Production Planner

We are looking for an experienced Production Planner with a minimum of 2 to 3 years of relevant experience in the footwear manufacturing industry. The candidate will be responsible for Production Planning, material readiness, shop-floor coordination, production monitoring, inter-departmental coordination and MIS reporting to ensure smooth production and timely order delivery.

Key Responsibilities

• Prepare daily and weekly production execution plans for Cutting, Stitching, Lasting and Packing based on order priorities and delivery schedules.
• Analyze line efficiency, machine availability and workforce capacity to allocate production effectively and avoid bottlenecks.
• Coordinate with the Store In-charge and Computer Operator to ensure availability of all required raw materials, including soles, synthetics, uppers, adhesives and hardware, before releasing job cards to the production floor.
• Conduct material readiness checks and proactively identify shortages that may cause production delays or line stoppages.
• Issue job cards and daily production target sheets to line supervisors and monitor achievement against planned targets.
• Track WIP (Work-in-Progress) movement across different production stages from Cutting to Stitching, Lasting and Packing.
• Regularly monitor production activities on the shop floor and identify delays, bottlenecks and capacity-related issues.
• Coordinate with Merchandising, Stores, Quality, Maintenance and Production teams to ensure smooth execution of orders.
• Coordinate with Assistant Merchandisers regarding buyer target dates, sample approval delays and priority or urgent shipments.
• Work with the Quality team to identify high-rejection lines and take corrective actions to minimize production losses.
• Coordinate with the Maintenance team during machine breakdowns and make necessary adjustments to production schedules.
• Track daily production output against planned targets and prepare Plan vs. Actual reports.
• Analyze production shortfalls, downtime and other operational variances and communicate issues to management.
• Monitor delivery schedules and highlight potential delays in advance to ensure timely order completion.
• Maintain accurate production MIS and provide regular updates on production status, pending orders and critical bottlenecks.

Preferred candidate profile

• Minimum 2 to 3 years of experience in Production Planning in the Footwear Industry is mandatory.
• Strong understanding of footwear manufacturing processes, particularly Cutting, Stitching, Lasting and Packing.
• Hands-on experience in production planning, scheduling, WIP tracking and shop-floor monitoring.
• Good understanding of material planning and production readiness.
• Strong coordination skills with production, merchandising, stores, quality and maintenance teams.
• Must be comfortable working both in the office and directly on the production floor.
• Ability to identify production bottlenecks and take timely corrective action.
• Candidates with relevant footwear manufacturing experience will be strongly preferred.