Production Scheduler - 1 Year Contract
Grand River Foods is a leading food solutions company serving customers in the North American grocery and food service industry. As a member of the Sunrise Farm family, we remain as dedicated as ever to both providing a quality work environment for our employees, as well as producing only the highest quality products for our customers. We are known for the great care we take with clients and employees alike.
Position Summary: The Production Scheduler is responsible for developing, maintaining, and optimizing short- and mid-term production schedules to ensure customer fulfillment, efficient use of resources, and adherence to operational targets. Working closely with Supply Chain, Production, Purchasing, and Shipping teams, this role balances capacity, labor, and material availability while minimizing schedule changes, changeovers, and downtime. The Production Scheduler plays a key role in achieving a high schedule adherence and driving continuous improvement across plant operations.
PRIORITY: Ensure safe, efficient, and reliable production execution by optimizing schedules, balancing labor and capacity, minimizing changeovers, and proactively managing material and operational constraints to support on-time customer delivery and inventory targets
POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Develop and maintain daily and weekly production schedules at least 4 weeks in advance, based on approved sales forecasts, inventory targets, and capacity
- Maintain a rolling 5–12 week master production schedule using MRP to support long-term planning and material procurement
- Lock in weekly production schedules and minimize changes during the lock-in period
- Monitor production progress, runtime efficiency, and schedule conformance; adjust schedules as required
- Identify, analyze, and communicate plant capacity constraints and material risks
- Coordinate closely with Production, Purchasing, Procurement, Inventory, Shipping, Sales and Finance teams to ensure readiness of labor, equipment, and materials
- Ensure required protein are ordered and available to support scheduled production
- Track and communicate material shortages or delivery changes that may impact production schedules
- Lead weekly production planning and alignment meetings with Plant, Production, and Supply Chain leadership
- Participate in daily production huddles to communicate schedules and manage real-time adjustments
- Monitor KPIs including schedule conformance, fill rates, runtime efficiency, changeovers, and protein inventory levels
- Support continuous improvement initiatives through data analysis, root cause investigations, and process enhancement recommendations
- Support the New Product Launch Process focused on the production scheduling activities.
- Generate reports to managers for decision-making purposes as needed
- Review and Establish Blending Instructions
- Perform other related duties as assigned
REQUIRED SKILL, EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS:
- Minimum 3–5 years of experience in production planning or scheduling within a manufacturing environment
- Post-secondary education in Business, Operations, Supply Chain, Engineering, or a related field
- Strong working knowledge of MRP/ERP systems (SYSPRO or similar preferred)
- Demonstrated success in production scheduling and material requirements planning
- High proficiency in Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Office applications
- Strong analytical, planning, and problem-solving skills
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills; able to collaborate across departments
- Proven ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
- APICS certification or similar designation considered an asset
COMPETENCIES AND ATTRIBUTES:
- Strong critical thinking and data-driven decision-making skills
- Ability to influence stakeholders and communicate effectively at all organizational levels
- Continuous improvement mindset with a focus on efficiency and value creation
- Highly organized with strong attention to detail
- Team-oriented, proactive, and adaptable to change
- Ethical, dependable, and committed to operational excellence
WORKING CONDITIONS:
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At Sunrise Farms we are proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified individuals, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or any other identifying characteristic are encouraged to apply.
Please note that the expected new hire salary range provided is derived from a group of like roles within Sunrise Farms. The final offer amount for this role will be dependent on geographical region, applicable experience, and skillset of the candidate.