Demand Planning & Continuous-Improvement Manager

Inovar; Oceanside, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 115,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Inovar Packaging Group's West Coast facility seeks a Planning, Materials & Continuous Improvement Manager to lead production planning, scheduling, purchasing, inventory management, quality systems support, and continuous improvement initiatives.

This role aligns customer demand, manufacturing capacity, material availability, and quality expectations to drive operational excellence and meet customer commitments.

Qualifications

• Four or more years of progressive experience in production planning, scheduling, purchasing, inventory control, supply chain, materials management, quality, continuous improvement, or related manufacturing function.
• Working knowledge of manufacturing operations, material flow, and basic quality systems.
• Experience using ERP or MRP systems for planning, purchasing, and inventory management.
• Strong analytical, organizational, communication, and structured problem-solving skills.
• Ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain short- and medium-term production plans based on demand, capacity, materials, staffing, equipment constraints, and quality requirements.
• Translate customer requirements into achievable schedules, priorities, and material plans.
• Monitor schedule performance and proactively adjust plans when demand, capacity, materials, quality conditions, or customer priorities change.
• Identify shortages, bottlenecks, late orders, and quality risks before they affect customer commitments.
• Facilitate scheduling and production-priority meetings and communicate risks, changes, and recovery plans.
• Improve schedule stability, on-time delivery, production flow, and capacity utilization.
• Oversee purchasing of raw materials, operating supplies, and other production requirements.
• Establish purchasing priorities based on demand, lead times, inventory levels, production schedules, and approved material specifications.
• Monitor supplier delivery, quality, responsiveness, pricing, and lead-time performance.
• Partner with Quality to address incoming-material defects, supplier corrective actions, and recurring supplier-performance concerns.
• Partner with Corporate Procurement to support supplier negotiations, sourcing decisions, cost-reduction initiatives, and supply-risk mitigation.
• Reduce emergency purchases, premium freight, unnecessary expediting, and quality-related disruptions.

Skills

Analytical skills

Organizational skills

Communication skills

Structured problem-solving

Leadership

Microsoft Excel

Education

Bachelor's degree in supply chain, operations, business or engineering

Tools

ERP / MRP system

Job description

Inovar Packaging Group's West Coast facility seeks a Planning, Materials & Continuous Improvement Manager to lead production planning, scheduling, purchasing, inventory management, quality systems support, and continuous improvement initiatives.

This role aligns customer demand, manufacturing capacity, material availability, and quality expectations to drive operational excellence and meet customer commitments.