POSITION SUMMARY:

This process supports the activities of the Outside Sales and Customer Service teams. Furnish timely and accurate production plans to the manufacturing team. Develop functional competency in all Tapecon’s capabilities and services. Prepares the detailed operating plan and execution of all planned jobs in respective areas. During the execution phase of manufacturing the Planner / Buyer will adjust to account for changes in workload, material shortages and worker and machine productivity. This role is responsible for planning jobs, buying job materials and scheduling all production jobs from planning to shipment and must have a high service level regarding communication within the organization. This function is responsible for level loading engineering to accommodate customer needs.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

• Bachelor or Associate degree with 2+ years of experience preferred though relevant experience will be considered in lieu of degree

KNOWLEDGE, SKILL, AND ABILITIES:

• Ability to read specs and blueprints
• Experience with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or Material Requirements Planning (MRP) systems
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite with emphasis on Excel
• Experience in a printing or manufacturing environment is preferred
• Negotiation skills
• Strong mathematical aptitude
• Strong analytical, problem solving and organizational skills
• Able to work in a fast-paced environment
• Excellent attention to detail
• Excellent communication skills; both oral and written
• Excellent interpersonal skills; acts in a friendly and professional manner
• Works well in a team environment
• Works well under pressure

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS / WORKING CONDITIONS:

The physical demands described represent those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, stand, walk, climb, stoop, kneel, and crouch. The employee is occasionally required to balance or crawl. The employee is required to regularly operate a computer and other office machinery such as a copy machine and printer. The employee is required to regularly reach with arms and hands; use hands to handle, finger or feel objects, tools or controls. Hands and fingers may frequently perform repetitive motion. Occasionally the employee will use arms and hands to balance and climb. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds. Occasionally the employee will lift and/or move up to 25 pounds with the use of a lift assist. This job requires close vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and the ability to adjust focus. Employee is required to regularly talk and hear. The person in this position frequently communicates to other employees/personnel as well as customers and must be able to exchange accurate information.

Planner

• Act as liaison between sales and manufacturing
• Allocate raw materials to each order processed
• Coordinate outside vendor services.
• Develop and maintain Lean Supply Chain methodologies and inventory concepts
• Review and ensure all Job activities have the correct internal work instructions and customer requirements
• Gather all required documentation to create job jacket
• Maintain thorough knowledge of production processes, requirements, and raw materials selection
• Stay current with knowledge of manufacturing capabilities, processes and materials applications in our industry
• Stay current with related technologies by maintaining relationship with vendors and industry associations

Schedule

• Work with managers, supervisors, customer service and process owners to develop and implement effective scheduling practices
• Elevate labor or machine capacity constraints or lulls within the ERP system to Operations and coordinate plans to mitigate the impact of those constraints or lulls
• Ensure accurate job flow throughout all manufacturing processes
• Schedule all departmental processes, including updating, tracking and maintaining production reports
• Make changes based on customer requirements and production capabilities to ensure on-time delivery
• Coordinate outside vendor services to sync the internal schedule with the outside service dates. (This includes but is not limited to raw material, cores, cartons, packaging material, etc.)
• Keep Sales Service updated daily on schedule and production capacity changes affecting customer product and recommend alternate dates as necessary
• Lead daily production/scheduling and communication meetings
• Define what jobs must be given or taken from subcontractors, due to overload or under load
• Coordinating stage-gate projects and R&D projects including prioritizing engineering workload.

Buyer

• Prepare and issue POs for job materials to support production and sales
• Ensure required quality product specifications are listed in purchase orders
• Develop and maintain effective vendor relations
• Maintain vendor information and interactions within the ERP System
• Advise of potential price increases of any product related to manufacturing complexity
• Contact the vendor on price discrepancies and/or credits

Requirements: