Production Coordinator

Position Summary

The Production Coordinator reports directly to the Production Manager and is responsible for supporting daily manufacturing operations by forecasting, planning, scheduling, and coordinating production activities to meet customer demand, production targets, and delivery commitments. The role serves as a central point of coordination between Production, Customer Care, Inventory Control, Purchasing, Procurement, Logistics, Quality Assurance, Maintenance, and Engineering. The Production Coordinator monitors production progress, material availability, capacity, and changing priorities, and communicates risks and schedule adjustments to support efficient workflow and on-time delivery.

Key Responsibilities

Production Coordination

• Forecast, plan, schedule, and coordinate daily production activities to meet customer demand, production targets, and delivery timelines.
• Develop and maintain short-, medium-, and long-term rolling production forecasts based on customer demand, order trends, inventory levels, capacity, and material lead times.
• Create and proactively adjust production schedules to accommodate changes in customer priorities, demand forecasts, material availability, production capacity, and unexpected delays.
• Monitor production progress and schedule adherence, identify potential issues, and take corrective action to minimize disruptions.
• Collaborate with Supervisors, Team Leaders, and Engineers to optimize production resources, capacity, workflow, and resource allocation.
• Maintain accurate production records, job orders, work instructions, schedules, and related documentation.
• Coordinate daily production priorities with Supervisors and Team Leaders to ensure the highest-priority orders are clearly communicated and completed according to schedule.
• Review upcoming production requirements and identify capacity constraints, bottlenecks, staffing limitations, or equipment availability issues before they affect scheduled production.
• Coordinate production requirements between shifts to support effective handoffs, continuity of work, and clear communication of outstanding priorities.
• Coordinate schedule changes and production priorities resulting from machine downtime, quality issues, material shortages, staffing changes, or other unforeseen production interruptions.

Customer and Cross-Functional Coordination

• Communicate closely with Customer Care to understand customer requirements, order priorities, delivery commitments, and changes in demand.
• Coordinate with Inventory Control to monitor inventory levels, material availability, shortages, and established inventory thresholds.
• Work collaboratively with Purchasing, Procurement, Logistics, Quality Assurance, Maintenance, Engineering, and Production teams to support the timely execution of production plans.
• Provide timely updates regarding production status, material constraints, schedule changes, and potential impacts on customer deliveries.
• Act as the central point of coordination between Customer Care and Production to ensure customer priorities and delivery requirements are understood and reflected in the production schedule.
• Communicate changes to production priorities promptly and ensure affected departments understand the impact on existing schedules and commitments.
• Coordinate recovery plans for delayed or at-risk orders and provide regular updates until the issue is resolved.

Inventory and Material Planning

• Coordinate with Purchasing and Inventory Control to ensure raw materials and components are available to support production requirements.
• Monitor inventory levels and coordinate material reordering based on production forecasts, demand requirements, lead times, and established inventory thresholds.
• Support MRP and ERP planning by maintaining accurate production requirements and ensuring material availability aligns with production schedules.
• Identify and escalate material shortages, inventory risks, and supply constraints that may affect production or customer deliveries.
• Review upcoming production schedules against available raw materials, consumables, components, and finished goods inventory to identify potential shortages before production is scheduled.
• Assist in establishing and maintaining appropriate inventory levels and planning parameters based on historical usage, demand, lead times, and production requirements.

Reporting and Continuous Improvement

• Prepare and present daily and weekly production reports covering production progress, schedule adherence, inventory concerns, material availability, and forecast changes.
• Analyze production and inventory information to identify potential constraints, improve planning accuracy, and support informed decision-making.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives focused on production efficiency, inventory optimization, schedule adherence, and customer service.
• Track and report key production planning metrics, including schedule adherence, on-time completion, backorder levels, production capacity, downtime impacts, and order recovery performance.
• Identify recurring scheduling, material, capacity, or communication issues and work with the appropriate departments to develop corrective actions.
• Assist Production Management in identifying opportunities to improve production flow, reduce downtime, minimize changeover impacts, and improve overall resource utilization.

Compliance, Quality and Safety

• Ensure production activities comply with company policies, quality standards, work instructions, and applicable safety requirements.
• Identify and promptly communicate production, inventory, material, forecasting, and delivery-related issues to the appropriate teams.
• Support a safe, organized, and efficient production environment through effective planning, coordination, and communication.
• Coordinate with Quality Assurance when quality issues, holds, rework, or non-conforming material affect production schedules or customer commitments.
• Ensure schedule changes resulting from quality, safety, maintenance, or engineering issues are properly communicated and reflected in the production plan.
• Escalate recurring or significant production risks to Production Management with sufficient information to support timely decision-making.

Qualifications and Experience

• Post-secondary diploma or degree in Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, Operations Management, or a related field is preferred.
• Minimum of two years of experience in production coordination, production planning, scheduling, inventory control, or a similar role, preferably in a manufacturing environment.
• Strong understanding of production workflows, capacity planning, inventory management, forecasting, and material requirements planning.
• Experience using ERP or MRP systems. Experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365 is considered an asset.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, Word, and Outlook.
• Strong organizational, analytical, problem-solving, and prioritization skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to coordinate effectively across departments and shifts.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities, respond to changing production requirements, and maintain accuracy in a fast-paced environment.
• High attention to detail and the ability to maintain accurate records, reports, schedules, and planning data.