Production Planner
County Down
Vickerstock are working in partnership with a well renowned and award-winning food producer based in County Down with the key appointment of a Production Planner.
Reporting to the Production Manager the Production Planner is responsible for developing and maintaining efficient production schedules to meet customer demand within a fast-paced chilled and frozen food manufacturing environment.
What we have to offer:
- Salary circa £40-45k DOE
- Monday to Friday, 8.30am - 5pm
- 30 days holiday
Your day to day:
The role also plays a key part in the effective use, maintenance, and ongoing development of the ERP system to support accurate planning, stock control, and operational decision-making. In addition, the role oversees the annual seasonal stock build and the coordinated despatch of this stock during the peak trading period each December.
- Develop and maintain daily and weekly production schedules using ERP forecasts, orders, and capacity constraints.
- Coordinate cross-functionally with Production, QA, Engineering, Procurement, and Sales to manage changes and resolve issues quickly.
- Monitor production performance via ERP and adjust plans to ensure on-time order fulfilment.
- Optimise labour allocation and machine utilisation to improve efficiency and minimise downtime.
- Plan and manage chilled and frozen production runs, considering shelf life, storage, and operational constraints.
- Lead seasonal stock build programmes, ensuring sufficient inventory is produced ahead of peak demand (especially December).
- Oversee seasonal despatch operations, ensuring accurate scheduling, stock visibility, and timely order delivery.
- Act as a key ERP system user, maintaining master data accuracy and supporting system improvements, upgrades, and SOP development.
- Analyse data and produce reports on performance, forecasting, KPIs, and stock levels to drive continuous improvement.
- Ensure compliance with food safety standards (BRCGS, HACCP) and maintain full traceability and audit readiness.
Your essential ingredients
- Proven experience in production planning/scheduling, ideally within food manufacturing (chilled/frozen environments desirable); circa 200 SKUs
- Strong understanding of capacity planning, workflows, and factory operations.
- Hands-on experience with ERP systems, including planning, scheduling, stock control, and master data maintenance/improvement.
- Advanced Excel and data analysis skills, with the ability to turn data into actionable production plans.
- Knowledge of food safety standards (e.g. BRCGS, HACCP) and working within regulated environments.
- Experience managing seasonal demand peaks, stock build programmes, and time-sensitive despatch operations.
- Strong organisational, problem-solving, and communication skills, with the ability to work under pressure and across teams.
- Proactive, adaptable mindset with ownership of planning processes, plus experience in ERP improvements, forecasting, or continuous improvement initiatives (qualifications desirable but not essential).
Interested in finding out more?
Contact Paul Muir to discuss this opportunity in complete confidence on T: , or submit an updated CV via the link on the page.
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As an experienced specialist recruiter within Food Manufacturing/FMCG with over 7 years' experience, I recruit Production & Operations professionals at all levels across Northern Ireland.
If this role isn't quite right for you, but you work within Food Production or Operations in Northern Ireland, please feel free to share your CV for future consideration (you can also connect with me on LinkedIn).
Skills:
Production Planner Forecasting Demand Raw Materials ERP
WHJS1_NI