such as OTIF, schedule adherence, and inventory performance.
- Contribute to planning meetings by providing accurate data and operational insight.
Continuous Improvement & Collaboration
- Support improvements to planning processes and ways of working within the Central Planning function.
- Build strong working relationships across Production, Procurement, Warehouse, Sales, and Transport teams.
- Help drive effective communication and collaboration across the wider business.
About You:
You will be a proactive and detail-focused individual with a strong understanding of manufacturing or supply chain environments. You will be comfortable working with data, managing priorities, and communicating effectively with multiple stakeholders.
Essential Skills & Experience:
- Previous experience within a production planning, material planning, or supply chain environment.
- Strong analytical and numerical skills with excellent attention to detail.
- Ability to work with data, spreadsheets, and planning systems.
- Good understanding of manufacturing and supply chain principles.
- Ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
- Strong communication skills, both written and verbal.
- Experience within FMCG, food manufacturing, or multi-site planning environments.
Desirable:
- Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Excel, including reporting and data analysis.
- Understanding of Lean manufacturing or continuous improvement principles.