Master Scheduler

Star Brands - A Division of the Middleby Corporation; Smithville (TN); On-site; USD 85,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Star Manufacturing, based in Smithville, TN, is seeking an experienced Master Scheduler to lead production planning and scheduling in a high-mix environment.

The role requires translating customer demand into actionable production plans across multiple product families and shared resources, balancing material, labor, and capacity constraints while mitigating risks. You will work closely with Operations, Supply Chain, Purchasing, Sales, and Engineering to ensure on-time delivery.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in supply chain, operations, business, or related field.
• 5+ years in production planning, master scheduling, or materials management.
• Experience in a complex, high-mix manufacturing environment preferred.
• Strong knowledge of MRP, capacity planning, and scheduling.

Responsibilities

• Develop and communicate master production schedule across product families and areas.
• Translate orders, forecasts, backlog into executable production plan.
• Balance product mix with labor, material, and capacity constraints.
• Identify bottlenecks and proactively address constraints.
• Collaborate with Purchasing and Supply Chain on material availability.
• Monitor backlog and schedule attainment; create recovery plans when needed.
• Support SIOP activities with visibility into demand and capacity.
• Coordinate scheduling for new product introductions and changes.

Skills

Master scheduling

ERP/MRP

Capacity planning

Excel

Cross-functional leadership

Problem-solving

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain/Operations/Engineering

Tools

Epicor ERP

Job description

Star Manufacturing is seeking an experienced Master Scheduler to lead production planning and scheduling within our complex, high-mix manufacturing environment. This is a critical role responsible for translating customer demand into a realistic and executable production plan across multiple product families, production lines, and shared manufacturing resources. The Master Scheduler will serve as a key connection between Operations, Supply Chain, Purchasing, Sales, Customer Service, Engineering, and Production, ensuring customer requirements are balanced with material availability, labor, equipment capacity, inventory, and manufacturing capabilities. This position requires more than maintaining production dates. We are looking for someone who can understand the entire demand-to-delivery process, anticipate constraints, analyze competing priorities, and proactively identify solutions before issues impact production or our customers.

What You'll Do

• Develop, maintain, and communicate the master production schedule across multiple product families and production areas.
• Translate customer orders, forecasts, backlog, and inventory requirements into an executable production plan.
• Balance a complex product mix against labor, equipment, material availability, manufacturing capacity, and customer priorities.
• Analyze short- and long-term capacity requirements and proactively identify bottlenecks and resource constraints.
• Partner with Purchasing and Supply Chain to identify material shortages and ensure production schedules align with material availability.
• Monitor customer backlog, production commitments, and at-risk orders and develop recovery plans when necessary.
• Partner closely with Operations leadership to monitor schedule attainment and address production constraints.
• Evaluate expedite requests and determine their impact on existing production and customer commitments.
• Maintain appropriate schedule discipline to minimize unnecessary changes, setups, disruptions, and inefficiencies.
• Utilize ERP/MRP data to support production planning, material requirements, capacity analysis, and decision-making.
• Support SIOP activities by providing visibility into demand, capacity, backlog, inventory, material constraints, and production requirements.
• Coordinate scheduling requirements for new product introductions, engineering changes, and product transitions.
• Develop reporting and analysis to provide leadership with forward-looking visibility into production risks and opportunities.
• Continuously improve scheduling processes, planning parameters, lead times, data accuracy, and overall planning effectiveness.

What We’re Looking For

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Operations Management, Business, Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or related field preferred.
• 5+ years of experience in production planning, master scheduling, materials management, supply chain, or manufacturing operations.
• Experience in a complex, high-mix manufacturing environment strongly preferred.
• Strong knowledge of master production scheduling, MRP, capacity planning, production sequencing, and manufacturing processes.
• Experience working with multiple production lines, shared resources, changing customer demand, and material constraints.
• Strong ERP/MRP experience; Epicor experience is highly desirable.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel and analytical skills.
• Experience with SIOP/S&OP and capacity planning preferred.
• APICS/ASCM CPIM or CSCP certification is a plus.
• Strong problem-solving, communication, organization, and cross-functional leadership skills.

What Success Looks Like

The successful Master Scheduler will create a production schedule the organization can trust. You will understand what we can produce, when we can produce it, what materials and capacity are required, and where potential constraints exist before they impact our customers.

You will be expected to bring structure and discipline to a highly dynamic manufacturing environment while maintaining the flexibility necessary to respond to changing customer and business needs.

Key areas of focus will include schedule attainment, on-time delivery, past-due backlog, material readiness, schedule stability, manufacturing lead time, inventory performance, and capacity planning.

If you are an analytical manufacturing professional who enjoys solving complex planning challenges, working across departments, and turning changing customer demand into an executable production strategy, we would like to hear from you.