Production Planner (FMCG)

About the Role

Ready to step into a critical role that requires proactive thinking, commercial awareness, and a continuous improvement mindset?

Join our dynamic Production team and take ownership of Production Planning! You will be supporting our Oldham Manufacturing site while being situated at our Telford Offices!

This is your chance to make a real impact, balancing customer demand, production capacity, and material logistics to keep our operation running smoothly.

This role operates Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm, onsite, right where the magic happens!

Job Opportunity

• You'll create and issue production schedules (daily and weekly) that align with demand and capacity.
• You will react swiftly to machine breakdowns, labour constraints, and material shortages.
• We'll rely on your expertise in optimising production efficiency by balancing priorities, changeovers, and site capacity.
• You will collaborate remotely with site operations managers to validate plans.
• You will be pivotal in managing stock levels, monitoring slow-moving inventory, and reducing waste to help us achieve greater sustainability.
• You'll coordinate outbound transport and inter-site stock transfers.
• Continuous improvement will be a key part of your role, including planning processes and stock flow across the supply chain

Essential Skills

What we're looking for in our Production Planner:

• Minimum of 2 years' experience in a production planning or scheduling role
• Previous experience in a manufacturing or FMCG environment
• Proactive problem-solving, anticipating issues before they arise.
• Detail-oriented planning with a sharp eye for accuracy.
• Clear and adaptive communication, ensuring stakeholders are informed and aligned.
• Commercial awareness with a strong understanding of cost and service impacts.
• Accountability for seeing plans through from initiation to conclusion.
• Growth mindset with a focus on continuous improvement.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office/365, particularly Excel.

About Company

Northwood is a family-owned group of associated companies that provide the manufacturing, supply and transportation of paper hygiene and wiping products for both the away-from-home and consumer market.

Our mission is to be the market-leading partner of choice in the away from home tissue industry. One of only a small handful of companies in the UK market that is fully vertically integrated; Northwood is involved at each point in the supply chain, from raw material supply, tissue and towel manufacturing, end-user product converting, storage and transportation.

Our remit is huge, with a portfolio of products covering two key systems brands, professional wiping, commodity, consumer paper and private label. We sell into a distribution network spanning the UK, Ireland and Europe, which in turn service markets such as healthcare, hospitality, hotels, engineering, janitorial, catering and education.

We are a highly successful, award-winning and ambitious business that has grown from a humble paper sales business to a market leader employing over 800 colleagues, across 11 sites in the UK and Spain.  

We differentiate ourselves by excelling in product quality alongside market-leading service and sales support.

DE&I

At Northwood, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse environment where everyone is welcomed and respected. We strive to promote a workplace that celebrates diversity and encourages individuals to express their opinions and beliefs. We are dedicated to providing equal opportunities for all.

Benefits

• Company pension
• Life assurance
• Free company products
• Free on-site parking
• Food, retail, holidays, cinema, and gyms discounts
• Wellness programmes, including Employee Assistance Program and OnDemand GP service
• Free early access to pay scheme
• Salary sacrifice schemes
• Employee referral scheme