Production Planner - Subject Matter Expert

The Production Planner - SME serves as the central authority on production planning, scheduling, and control methodologies across all defense manufacturing subsidiaries and JVs. The role ensures alignment of factory-level production practices with corporate strategy, operational excellence frameworks, and defense industry compliance standards. The SME provides expert guidance, develops standardized planning tools and procedures, and supports the digital transformation of production management systems.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and implement group-wide production planning policies, procedures, and KPIs to standardize operations across all defense manufacturing units.
• Evaluate and benchmark factory planning performance to ensure optimal capacity utilization, resource allocation, and schedule adherence.
• Act as the corporate advisor for production planning, material control, and master scheduling functions.
• Serve as the subject matter expert on advanced production planning techniques (MRP, ERP / MES integration, finite capacity scheduling, lean production, etc.).
• Lead initiatives for production optimization, bottleneck analysis, and throughput improvement across subsidiaries.
• Design and implement best practices for forecasting, demand planning, and production sequencing tailored to defense manufacturing environments.
• Partner with IT and digital transformation teams to implement or enhance ERP / MES systems and ensure accurate data flow between planning, procurement, and manufacturing.
• Define system parameters and data governance rules to ensure consistency and reliability of production information across factories.
• Coordinate with procurement, engineering, quality assurance, and logistics to ensure end-to-end production readiness and delivery performance.
• Provide expert training, mentoring, and capability development to factory production planners and schedulers.
• Act as the liaison between the holding company and subsidiary / JV planning teams, ensuring strategic objectives are met.
• Monitor and report on group-level production KPIs (OTD, capacity utilization, WIP, inventory turns, etc.).
• Support internal audits and compliance with defense production regulations, export controls, and quality standards (ISO, AS9100, MIL‑SPEC, etc.).
• Develop dashboards and executive summaries for leadership review and decision-making.

Qualifications and Experience

Education

Experience

Skills and Competencies

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

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