Production Planner

Position Title: Production Planner

Company Overview: At Bobo’s Oat Bars everything we create is made with love and baked by hand using wholesome, simple ingredients you can find in your own kitchen.  Working at Bobo’s is a labor of love.  Our experienced staff exudes integrity, grit, passion, and a unified desire to share the love of Bobo’s and our products from their hearts to others.  Bobo’s employees embrace and reflect the Bobo’s values being collaborative, adaptable, passionate, persevering, and fun-loving.  

Compensation and Benefits:
•    Wage range is $30.00 -$35.00
•    Benefits include health, dental and vision insurance, 401k with 4% company match, sick and vacation leave

Position Summary: The Production Planner is responsible for managing the flow of materials into the company and scheduling production across Bobo’s internal manufacturing operations, with additional responsibility for scheduling production at Bobo’s co-manufacturing partners. This role reviews upcoming production schedules and works with Purchasing to ensure raw materials and packaging are available onsite in time to support the production plan. The Production Planner develops and maintains schedule adherence and attainment KPIs, providing visibility into planning performance across internal production and co-manufacturing partners. This is an individual contributor role with no direct reports. The Production Planner owns the planning process and works cross-functionally with Purchasing, Customer Service, Operations, suppliers, and co-manufacturing partners to keep material flow and production schedules aligned.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:
•    Develop and manage production schedules for Bobo’s internal manufacturing operations to meet customer demand and optimize capacity, while also coordinating production schedules with co-manufacturing partners
•    Build and adjust production plans using sales forecasts, confirmed customer orders, inventory positions, line capacity, labor availability, and changeover requirements.
•    Schedule production to available crewing and equipment constraints, including packaging and cartoning capacity, and coordinate changes with Operations leadership.
•    Create and communicate shift passdown guidance so each crew has clear priorities, changeover expectations, and open items from the prior shift.
•    Proactively communicate at-risk ship dates, production delays, material shortages, and schedule changes to Operations, Logistics, Customer Service, and Procurement.
•    Coordinate and schedule first production runs for new items with R&D, Quality, Procurement, and Manufacturing.
•    Translate the approved production schedule into raw material and packaging requirements, considering on-hand inventory, open orders, lead times, minimum order quantities, and safety stock.
•    Prepare, issue, and maintain purchase orders for raw materials and packaging needed to support the production plan, using approved suppliers, pricing, and terms.
•    Confirm supplier acknowledgments, pricing, lead times, ship dates, and delivery dates for purchase orders and resolve unclear order details with suppliers.
•    Monitor and track purchase orders from placement through receipt, maintain organized order records, and report delivery status and supply risks.
•    Expedite, defer, or reschedule incoming materials when requirements change or supply risk threatens the production schedule; escalate unresolved issues to Procurement.
•    Assist in coordinating inbound delivery appointments with suppliers, carriers, and warehouse teams to ensure raw materials and packaging arrive on time.
•    Coordinate raw material and packaging movements to co-manufacturing partners and finished goods retrieval from co-manufacturers to Bobo's warehouses.
•    Collaborate with Customer Service and Logistics to understand customer requirements, prioritize orders, manage third-party warehouse transfers, and support on-time delivery.
•    Develop and maintain schedule adherence and schedule attainment KPIs for internal production and co-manufacturing partners, reporting performance and exceptions regularly.
•    Monitor production scanning and reporting to ensure actual output, downtime, and schedule completion are accurately reflected in planning records.
•    Partner with the Waste & Inventory Tracking Analyst on aged inventory, FIFO, cycle count exceptions, BOM discrepancies, and inventory risks that require planning action.
•    Monitor e-commerce inventory levels and coordinate replenishment or stock transfers as needed.
•    Responsible for monitoring consignment inventory and coordinating replenishment to ensure customer fill requirements are met.
•    Lead or participate in recurring production planning meetings with Manufacturing, Procurement, Logistics, and other stakeholders to align on schedule status, material risks, and upcoming changes.
•    Identify planning and purchasing process improvements, implement corrective actions, and maintain standard work and documentation.
•    Follow safety policies and uphold food safety and product quality requirements through observance of HACCP, GMP, and allergen protocols; promptly report concerns.
•    Foster a culture of respect and teamwork by demonstrating Bobo's values: Collaborative, Adaptable, Passionate, Winning, and Fun-Loving.
•    Perform other duties as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibility:
•    This position has no direct reports. It is responsible for owning and managing the production planning process, including scheduling across Bobo’s internal manufacturing operations and co-manufacturing partners.

Qualifications Summary:
•    Demonstrated experience in production planning, scheduling, materials management, purchasing, or a related supply chain role.
•    Strong understanding of manufacturing capacity, material requirements planning, inventory management, purchase orders, supplier lead times, and BOMs.
•    Proficiency with ERP/MRP systems used for scheduling, purchasing, receiving, and inventory management.
•    Advanced Excel skills, including formulas, pivot tables, lookups, and data analysis for schedules and performance reporting.
•    Strong organizational, multitasking, analytical, and problem-solving skills with the ability to make sound decisions under pressure.
•    Ability to communicate clearly and work effectively with suppliers, co-manufacturers, Operations, Procurement, Logistics, Customer Service, R&D, and Quality.
•    Strong attention to detail and ability to maintain accurate, timely planning and purchasing records.
•    Knowledge of food safety regulations and manufacturing best practices.
•    APICS/CPIM certification preferred.
•    Comfortable working in a fast-paced and dynamic manufacturing environment.

Education/Experience Desired:
•    High school diploma or equivalent required.
•    Bachelor's degree in supply chain management, operations, logistics, business, or a related field preferred.
•    Three to five years of experience in production planning, scheduling, materials management, purchasing, or food manufacturing supply chain operations preferred.
•    Experience in a CPG or food manufacturing environment is highly desirable.

Language/Mathematical/Reasoning Ability:
•    Effective written and verbal communication skills.
•    Ability to read, analyze, and interpret forecasts, production schedules, purchase orders, inventory reports, business documents, technical procedures, and regulations.
•    Ability to prepare clear reports, business correspondence, supplier communications, and standard work.
•    Ability to calculate quantities, yields, lead-time requirements, inventory coverage, freight costs, dimensions, and volume.
•    Ability to interpret instructions provided in written, verbal, diagram, or schedule form.
•    Strong analytical skills and judgment to assess tradeoffs and make timely decisions under pressure.

Supervision Given:
•    This position reports to the Director of Manufacturing and works in close partnership with the Director of Procurement.
•    The position holder is expected to work independently, manage competing priorities, and confidently resolve routine planning and purchasing issues.

Physical Demands:
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit, stand, use hands to grasp and handle objects; reach with hands and arms; and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to walk; climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include looking at a computer screen and ability to adjust focus. The employee must be able to communicate using telephone and email.
Other physical requirements include:
•    Ability to lift and move heavy objects, up to 50 pounds.
•    Ability to stand and walk for extended periods.
•    Ability to work in varying environmental warehouse conditions.

Location: This position is based on site in Loveland, Colorado.
Travel Required: Limited – May be required to travel locally on an infrequent basis.  

Resume Submission: Please submit your resume to Jobs@eatbobos.com, and put the job title in the subject line of your email.

Bobo’s Oat Bars is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The Company does not discriminate against employees or applicants for employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, transgender status, marital status, familial status, disability, genetic information, protected veteran/military status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law.