Lead Planner

About the Role:

Who are we, and what do we do?

You may not have heard of us, but there's a good chance you've enjoyed our products. Avara Foods is one of the UK's leading food businesses, supplying chicken and turkey to the country's major supermarkets and well-known restaurants.

We own and manage our entire supply chain, from farms to factory and all the way to the customer door - meaning we have careers that cover a whole range of functions. We have major processing sites across England and Wales, and an agricultural network of over 350 farms, spanning from North Yorkshire to the South Coast and Wales.

A little about our Telford site:

Our advanced manufacturing site in Telford, Shropshire, is one of our most advanced manufacturing sites, and we've invested heavily into state-of-the-art facilities. Our Telford site is a flagship Cut and Pack centre for Avara, which employs over 1400 talented individuals at the site, who help to supply some of the UK's largest supermarkets and popular restaurants!

About the Role:

Are you passionate about scheduling? Looking for a new challenge? Do you have experience or qualifications in planning workflow in a production environment?

As a Lead Planner, you will create & update short-term production plans required for product assembly in a fast-moving, high-volume, and frequently changing environment, where there is a significant amount of incoming data from various sources which requires the ability to analyse, process, make decisions and communicate effectively.

This involves management of incoming raw material, work allocation to lines taking various constraints into consideration, monitoring of finished goods stocks and outgoing orders.

The role is mainly office based, however you may be required to enter into the factory environment so you'll be exposed to a fast-paced, dynamic FMCG factory environment which is noisy and refrigerated in some areas, manufacturing short shelf life products where hygiene standards are critical.

As a Lead Planner you'll predominantly be working Monday to Friday 08.00 to 17.00, but may need to flex to cover and support your team.

What will your key responsibilities as Lead Planner include?

• Ensure short-term production plans are prepared, updated and communicated to enable customer orders to be produced in a timely and efficient manner.
• Creating a weekly plan, presenting this to members of the planning and production teams.
• Tracking daily packing and preparation schedules ensuring fulfilment of the plan.
• Helping avert potential service level and performance issues by escalating variances.
• Planning optimal use of bird weights, labour resources and equipment.
• Continually tracking actual performance versus planned performance to help push corrective actions.
• Gathering knowledge of wider factory processes to record and analyse performance data.
• Using performance data to continuously improve personnel and functional performance.

What you'll need to be successful:

• Previous experience within a fast-moving manufacturing or production environment.
• Excellent communication skills with colleagues of all levels.
• A high standard of IT proficiency including using Microsoft Excel to collate and present data.
• The ability to adapt quickly using real-time information updates.

The benefits of working for Avara Foods:

As a Lead Planner you will enjoy a secure, supportive and progressive working environment, where your contribution and achievements will be recognised and rewarded.

We offer comprehensive training as well as continuous development as you build your long-term career with us. You can also look forward to benefits that amongst other things, include the following:

• £38,000+ DOE per annum
• 31 days holiday allowance
• Secure contract with long-term career development opportunities
• Straightforward pension contribution of 4%
• Life assurance
• Cycle to work scheme
• Salaried Advance Finance
• Salary Sacrifice Car Scheme
• Access to our Employee Benefit Scheme, which includes unlimited remote GP appointments and unlimited mental health sessions, physiotherapy sessions, medical second opinion consultation, and other discounts and perks, such as savings & discounts on weekly costs.

Ts & Cs apply

What happens after you apply for this role?

After you've applied, you'll be contacted in due course by a member of our Resourcing team, to discuss your application and CV further. There'll also be a chance for you to ask us any questions you may have about the role.

If you're ready to work in a dynamic environment alongside talented people who take pride in delivering great results, apply today!

We are committed to being an equal opportunities employer.

INDHP