Manufacturing Scheduler/Planner

KBI Biopharma, Inc.; Durham (NC); On-site; USD 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

KBI Biopharma, Inc. in Durham, NC seeks a Manufacturing Production Scheduler to own the near-term production schedule and integrate requirements from Manufacturing, MS&T, Supply Chain, Quality, QC, and Facilities.

This role ensures materials, equipment, and personnel readiness align with execution plans. The ideal candidate has an associate’s degree plus five years in manufacturing or related planning roles, with direct biopharma experience preferred.

Qualifications

• Associate's degree required; bachelor’s in related field preferred.
• At least five years’ experience in manufacturing, production planning, scheduling, or a related field.
• Direct experience supporting biopharmaceutical manufacturing preferred.

Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and improve a finite production schedule for daily, weekly, and longer-term Manufacturing operations.
• Own the near-term Manufacturing production schedule and be the single source of truth.
• Maintain an integrated production schedule reflecting process requirements, equipment, facilities, personnel, materials, and maintenance dependencies.
• Coordinate with Manufacturing and MS&T to ensure requirements and assumptions reflect upstream and downstream processes.
• Maintain scheduling horizons: daily/weekly execution schedules, rolling 1-month look-ahead, and a 3-month view.
• Facilitate weekly scheduling meetings with cross-functional stakeholders to review activities, constraints, and actions.
• Escalate unresolved scheduling conflicts and risks to Manufacturing leadership with clear options and actions.

Skills

Production scheduling

Manufacturing planning

Cross-functional coordination

Education

Associate's degree

Bachelor's degree in related field

Job description

Job Summary

The Manufacturing Production Scheduler develops, maintains, and manages the finite production schedule in support of Manufacturing operations. The incumbent is the primary owner of the near-term manufacturing schedule and ensures production requirements, equipment availability, personnel constraints, material readiness, maintenance activities, facility support, and other critical dependencies are integrated into an executable production plan. The Production Scheduler partners closely with Manufacturing, Manufacturing Sciences and Technology (MS&T), Supply Chain, Quality, QC, Facilities, Maintenance, and other support functions to ensure schedule accuracy, identify and resolve constraints, assess the impact of schedule changes, and support reliable execution of manufacturing operations. The incumbent maintains short- and medium-term production visibility, facilitates routine scheduling discussions, develops recovery scenarios when disruptions occur, and escalates risks with clear impact assessments and recommended options.

Job Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and continuously improve a finite scheduling system in support of daily, weekly, and longer-term Manufacturing operations.
• Serve as the primary owner and single source of truth for the near-term Manufacturing production schedule.
• Maintain an integrated production schedule that reflects process requirements, equipment availability, facility constraints, personnel and skill requirements, material readiness, maintenance activities, and other critical manufacturing dependencies.
• Ensure program requirements and scheduling assumptions accurately reflect support, upstream and downstream manufacturing processes through coordination with Manufacturing and MS&T.
• Maintain appropriate scheduling horizons, including:
  • Detailed daily and weekly execution schedules
  • Rolling 1-month finite production schedule
  • 3-month production look-ahead
  • Longer-term constraint and capacity visibility as required.
• Facilitate weekly production scheduling meetings with Manufacturing and key cross-functional stakeholders to review upcoming activities, constraints, schedule changes, production readiness, and required actions.
• Coordinate schedule changes with Manufacturing, MS&T, Supply Chain, Quality, QC, Facilities, Maintenance, and other support functions as appropriate.
• Assess the impact of proposed or unplanned schedule changes on subsequent manufacturing activities, equipment utilization, facility availability, staffing, materials, maintenance windows, and overall production commitments.
• Identify scheduling conflicts and operational constraints proactively and work with cross-functional teams to develop mitigation or recovery plans.
• Develop and communicate schedule recovery scenarios following equipment downtime, material delays, process deviations, maintenance activities, staffing constraints, or other production disruptions.
• Escalate unresolved scheduling conflicts and risks to Manufacturing leadership with clear identification of impacts, options, tradeoffs, and recommended actions.
• Support coordination and creation of material work orders and material plans required for support, upstream and downstream manufacturing activities.
• Partner with Supply Chain and Manufacturing to ensure required raw materials, consumables, and other production materials are available in accordance with scheduled dates.
• Integrate preventive maintenance, corrective maintenance, calibration, Facility Response activities, shutdowns, and other facility or equipment support activities into the production schedule to minimize impact to Manufacturing operations.
• Coordinate with Manufacturing leadership to identify personnel, shift coverage, and critical skill requirements associated with scheduled manufacturing activities.
• Incorporate relevant Quality and QC dependencies into the schedule, including sampling, testing, release activities, environmental monitoring, and other required manufacturing support activities where appropriate.
• Create and manage manufacturing support requests associated with scheduled operations, including environmental monitoring or other cross-functional support requirements.
• Maintain and periodically review standard scheduling assumptions including process durations, equipment occupancy, setup and teardown requirements, room turnover, cleaning activities, hold times, changeovers, and other process dependencies.
• Compare actual manufacturing execution against scheduling assumptions and update scheduling standards as process knowledge and operational performance improve.
• Support scenario modeling and what-if analysis for new programs, campaign changes, increased production cadence, equipment constraints, facility outages, and other changes affecting Manufacturing capacity.
• Support development of production capacity assessments and identify emerging bottlenecks or constraints within the near- and medium-term manufacturing horizon.
• Develop, maintain, and communicate Manufacturing scheduling Key Performance Indicators and trends.

Minimum Requirements

• Associate's degree required; bachelor’s degree in supply chain, engineering, operations management, life sciences, business, or a related discipline preferred
• A minimum of five years' experience in manufacturing, production planning, scheduling, supply chain, operations, or a related field preferred
• Direct experience supporting biopharmaceutical manufacturing operations strongly preferred
• Demonstrated experience developing or managing resource-constrained production schedules preferred
• Experience supporting multi-product manufacturing environments preferred
• Nothing in this job description restricts management’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time.

KBI Biopharma, Inc. is an EEO/AA employer and actively seeks to diversify its work force. Therefore, all qualified applicants, regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability or veteran status, are strongly encouraged to apply.

At KBI, we are constantly seeking to improve our team with accomplished individuals who share in our commitment to serve our clients as they seek to advance important medicines to the patients who need them.

We offer our employees a challenging, rewarding and fast-paced environment along with the opportunity for career advancement through the development of one’s technical skills.

At KBI, employees work in a collaborative, team environment, where sharing knowledge and expertise with one another is strongly encouraged.

If you do not see a position that matches your background, we invite you to return to our site often as positions are updated frequently.

Please Note: To 3rd Party Search Firms/Employment Agencies: All inquiries must be directed to [e-mail]. Please do not call or email any KBI Biopharma employee about current or future job openings. All resumes submitted by search firms or employment agencies to any employee at KBI Biopharma via-email, telephone, social media or other means will be deemed to be the sole property of KBI Biopharma, unless the firm submitting the resume has previously entered into a written agreement with KBI Biopharma regarding recruitment services and has been approved by Human Resources to work on an open position. KBI Biopharma will not pay any fee or remuneration with respect to candidates without complying with this requirement.