Materials Planner

Company / Location Information

A.O. Smith is a global leader applying innovative technologies and energy-efficient solutions to products manufactured and marketed worldwide. The company is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of residential and commercial water heating equipment and boilers, as well as a manufacturer of water treatment products for residential and light commercial applications. A. O. Smith is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with approximately 12,000 employees at operations in the United States, Canada, China, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

Primary Function

Develop and implement production plans to maximize the use of the organization's resources and meet established production specifications and schedules; volume, cost, and wastage targets; and quality standards. As well as ensure customer order delivery commitments are met while achieving company cost, lead time, and inventory reduction goals.

Responsibilities

• Under broad supervision, responsible for coordinating work within or between departments of the plant to support production.
• Proactively manage the inventory of the commodities for which they are responsible in a manner that minimizes inventory levels while meeting production needs. 
• Expedites material when necessary to cover spikes in demand.
• Analyze and eliminate slow-moving and obsolete inventory.
• Reviews Engineering Change Notices and takes necessary actions to manage product transitions while minimizing obsolescence.
• Analyze MRP and forecast data, generate purchase orders, and manage Kanban’s to meet production needs with minimal inventory investment.
• Communicates company requirements to suppliers as well as internal customers.
• Resolves issues with suppliers relative to material availability and quality.
• Coordinates material shipments with internal and external logistics services.
• Identifies and communicates material supply issues that may affect production schedules.
• Identifies and develops improved material supply processes to support lean initiatives.
• Use engineering plans, contracts, and production specifications to produce schedules and production plans and estimate the human resources, tools, and equipment needed to manufacture product
• Monitor production activity and analyze production data so that the flow of materials is timed meet production requirements
• Responsible for all aspects of the raw material planning process in a lean manufacturing environment including communication with suppliers and internal customers to insure all raw materials needs to support production requirements
• Adjust schedules to accommodate backlogs, design changes, and material or labor shortages
• Prepare work orders for production or purchase requests based on production schedules
• Evaluate production specifications and plant capacity data to determine manufacturing processes and calculate machine and operator loads
• Prepares production schedules and work orders
•  Develops technological processes for new products, descriptions of production operations, and control plans
• Decides on the use of production machines, equipment and tools, and determines their technological condition and quality parameters
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelors Degree preferred, will consider experience in lieu of degree.
• CPM or APICS certification preferred.  Willingness to achieve certification required.
• Strong communication and analytical skills via written and oral
• Experience with Microsoft Office, i.e. Word, Excel, Access, Power Point, Outlook
• Experience with Lean Manufacturing processes

Education

Physical Requirements

We Offer

Competitive compensation package and comprehensive benefits plans which include medical and dental insurance, company-sponsored life insurance, retirement security savings plan, short- and long-term disability programs and tuition assistance.

ADA Statement & EEO Statement

In developing this job description care was taken to include all competencies needed to successfully perform in this position. However, for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) purposes, the essential functions of the job may or may not have been described for purposes of ADA reasonable accommodation. All reasonable accommodation requests will be reviewed and evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

We consider all applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, gender identity and expression, marital or military status. We also provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and applicable state and local law.