Production Planner Jobs - South Elgin, Illinois (IL)

Production Planner - Job Description

Lakeview Precision Manufacturing is a precision CNC machining company that produces complex, tight-tolerance components for demanding industries. As we grow, we are adding a Production Planner to serve as the operational backbone of our daily floor execution - the person who holds the full picture of what is running, what is moving, and what needs to happen next.

This role owns our daily priority list, manages outside work logistics, coordinates vendor communication, and ensures our driver is prepared and ready to route each morning. You will work closely with our Production Lead and Logistics team to keep jobs moving without interruption.

This is a highly visible, judgment-intensive role. The right person thrives in a fast-paced shop environment, is comfortable making priority calls under pressure, and communicates clearly with internal teams and external vendors alike.

Key Responsibilities

Priority List Management

• Own, maintain, and publish the daily production priority list across all four categories: Ship to Customer, Secondary, Returning from Outside Work, and Ship to Outside Work.
• Pull schedule data from our production management system and cross-reference against customer due dates to determine daily and weekly priorities.
• Update the priority list in real time as jobs complete, ship, return from vendors, or change in urgency.
• Communicate priority changes clearly to the Production Lead, operators, and secondary team.

Outside Work Coordination

• Manage all jobs traveling to and from outside processing vendors - including grinding, plating, heat treating, anodizing, assembly, and secondary operations.
• Call vendors daily to obtain status updates on jobs at outside facilities and update the priority list accordingly.
• Coordinate PO creation with the purchasing team when jobs are ready to ship to a vendor.
• Ensure parts are staged, labeled, and ready for driver pickup in advance of the daily route.
• Track vendor lead times and flag delays proactively before they impact customer delivery dates.

Driver Route & Logistics Readiness

• Organize and finalize the driver's daily route each afternoon in preparation for the following morning.
• Confirm all outbound shipments to vendors are staged, documented, and ready before the driver departs.
• Coordinate with Logistics to ensure pickups from vendors are scheduled and on the route.

Floor Communication & Priority Decisions

• Serve as a daily communication bridge between scheduling, the production floor, and outside vendors.
• Work with the Production Lead to resolve priority conflicts when machine issues, delays, or hot jobs require real-time adjustments.
• Identify jobs approaching due dates that need secondary operations, rework, or outside processing and escalate before they become late.
• Attend daily production meetings and contribute accurate, up-to-date job status information.
• Proactively notify the Sales team when a customer delivery date is at risk due to production delays, machine issues, or vendor setbacks - never let a missed delivery be a surprise to the customer.
• Adjust and re-sequence the production schedule when bottlenecks arise, working with the Production Lead to realign priorities and minimize impact on delivery commitments.

What We're Looking For

Required

• 2+ years of experience in a manufacturing, production planning, or operations coordination role
• Strong organizational skills - you can manage 30+ active jobs simultaneously without losing track
• Comfortable making judgment calls under pressure when priorities conflict
• Clear, direct communicator with internal teams and external vendors
• Proficient in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets; able to maintain and update a working priority list daily
• Able to read and interpret a production schedule and understand machine-level job assignments

Preferred

• Familiarity with CNC machining operations and outside processing (heat treat, plating, grinding, anodizing)
• Experience with ERP or MRP systems in a job shop or make-to-order environment
• Experience coordinating with outside processing vendors or freight logistics
• Exposure to Monday.com, JobBOSS, or similar shop management platforms

What Success Looks Like

• The priority list is updated and published every morning before production begins
• The driver departs on time with a complete, accurate route every day
• No jobs are late due to missed vendor follow-up or lack of visibility
• The Production Lead and operators always know what to work on next without having to ask
• Vendor delays are surfaced proactively - not discovered the day a job is due

Why Lakeview Precision

We are a growing, family-rooted precision manufacturer with a team that takes pride in the work we do. We invest in our people, promote from within, and are building the operational infrastructure to support continued growth. This role is a critical part of that foundation - and the right person will have real impact on how the shop runs every day.