Material Control Planner, Ford Energy

As the Material Control Planner, you will play a crucial role in keeping our battery manufacturing operation supplied with the right materials, in the right quantities, at the right time.

You will plan and coordinate material flow from suppliers to the production line, covering electrode materials, cells, modules, and DC block components. Your work will involve collaboration with various teams, including Production, Purchasing, Quality, Engineering, Suppliers, and Logistics to prevent shortages, control inventory, and support production ramp-ups.

Responsibilities

Planning & Scheduling

• Convert the master production schedule and customer demand into material requirements using MRP.
• Maintain ERP planning parameters, including lead times, safety stock, lot sizes, and reorder points.
• Review MRP exception messages and take action to expedite, reschedule, or cancel orders.
• Build short- and long-term material plans for ramp-ups, model changeovers, and scenario planning.

Supplier & Inbound Coordination

• Monitor releases to supply base.
• Monitor supplier delivery performance and resolve late or short shipments.
• Coordinate expedited and premium freight and track the associated costs.
• Work with logistics and customs teams on international and domestic shipments.
• Flag supply risks, such as capacity limits or raw material availability, to Purchasing and plant leadership.

Inventory Management

• Maintain inventory levels that balance line-side and warehouse availability within available plant storage.
• Support cycle counts, reconcile discrepancies, and identify root causes.
• Manage lot and batch traceability for semi-finished and finished goods.
• Monitor FIFO/FEFO to shelf-life-sensitive materials.
• Reduce excess, obsolete, and slow-moving inventory.
• Manage quality campaigns through the supply chain with zero impact to customer schedules.

Production Support

• Ensure materials are available when required for production scheduled shift.
• Coordinate replenishment with material handlers, warehouse staff, and production/quality teams.
• Respond to shortages and line-stop risks, and lead cross-functional resolution.

Quality, Safety & Compliance

• Coordinate quarantine, hold, and release of nonconforming material with Quality.
• Support containment actions, supplier corrective actions, and returns.
• Follow safety and regulatory requirements for hazardous and non-hazardous materials.

Engineering Change & Launch Support

• Manage ECN/ECO part number cutovers and the depletion of old stock.
• Plan materials for prototype, pilot, and trial builds.
• Account for scrap and yield loss in material plans.
• Work with Engineering to keep BOMs accurate.

Reporting & Continuous Improvement

• Track and report KPIs: inventory turns, inventory accuracy, shortages, on-time supplier delivery, material-related downtime, and premium freight.
• Support month-end close, including inventory adjustments and variance explanations.
• Participate in lean initiatives to reduce waste and improve material flow.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Business, Engineering, or a related field, OR 2+ years of experience in material planning, production control inventory management within a manufacturing environment.
• Working knowledge of ERP/MRP systems (SAP, Oracle or similar).
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Access).
• Ability to work under pressure in a fast-paced environment.
• Willingness to travel domestically and internationally as needed.

Benefits

• Immediate medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage.
• Paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up child care and more.
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments and more.
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases.
• Tuition assistance.
• Established and active employee resource groups.
• Paid time off for individual and team community service.
• Generous vacation time, sick/personal time, and paid holidays, including between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day.