Job Responsibilities
The stated responsibilities are to schedule production in a
timely fashion so there is no excess inventory or no backorders.
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Job Requirements
Bachelors Degree, Good PC skills, Basic Math, Ability to picture
entire process flow from beginning to end. Must be able to
understand what all functions in a company do and their
interrelationships. Be able to sell ideas to conflicting
functions.
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Uppers
When things went smoothly life was pretty calm. The job also gave you an
insight to all corners of the business. I always felt that I was in the center
of virtually all activities.
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Downers
Constant fight with differing departments. Inventory doesn't
want one extra unit in stock. Marketing wants a million of
everything just in case a big order appears. Forecasting is done
by sales but deviation is the planner's fault. The priorities of
each department are to maximize their little fiefdom. The
priority of the planner is to maximize the whole kingdom. Crazy
infighting and egos from people that don't report to you and
generally have no idea of what you are doing. Any time a problem
occurs it is up to you to ferret out the root cause and persuade
the offending group to fix it (production is behind schedule but
doesn't want to work on Sat because the workers want to go to the
lake over the weekend) (Purchasing has just bought a lifetime
supply of some widget but saved $.00000000001 per unit by buying
in volume).
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Lifestyle
Work hours were generally 8-5 but the tension you took home made it feel like
24/7. I never took breaks or lunch because the phone kept ringing. There is
some travel but usually only if you have multiple sites, the travel is not
relaxing just a continuation of fire fighting for different faces. Company
social events in any manufacturing plant are usually banal (picnics Xmas) The
real pisser was that after you spent all year fixing marketing and sales
mistakes, they go to the Bahamas to pick up their bonus checks. Business Casual
was the dress code. This is a field that men dominate because it grew out of
warehousing and shipping. The women that I did work with if they could take some
really childish outbursts from men old enough to be their father did as well or
better than the men. This is a job to take on for a while to get some
recognition and then move somewhere in the company you like, It's kind of a boot
camp for future department heads and vice presidents.
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Compensation
This is the midwest and entry level is about $40,000 to a senior
level planner at about $75,000. No bonuses, options and the
benefits are the same as anyone else in the company.
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Advice to Jobseekers
Drink Heavily :) Seriously this is a chance to identify where
major changes in the system need to occur. Find a Senior Manager
to champion your ideas and pretty soon you will seen as a go guy
for the big project. Find a hobby to let off steam with after
work (target practice?) The job will always be there. It is
being performed more and more by Dbases with a VBasic overlay
that does the calculating for you. SAP and Peoplesoft are the 2
big ones. The downside is now that everyone wants to be global
and JIT there is less room for error and the customers are
generally quick to let you know about the competition from the
third world.
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