Strategic Master Scheduler – OTIF & Lean Ops

Clearly Drinks Ltd; Sunderland; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

Clearly Drinks Ltd. is seeking a Planner to develop and maintain production schedules, aligning demand, capacity and material availability to ensure on-time delivery.

You will collaborate with Operations, Procurement and Commercial teams to balance customer requirements with manufacturing capability and reduce downtime. The role requires strong analytical skills, experience in manufacturing scheduling, and proficiency with ERP/MRP systems.

Qualifications

• Experience in production planning, supply chain planning, or manufacturing scheduling.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities with good numerical skills.
• Excellent communication and collaboration across teams.

Responsibilities

• Create and maintain daily and weekly production schedules based on demand and capacity.
• Ensure production plans support OTIF customer deliveries.
• Monitor progress and adjust schedules for demand changes and issues.
• Maintain a stable plan balancing customer needs and efficiency.
• Coordinate production across lines to maximise utilisation and minimise changeovers.
• Review forecasts and orders to align with planning.
• Work with commercial teams to update schedules as needed.
• Ensure raw materials and packaging are available for production.
• Collaborate with procurement and stock control to avoid shortages or excess.
• Monitor inventory levels of finished goods, raw materials, and WIP.
• Support inventory policies balancing availability and working capital.
• Identify risks of stock shortages or obsolete inventory.
• Liaise with manufacturing to confirm capacity and constraints.
• Participate in planning meetings to review schedules and resolve issues.
• Work with operations to reduce downtime, changeover time and inefficiencies.
• Maintain master data like BOMs, lead times, and planning parameters.
• Ensure planning systems and ERP data are accurate and up to date.
• Generate and analyse planning reports to support decisions.
• Identify opportunities to improve planning processes and forecasting accuracy.
• Support supply chain and operational improvement initiatives.

Skills

Production planning

Supply chain planning

ERP systems

MRP/ERP

Analytical skills

Communication

Tools

MS Excel

ERP software

Job description

Clearly Drinks Ltd. is seeking a Planner to develop and maintain production schedules, aligning demand, capacity and material availability to ensure on-time delivery.

You will collaborate with Operations, Procurement and Commercial teams to balance customer requirements with manufacturing capability and reduce downtime. The role requires strong analytical skills, experience in manufacturing scheduling, and proficiency with ERP/MRP systems.