Directed Energy Materials Planning and Production Control Manager

Worker Type

Regular

Job Description

Summary

The Directed Energy Materials Planning and Production Control Manager is responsible for managing the end-to-end flow of materials, resources, production planning, material planning, and manufacturing execution throughout the complete product lifecycle from proof of concept and prototype development through research and development, Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP), and Full-Rate Production (FRP).

This position ensures that material availability, production capacity, planning systems, supplier performance, inventory levels, and manufacturing schedules are aligned with program objectives, engineering requirements, customer commitments, quality standards, and financial targets. The manager partners closely with Engineering, Program Management, Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, Finance, and Manufacturing to establish scalable processes that support product maturity and successful transition into production.

Position Responsibilities

Product Lifecycle and Program Support

- Establish materials and production control strategies appropriate for each phase of the product lifecycle:

- Proof of concept
- Prototype development
- Research and development
- Engineering and design validation
- Low-Rate Initial Production
- Full-Rate Production
- Sustaining production and lifecycle support

- Participate in program/material planning, design reviews, manufacturing readiness reviews, and production readiness assessments.
- Translate program requirements, engineering plans, demand forecasts, and customer commitments into executable material and production plans.
- Establish appropriate planning rigor, inventory strategies, lead-time assumptions, and control processes for each phase of product maturity.
- Identify risks associated with long-lead materials, constrained components, sole-source suppliers, capacity limitations, obsolescence, and design changes.
- Support product transition from development into production by defining readiness criteria, production control requirements, and material flow processes.
- Ensure lessons learned from prototype and R&D builds are incorporated into LRIP and FRP planning.

Materials Management

- Develop and maintain material requirements, purchasing plans, replenishment strategies, and inventory objectives.
- Ensure timely availability of direct materials, indirect materials, tooling, consumables, and production support items.
- Manage material allocation and prioritization when components are constrained or program requirements compete for the same resources.
- Establish controls for excess, obsolete, slow-moving, nonconforming, and program-specific inventory.
- Monitor inventory accuracy, material shortages, material availability, and inventory health.
- Coordinate with Engineering and Supply Chain on approved substitutions, alternate sources, component obsolescence, and engineering changes.
- Support material disposition activities in coordination with Quality, Engineering, and Operations.
- Ensure proper handling and traceability of serialized, lot-controlled, customer-furnished, and special-process materials.
- Develop strategies for long-lead and high-risk components, including early procurement, strategic buys, safety stock, and supplier capacity reservations.

Production Planning and Control

- Own the development and maintenance of master production schedules, material plans, build plans, and detailed production schedules.
- Convert demand signals, sales orders, contracts, forecasts, and program schedules into realistic production plans.
- Balance customer delivery requirements, available capacity, material constraints, labor availability, and manufacturing priorities.
- Establish production control processes that support prototype builds, engineering builds, pilot production, LRIP, FRP, rework, repair, and sustaining production.
- Coordinate build readiness activities to verify that materials, documentation, tooling, equipment, labor, and work instructions are available before production starts.
- Monitor work-in-process, schedule adherence, production output, bottlenecks, and order status.
- Lead recovery planning for schedule disruptions, material shortages, quality issues, engineering changes, and capacity constraints.
- Establish appropriate batch sizes, lot sizes, reorder points, safety stocks, and production release methods.
- Ensure timely release, sequencing, and closure of production orders in the enterprise resource planning system.
- Develop and maintain capacity plans for labor, equipment, work centers, manufacturing cells, and critical processes.
- Support make-versus-buy decisions and the internal or external allocation of production work.

Production Readiness and Scale-Up

- Define materials and production control requirements for progression from prototype and R&D builds into LRIP and FRP.
- Establish production readiness gates and metrics for material availability, supplier readiness, capacity, process maturity, inventory, and schedule performance.
- Support factory layout, line balancing, work-center planning, labor modeling, and capacity expansion activities.
- Partner with Manufacturing Engineering and Operations to identify constraints and improve production flow.
- Develop scalable planning and control processes that support increased production volume without compromising quality, cost, or delivery.
- Support pilot builds, first article activities, rate demonstrations, qualification builds, and customer acceptance activities.
- Identify and implement process improvements that reduce cycle time, shortages, excess inventory, expediting, and production interruptions.
- Ensure production control processes are capable of supporting changing demand, configuration variations, and product improvements.

Cross-Functional Leadership

- Lead cross-functional shortage reviews, production planning meetings, material review meetings, and program supply reviews.
- Partner with Program Management to communicate schedule risks, material risks, production status, and recovery actions.
- Work closely with Engineering to understand design maturity, bills of material, configuration changes, effectivity, and release timing.
- Coordinate with Supply Chain and Procurement to address supplier commitments, purchase order timing, lead times, delivery performance, and escalation actions.
- Collaborate with Quality to manage nonconforming materials, supplier quality issues, inspection requirements, and material disposition.
- Coordinate with Finance to align inventory, working capital, cost, and program financial objectives.
- Provide clear, timely status updates to leadership regarding material availability, production performance, constraints, and risks.
- Develop strong working relationships with internal stakeholders, suppliers, and contract manufacturers.

Systems, Data, and Process Governance