Operations Planner – Production, Logistics & AI
If you like solving puzzles, you might like this job.
Except the puzzle changes every day.
Orders move. Machines run at different speeds. Priorities change. People and materials need to be in the right place. Three factories need to work together. Finished and part-finished goods need shuttling between sites. And somewhere amongst all of that, our customers still expect their orders on time.
That is where you come in.
We’re looking for an Operations Planner to join Ablebox and take a central role in planning and coordinating production across our three manufacturing sites.
But this isn’t a job where you create a schedule in the morning, send it out and consider the planning finished.
The plan is only the beginning.
The role has three important parts.
1. Build the plan
You’ll take demand, capacity, machine capability, production routes, staffing, logistics and priorities and turn them into a robust strategic production plan.
That means deciding not just when something should be made, but where, in what sequence and using what resources.
You’ll be planning production across three factories, including the movement of work between them and the staffing resources required to make the overall operation work.
2. Help production deliver it
Once production starts, you don’t disappear behind a spreadsheet.
You’ll stay plugged into what is happening across the factories and work closely with our production management teams as the plan progresses.
Machines stop. Jobs take longer or shorter than expected. Customers change priorities. Materials arrive. Capacity opens up.
A great planner spots what those changes mean before they become tomorrow’s problem.
You’ll continually reassess the plan, solve problems and make intelligent decisions to keep production flowing and customer commitments protected.
3. Make planning smarter
We generate a lot of operational data, and we are increasingly integrating AI into how Ablebox operates.
We want someone who is genuinely interested in using data analysis, systems and AI as planning tools.
Not because we think AI replaces a good planner.
Quite the opposite.
We think the best results come from combining powerful technology with someone who understands production, asks the right questions and knows when the computer’s answer doesn’t quite make sense.
You might be a great fit if…
You have previous experience in production planning, manufacturing planning, scheduling or a similar operational role.
You enjoy working with numbers and data, but you’re equally comfortable walking onto a factory floor and talking to production managers.
You naturally think several moves ahead.
You enjoy problems where there isn’t necessarily one obvious answer.
You can balance efficiency, customer priorities and operational reality.
You stay calm when the carefully constructed plan suddenly needs changing.
And ideally, you’ve had some exposure to production or operational management, so you understand what it actually takes to turn a schedule into finished product.
What we’re really looking for
We can teach systems.
We can teach our factories.
We can teach our products and processes.
What is harder to teach is the mindset of somebody who looks at a complicated operational problem and thinks:
“There must be a better way of doing this.”
If that sounds like you, we’d like to hear from you.
Apply with your CV and tell us a little about the most interesting planning or operational problem you’ve solved.
Pay: £55,000.00-£75,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Free parking
- On-site parking
Work Location: In person
