Production Planner

Job Purpose

The Production Planner is responsible for planning, coordinating, and optimizing production activities within a limited-volume, high-complexity additive manufacturing environment. This role ensures on-time delivery by balancing printer capacity, build sequencing, post-processing constraints, material availability, and ongoing engineering changes. Acting as the central point of coordination across print operations, engineering, quality, and supply chain, the planner enables efficient production flow while helping transition additive manufacturing processes from early-stage, constrained operations to a scalable and mature production system.

Duties and Responsibilities

Additive Manufacturing Production Planning

• Develop daily, weekly, and monthly build schedules for additive manufacturing (AM) equipment
• Sequence builds based on:
  
  
  
  • Build volume utilization
  • Print time and layer complexity
  • Powder and material changeovers
  • Machine qualification requirements and planned/unplanned downtime
  
  
  
  
• Release print jobs and manage rescheduling resulting from:
  
  
  
  • Print failures
  • Engineering revisions
  • Material availability constraints
  
  
  
  

Post-Processing & Production Flow Coordination

• Plan and synchronize post-print operations, including:
  
  
  
  • Depowdering and support removal
  • Heat treatment, HIP, and VSR processes
  • CNC machining
  • Inspection and testing, as required
  
  
  
  
• Serve as the primary day-to-day contact for outside processing suppliers
• Manage work-in-process (WIP) flow from printing through post-processing and inspection
• Actively expedite jobs to meet production priorities and delivery commitments
• Proactively communicate delays, risks, and recovery plans to stakeholders
• Partner with Print Operations and Manufacturing Engineering to identify and mitigate non-printer bottlenecks, which are often the primary production constraints

Material & Build Readiness

• Partner with Supply Chain to ensure powder and critical spare availability aligned with production schedules
• Coordinate with Supply Chain on:
  
  
  
  • Powder reuse strategies, refresh rates, and shelf-life management
  • Lot traceability and material certification requirements
  • Support build readiness reviews and ensure traveler accuracy
  
  
  
  

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Collaborate closely with:
  
  
  
  • Print Operations
  • Manufacturing Engineering
  • Design and Additive Manufacturing Engineering
  • Quality
  • Supply Chain
  
  
  
  
• Participate in daily tier meetings and production readiness reviews
• Serve as the single source of truth for build priorities, capacity, and schedule commitments

ERP, MES & Data Management

• Support the integration and ongoing use of MES and print management systems
• Create, release, and manage work orders within the MES/ERP environment
• Maintain accurate routings, lead times, and build standards
• Continuously refine planning parameters as processes mature

Continuous Improvement & Scale-Up

• Drive improvements in schedule adherence, throughput, and overall production performance
• Support the transition of AM operations from limited production to full-scale, mature manufacturing volumes
• Assist in defining and standardizing:
  
  
  
  • Build recipes
  • Time fences and frozen planning windows
  • Capacity models by printer type
  
  
  
  
• Apply Lean manufacturing principles and AM-specific metrics to drive continuous improvement

Additional duties and responsibilities as assigned, needed, or required for the business.

Qualifications

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Qualifications include:

• Education, Experience and Certifications
  
  
  
  • Bachelor's degree required with a degree in supply chain, business management, or engineering preferred
  • 3-7 years of experience in production planning or manufacturing operations
  • Direct experience planning additive manufacturing or other highly constrained production processes
  • Strong understanding of:
    
    
    
    • Build times versus capacity planning
    • Post-processing workflows
    • High-mix, low-volume production environments
    
    
    
    
  • Experience with ERP/MRP experience (e.g., SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, Epicor)
  • Experience with metal additive manufacturing (LPBF, DED) or industrial polymer AM preferred
  • Familiarity with print management or MES tools preferred
  • Exposure to regulated industries such as aerospace, energy, medical preferred
  • APICS CPIM certification or equivalent preferred
  • Lean manufacturing or Theory of Constraints experience preferred
  
  
  
  
• Skills and Abilities
  
  
  
  • Advanced level Excel skills, including capacity modeling and scenario planning
  • Ability to operate efficiently in fast-paced, engineering-driven environments
  
  
  
  

Role Classification and Working Conditions

This is a salaried, exempt-level position. This position typically works in an office environment; and given the nature of our business is also exposed to operations/warehouses/production environments.

Physical/Other Requirements

• Ability to travel, as needed, by plane, automobile, etc.

We are not accepting candidates who require sponsorship for this position at this time.