Occupation
Production planner
Production planners decide what gets made, on which line, in what order, and with which materials. They balance customer demand against capacity, material availability, and changeover cost, then re-plan whenever a machine goes down or a delivery slips. The work is analytical but highly interruptible, since the plan rarely survives contact with the shop floor unchanged.
Also known as: Production scheduler · Master scheduler · Materials planner · Manufacturing planner · MRP planner
Occupation content
Part of Manufacturing, production and quality
What the work involves
- Build and publish the production schedule from demand, stock, and capacity data
- Run material requirements planning and raise or expedite purchase and works orders
- Re-sequence work when breakdowns, shortages, or urgent customer orders disrupt the plan
- Review inventory coverage and flag shortage risks to purchasing and operations
- Meet with production, quality, and despatch to confirm commitments and constraints
- Maintain planning parameters such as lead times, batch rules, and routings in the system
How people commonly enter
- A college diploma or certificate in supply chain, operations, or business administration
- Progression from stores, purchasing, customer service, or production administration
- A degree in supply chain management, operations, or engineering
- Professional planning or inventory management certification taken while working
Typical training: Certificate or college diploma
Licensing: Not typically licensed
Typical work context
Desk based · Team based · Fast paced · Hybrid office · Predictable routine
Related interests
Conventional (organizing) · Investigative (analytical) · Enterprising (leading)
Related aptitude preparation
These are preparation links only. They do not measure eligibility for this occupation and no score here qualifies or disqualifies anyone.
Skills to practise
- Planning and scheduling exercises
- Numerical reasoning
- Data interpretation
- Problem solving
- Data checking and clerical accuracy
Practice suites
Related learning
Family-level learning links for Manufacturing, production and quality.
Official sources
Labour-market facts such as pay and employment projections are not reproduced here. Open an official source below for figures, with its own geography and reference period.
- O*NET OnLine — occupation search: production planner · United States
Link checked
- Canada Job Bank — Search job profiles · Canada
Link checked
- UK National Careers Service — Explore careers · United Kingdom
Link checked
Labour-market context (not part of exploration match)
This is broad family-level context for Manufacturing, production and quality in Canada, not a figure for Production planner. It does not affect matching scores and is not an eligibility determination.
This is a broad Manufacturing, production and quality family. Explore the official profile for the chosen occupation; entry education and training can differ within the family.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Manufacturing, production and quality: education pathways
Some roles in Manufacturing, production and quality may be regulated. Confirm whether the specific role requires registration, certification, or a jurisdiction-specific licence.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Manufacturing, production and quality: licensing
Find jobs
These are live, user-controlled searches on each source's own site for “ Production planner”. Novus Learn does not fetch, store, or rank these results, and job availability never changes your exploration match score.
- Search Canada Job Bank · Canada
- Search USAJOBS · United States federal
- Search EURES · European Union / EEA
- Search Indeed · International (choose location on Indeed)