The Senior Planner is responsible for executing the operations plan and schedule for the factory and operations. They are critical to the planning, scheduling, coordinating, and monitoring of products through the complete production cycle to meet or exceed all global Customer Service level and Inventory goals. In addition, the Senior Planner is often involved in projects of a higher order dealing with site-wide Operations concerns.

• Must be capable of performing all the normal duties of a Production Planner including planning, scheduling, coordinating, and monitoring products through the complete production cycle to meet actual and forecasted customer demands and maintain safety stocks.
• Ability to work cross functionally among different departments.
• Ability to identify and execute process improvements within their job.
• Proactively anticipates supply risks, initiates actions to prevent backorders, and communicates supply availability information to Production, Global Planners and management.
• Participates in, or leads, cross-functional efforts to improve system performance and process effectiveness.
• Resolves work order variances and determines/tracks root causes.
• Responsible for maintaining accurate information of production schedules, customer orders, Bills of Materials for manufactured and outside processed assemblies; cross-functionally coordinates BoM changes to minimize scrap and disruption to Manufacturing while maintaining Service Level goals.
• Prepares and maintains Planning, Routing, Backflushing, Receiving, etc. parameters in the ERP/MRP system and other necessary reports on production output, efficiency output, capacity and other reports as directed.
• Attend daily and weekly production meetings.
• Review existing planning tools and suggest improvements or development of new tools as needed.
• Participates in Supply Chain Process Development and Implementation.
• Works with Cost Accounting for period end close.

Experience, Education, Training, Traits:

• Requires a minimum of an Associate Degree, preferably in a technical field or Business Administration, or equivalent work-related experience.
• Experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP system is preferred.
• Advance MS Office skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint. MS Access and Power BI skills a plus).
• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• A minimum of 5+ years in Planning or Operations within a manufacturing job-shop environment, preferably in the manufacture of instrumentation and/or medical devices, including: 
  • Knowledge and experience using Product Life Management applications, such as Agile.
  • Knowledge and experience in ERP systems and planning tools.
  • Knowledge and experience in maintaining Master Data (i.e. Item Masters, Bills of Material, Routers and component specifications).
  • Understanding of Inventory management principles and tools.
  • Excellent computer data entry skills in an ERP/MRP environment.
• Experience working within a rigorous quality system environment (i.e., ISO 13485, FDA cGMP/QSR) preferred.
• Exhibits a proactive approach to job performance.
• Exhibits excellent problem-solving skills.
• Strong collaboration, team building, and development skills.
• Excellent organizational skills with attention to detail.
• Prior experience with an ERP/MRP installation or conversion a plus.
• APICS certification a plus.

Leadership

• Previous Lead or Supervisory experience a plus.
• Career motivated toward a leadership position.

Language and Verbal Skills

Ability to read and interpret engineering specifications, general business periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures, or governmental regulations.  Ability to write reports, business correspondences documents.   Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of managers, clients and customers.  Ability to clearly and concisely convey project accomplishments, obstacles, issues, and project status.

Math Skills

Ability to apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions to practical situations.  Ability to use MS Excel to perform calculations and interpret project results/data.

Analytical and Reading Skills

Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.  Ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables.  Ability to read technical and clinical literature and documents and extract important concepts.

Physical Requirements

While performing the duties of this job, the employee may be required to perform lifting tasks of up to 10 pounds for short durations. Duties of this job may involve standing and/or walking for extended periods of time. Duties also involve daily keyboard data entry. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision.

Work Environment

Most work will be performed in an office and light manufacturing environment. The noise level in the work environment is usually low to moderate.

Safety

Solta Medical is committed to the health and safety of our employees.   We expect that all employees will perform their responsibilities while maintaining a safe, cooperative, and productive work environment, thus ensuring the health and safety of themselves and others.

The range of starting base pay for this role is $82K-110K.  Actual starting pay will be based on a wide range of factors including, but not limited to, relevant skills, experience, qualifications, education and location. In addition to base pay, this position is eligible for participation in either (i) our annual bonus program or (ii) a sales incentive plan.

Benefits package includes a comprehensive Medical (includes Prescription Drug), Dental, Vision, Flexible Spending Accounts, 401(k) with matching company contribution, discretionary time off, paid sick time, stock purchase plan, tuition reimbursement, parental leave, short-term and long-term disability, life insurance, accidental death & dismemberment insurance, paid holidays, employee referral bonuses and employee discounts.