Freelance Production Planner – SAP PP/MRP – 4-Month Contract
Location: Dourges, Hauts-de-France, France
Start Date: ASAP
Duration: Contract until end of year
Rate: Please Quote Expectations
Contract Type: Freelance / Temporary
We are working with a manufacturing organisation seeking an experienced Production Planner to join their operation in Dourges, France on a freelance basis. This is an opportunity for a planner with strong SAP experience to take responsibility for production scheduling and help ensure manufacturing activity remains aligned with customer demand, available capacity and operational requirements.
The role will involve planning across short-, medium- and long-term horizons, with responsibility for maintaining accurate production schedules and responding quickly when circumstances change. You will need to balance a range of factors including production capacity, material availability, stock levels, customer requirements, machine availability and changing priorities.
A strong practical understanding of SAP PP/MRP is essential, while hands-on experience using SAP MF50 Planning Table to plan production across manufacturing lines and resources would be highly advantageous.
The Role
As Production Planner, you will play a key role in coordinating production requirements and ensuring that plans remain achievable as operational conditions change. You’ll work with production, materials and other relevant teams to identify constraints, adjust schedules and communicate changes effectively.
Your responsibilities will include:
- Creating and maintaining short-, medium- and long-term production plans and schedules.
- Planning manufacturing activity against customer demand and available production capacity.
- Using SAP PP/MRP to manage production requirements, materials, orders and planning data.
- Working with SAP MF50 Planning Table to schedule production quantities across different production lines and resources.
- Reviewing production requirements and ensuring schedules reflect current operational priorities.
- Monitoring material availability and identifying potential shortages that could affect production.
- Reviewing inventory and stock levels as part of the wider production planning process.
- Re-planning production when there are changes to customer demand, machine availability, materials, capacity or operational priorities.
- Monitoring production performance against the agreed plan and identifying deviations.
- Communicating changes to production schedules and highlighting potential risks or constraints to relevant stakeholders.
- Maintaining accurate planning data, schedules and reports within SAP and other planning systems.
- Analysing planning information to support effective decisions around production priorities and available resources.
- Working closely with internal teams to resolve scheduling issues and minimise disruption to production.
- Supporting a structured and data-driven approach to production planning and scheduling.
The successful candidate will be comfortable working in a fast-moving manufacturing environment where plans can change quickly. You should be able to assess competing priorities, understand the impact of operational constraints and make practical adjustments to production schedules when required.
What we’re looking for
We’re looking for someone who has already worked in a Production Planner, Supply Planner, Materials Planner or similar position within a manufacturing environment.
You’ll ideally have:
- Proven experience in production planning and scheduling within a manufacturing environment.
- Strong practical experience using SAP PP/MRP.
- Hands-on experience with SAP MF50 Planning Table is highly desirable.
- A good understanding of MRP, capacity planning, production scheduling and material requirements.
- Experience planning production around available resources, materials and operational constraints.
- Strong Microsoft Excel skills, including the ability to manipulate, review and analyse planning data.
- The ability to work confidently with large amounts of information and identify the priorities that require action.
- A structured and analytical approach to planning and problem solving.
- Strong communication skills and the ability to coordinate effectively with different teams.
- The flexibility to adapt production plans when demand, capacity or material availability changes.
Experience working with SAP in a production environment is particularly important for this position. You should be comfortable using planning data to make decisions rather than simply maintaining schedules, and able to understand how changes in one area can affect wider production requirements.
Why this opportunity?
This Freelance Production Planner role offers the opportunity to take ownership of production planning within an established manufacturing environment. You’ll be working directly with operational requirements and will have an important role in keeping production schedules realistic, responsive and aligned with demand.
For a planner with strong SAP PP, MRP and production scheduling experience, this is a chance to work on a hands-on contract where your planning expertise can have a direct impact on day-to-day manufacturing performance.
The initial contract runs through to the end of the year, with an ASAP start, making this particularly suited to an experienced freelance or temporary Production Planner who is available to take on a new assignment.
Apply
If you’re an experienced Production Planner with SAP PP/MRP experience and are available for a freelance contract in Dourges, France, we’d like to hear from you.
Please upload an up-to-date CV along with your availability for a call should you be shortlisted.