Production planner: how to train and review the role
Turns customer orders into a plan of machines, material, people and dates, tracks progress, chases delays and updates sales on delivery. Works between sales, stores, production and quality. Reports to the production or plant manager.
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Share your requirementsWho usually fills this role
Often diploma or degree engineers or experienced supervisors with good spreadsheet skills, plus coordinators promoted from stores or dispatch. At hiring, test arithmetic and logic, feel for machine capacity, honest communication of delays and ability to work with floor staff.
Skills ladder
Stage 1
New joiner
- Record orders and prepare job cards with a senior
- Update progress from the floor each day
- Follow up on material and tool status
- Pass delay information to sales
Stage 2
Independent
- Plan the week by machine capacity, material and priority
- Re-plan when machines break or orders change
- Give sales honest delivery dates
- Keep records of plan versus actual
Stage 3
Senior or lead
- Plan across many orders, subcontractors and shifts
- Find bottlenecks and propose capacity or process changes
- Balance cost, delivery and customer priority
- Train new planners and coordinators
Training path
First weeks
- 1
Process routes and capacities
The production manager explains the processes, machines and typical cycle times for the main products. The joiner draws the route for each and the manager corrects it.
- 2
Orders and job cards
A senior shows how orders become job cards and how material is booked. The joiner prepares job cards for sample orders and the senior checks.
- 3
Daily progress tracking
The senior teaches the tracking sheet and the daily floor round. The joiner updates it and the senior checks against the floor.
- 4
Talking to the floor
The manager explains how to speak to supervisors and operators about delays without blame. The joiner practises and receives feedback.
First year
- 1
Weekly planning
The planner prepares the weekly plan for a few machines while the manager reviews the logic. Gaps between plan and actual are discussed.
- 2
Material and tool readiness
Stores and purchase teams show how material and tool status is tracked. The planner checks readiness before releasing a job.
- 3
Re-planning
The manager sets up scenarios such as breakdown or priority change. The planner re-plans and explains choices. The manager sets up scenarios such as breakdown or priority change. The planner re-plans, explains the choices and informs sales and the floor.
- 4
Delivery communication
Sales and the planner agree how to give dates and warn about delays. The planner's messages are reviewed for honesty and clarity.
Towards senior
- 1
Bottleneck analysis
The planner studies where jobs wait and proposes changes in sequence, shift or tooling to the manager. The planner studies where jobs wait and proposes changes in sequence, shift or tooling to the manager, and tracks whether the change helped.
- 2
Subcontracting decisions
The manager involves the planner in decisions about outside work, with cost and delivery trade-offs. The manager involves the planner in decisions about outside work, with cost, quality and delivery trade-offs written down and reviewed afterwards.
- 3
Coaching coordinators
The senior planner reviews juniors' sheets and gives feedback, and the manager checks the coaching. The senior planner reviews juniors' sheets and plans, gives written feedback on logic and clarity, and the manager checks the coaching.
- 4
Plan versus actual review
The senior leads a weekly review with the supervisors on why plans slipped and records actions. The senior leads a weekly review with the supervisors on why plans slipped, records the actions agreed and checks them the next week.
Performance review
A monthly one-to-one with the production manager using the plan versus actual sheet, and a written half-yearly review. Include feedback from sales and shift supervisors.
What to measure
| Measure | How it is seen |
|---|---|
| Plan realism | Plan versus actual comparison and reasons for gaps. |
| Delivery communication | Sales feedback on date accuracy and early warnings. |
| Readiness checks | Records of material and tool checks before release. |
| Responsiveness | How quickly the plan was updated after changes. |
| Floor relationship | Supervisor feedback on clarity and fairness. |
| Record quality | Job cards and sheets checked for correctness. |
Evidence to bring
- Plan versus actual sheets
- Delay log
- Job cards
- Sales and floor feedback
Questions to ask in the review
- Where did the plan slip most?
- Which bottlenecks keep appearing?
- How often did you promise dates you could not keep?
- Which customers or orders are you worried about?
- How do supervisors react to the plan?
- What data do you not get on time?
- How do you decide priorities?
- What would improve your planning?
Pitfalls
- Promoting a clerk to planner without any process or machine training.
- Judging on plan completion alone, regardless of cause.
- Having the planner promise dates to customers without knowing capacity.
- Not including the floor in the planning conversation.
Questions about this role
Often yes for delivery updates, but dates should be agreed with sales and supported by the plan. Keep the messages clear and honest.
Use what suits your size: a sheet, a board or an ERP. Training should be about logic and discipline, not the tool alone.
Foundries plan around heats, moulds and batches, presses around jobs, plates and finishing. Keep the ladder and change the process content.