Production Planner

Freelance Production Planner – 12 Month Contract

Location: Halle, Belgium
Contract: Freelance, 12 months initially with potential to extend
Hours: 40 hours per week
Start: ASAP
Rate: All-inclusive hourly/daily rate

About our Client

Our client is a multinational machine-building company operating primarily across the food and pharmaceutical sectors. They design and manufacture bespoke machinery based on client requirements, while also investing in R&D and providing workshop facilities where customers can develop and test new products using their machines.

Role Overview

We’re looking for an experienced Production Planner to take ownership of production planning across a portfolio of machine-building projects.

You’ll translate project requirements, production capacity and material availability into realistic, achievable production plans, giving teams a clear view of what is coming, when it is needed and what could impact delivery.

Working across Production, Project Management, Supply Chain, Warehouse and Validation, you’ll identify shortages, bottlenecks and critical path risks early and ensure the different teams are working from the same plan.

The focus is on anticipating issues rather than reacting to them.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and maintain integrated production plans for assembly projects, aligned with project milestones and committed delivery dates.
• Sequence and prioritise pre-assembly and assembly activities based on capacity and material availability.
• Continuously review and update plans as project scope, priorities and timelines change.
• Plan and level-load available capacity across people, floor space and different assembly phases.
• Identify bottlenecks, overloads and idle capacity early and work with Operations to address them.
• Monitor material readiness across production and assembly phases and proactively manage shortages.
• Work closely with Supply Chain to resolve material shortages and align delivery dates.
• Coordinate material picking and delivery sequencing with the Warehouse.
• Work closely with the Production Manager to manage production orders and maintain an accurate, reliable order book.
• Maintain accurate planning master data, including routings, lead times and order dates, in collaboration with the Production Preparation team.
• Use SAP S/4HANA as the single source of truth and promote strong data discipline across operational teams.
• Provide clear visibility of upcoming production and assembly activities and each project’s critical path.
• Anticipate upcoming work, identify risks and constraints and ensure decisions are made early.
• Translate complex production plans into clear, visual overviews that can be easily understood across departments.
• Act as the central planning point of contact between Project Management, Production, Warehouse, Validation and Supply Chain.
• Lead regular planning and shortage meetings, aligning priorities, sequencing and commitments.
• Assess the impact of engineering and scope changes on production schedules and communicate the implications clearly.
• Track planning KPIs including schedule adherence, on-time delivery and work in progress.
• Drive continuous improvement across planning processes, tools and ways of working.

What We’re Looking For

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Industrial Engineering, Logistics or equivalent experience.
• Several years’ experience in Production Planning or Project Planning, ideally within project-based or CTO/ETO manufacturing environments.
• Experience within machine building or complex manufacturing is highly desirable.
• Strong, hands-on experience with SAP S/4HANA is essential.
• Strong Excel and planning-tool skills, ideally including experience with the Microsoft Power Platform.
• Strong analytical and organisational skills, with the ability to turn complex plans into clear, practical overviews.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to coordinate multiple departments and stakeholders.
• A pragmatic, proactive approach with the confidence to take ownership and drive issues forward.
• Dutch and English speaking.

Apply

If you’re an experienced Production Planner with strong SAP S/4HANA experience and a background in project-based manufacturing, we’d be interested in hearing from you.

Please apply below!