Wave Planning & Production Lead

Alo; North East (MD); On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Alo seeks a Production / Wave Planning Manager for its Maryland distribution center. You will translate daily demand into an executable production plan, coordinating Production Control and Operations to meet service, throughput, and productivity targets.

You will lead the Wave Planning team, monitor flow from receiving to shipping, manage capacity, and optimize labor, WMS usage, and release strategies in a fast-paced, high-volume environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Industrial Engineering, Operations, Business, Analytics, or related field preferred.
• 5+ years of experience in distribution, fulfillment, production planning, wave planning, operations, or a related function.
• Previous leadership experience preferred.
• Strong understanding of distribution center operations and end-to-end order flow.
• Experience with warehouse management systems and wave/order release functionality.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
• Ability to make decisions quickly in a high-volume, rapidly changing operating environment.
• Strong communication skills and ability to influence Operations and cross-functional partners.
• Experience with Excel, BI/reporting tools, WMS reporting, and operational data analysis

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain the site’s daily production plan based on order demand, capacity, and service commitments.
• Translate network priorities and volume forecasts into executable site-level plans.
• Maintain end-to-end visibility of workload across receiving, replenishment, picking, packing, sortation, shipping, and other processes.
• Identify bottlenecks before they impact service or throughput.
• Adjust production priorities throughout the day based on actual performance and constraints.
• Coordinate recovery plans when the facility falls behind production or service expectations.
• Own the site’s wave planning and work-release strategy.
• Determine timing, size, sequencing, and prioritization of waves or other work releases.
• Ensure sufficient work is available to Operations without creating excessive WIP or congestion.
• Monitor wave progression and order aging.
• Adjust wave strategies based on throughput, backlog, carrier cutoffs, inventory availability, and downstream capacity.
• Establish standard wave-planning processes and decision rules.
• Serve as the Production Control point person for daily DC execution.
• Lead or participate in daily production-control meetings and operating reviews.
• Compare actual performance against the production plan throughout the day.
• Escalate risks and coordinate corrections.
• Maintain clear communication regarding priorities and constraints.
• Monitor capacity across major processing areas and identify constraints.
• Understand dependencies between upstream and downstream processes and adjust releases.
• Support peak and high-volume readiness planning.
• Develop contingency plans for disruptions.
• Partner with Labor Planning to align available labor with workload.
• Provide feedback on planned vs actual labor requirements and productivity.
• Ensure production plans reflect realistic labor and capacity constraints.
• Develop expertise in WMS related to wave planning and release.
• Collaborate to identify system issues affecting execution.
• Validate system rules support the strategy.
• Lead and coach the site’s Wave Planners.
• Establish clear roles and escalation protocols.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Problem solving

Communication skills

Leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain

Tools

Excel

BI tools

WMS

Job description

Alo seeks a Production / Wave Planning Manager for its Maryland distribution center. You will translate daily demand into an executable production plan, coordinating Production Control and Operations to meet service, throughput, and productivity targets.

You will lead the Wave Planning team, monitor flow from receiving to shipping, manage capacity, and optimize labor, WMS usage, and release strategies in a fast-paced, high-volume environment.