Production Planning Manager - Confectionery

Key Responsibilities:

- Develop and manage daily, weekly and monthly production plans for biscuit and/or chocolate manufacturing lines.

- Create and maintain the Master Production Schedule (MPS) aligned with sales forecasts and plant capacity.

- Balance production loads across lines considering changeovers, batch sizes, shelf life and SKU complexity.

- Continuously monitor production progress and adjust schedules to manage demand fluctuations or operational disruptions.

- Plan production considering recipe constraints, tempering, baking, cooling, moulding and packaging cycles.

- Manage planning challenges related to short shelf life, seasonality and promotional spikes common in biscuits and chocolates.

- Coordinate closely with Quality and R&D for new product launches, trials and scale-ups.

- Ensure timely availability of raw materials (cocoa, flour, sugar, fats, inclusions) and packaging materials.

- Optimise WIP and finished goods inventory to minimise wastage and expiry risks.

- Track material consumption and yield variances against standards.

- Work closely with Sales, Supply Chain, Procurement, Quality and Manufacturing teams

- Provide planning inputs for capacity expansion, line optimisation and efficiency improvement initiatives.

- Use ERP/MRP systems (SAP, Oracle, MS Dynamics or similar) for planning, tracking and reporting.

- Prepare regular production, capacity and inventory reports for senior management.

Qualifications & Experience:

- 8-12+ years of production planning experience in FMCG manufacturing.

- Mandatory experience in confectionery manufacturing - specifically biscuits and/or chocolates.

- Strong understanding of production processes, line efficiencies, batch planning and changeover management.

- Advanced proficiency in Excel and planning systems.