Assistant Planning Manager

Responsibilities

Industrial engineering and capacity modelling

• Understand and apply Standard Minute Values (SMV), operation breakdown, routing, and line-balancing concepts to the factory capacity and loading plan.
• Work with the IE team to identify bottlenecks by department, operation, line, and machine type or product, and find solutions that enable better efficiency in the plan.
• Support productivity improvement and method improvement initiatives.
• Factory planning
• Prepare operation-wise and line-wise loading plans based on delivery dates, machinery, capacity, and efficiency requirements.
• Maintain and operate the single official, system-driven master plan that integrates all departments (cutting, sewing, finishing, packing, and shipment readiness), under the direction of the IE Manager.
• From that master plan, generate synchronized cutting plans, sewing line plans, finishing and packing plans, and dispatch-readiness plans.
• Identify machine constraints and support investment planning for special machines and automation.

ERP and advanced Excel systems

• Act as a key user of the factory's live ERP planning, capacity, routing, and line-loading modules, working closely with the Assistant Factory Merchandiser.
• Develop advanced Excel models (pivot tables, Power Query, dashboards, what-if simulations).
• Integrate ERP data with Excel for scenario planning (style mix, efficiency changes, absenteeism, machine downtime).
• Ensure rapid re-planning and re-loading in case of order changes or disruptions.
• Pre-production and critical path control
• Ensure all pre-production activities (PP meetings, pilot runs, size sets, material readiness) are reflected in the plan.
• Simulate risks to delivery and propose mitigation actions in advance.
• Support critical path monitoring to protect ex-factory dates.
• Plan vs actual and performance control
• Track daily and weekly plan vs actual by line, department, and order.
• Analyse root causes of deviations (capacity, efficiency, material, machine, manpower).
• Drive corrective actions with production, IE, maintenance, and merchandising teams.
• Generate ERP and Excel-based dashboards on capacity utilization, efficiency, bottlenecks, and delivery performance.
• Provide analytical insights to Factory Management for decision-making.

Post production

• Ensure the order completion report is done after every container exit.
• Provide a report on leftover fabric, trims, accessories, and garments to the merchandising team.

Capability building

• As the planning team is rebuilt, help train and mentor junior planners in system usage, analytical thinking, and basic IE concepts, and support development of the planning talent pipeline.

Key performance indicators

• Plan-vs-actual variance kept within target each week, by line and department.
• Ex-factory on-time delivery percentage maintained or improved.
• Machine and capacity utilization tracked against plan, with bottlenecks flagged early.
• Fast re-planning turnaround after an order change or disruption.
• A single official master plan maintained as the source of truth, synchronized across all departments.

Qualifications and attributes

• Degree in Industrial Engineering, Mechanical/Production/Manufacturing Engineering, Operations Engineering/Management, Systems Engineering, or another relevant analytical or engineering discipline.
• 2 to 3 years experience in a manufacturing environment in planning or operations analysis, ideally in Industrial Engineering or Production Planning and Control.
• Strong analytical and numerical skills.
• Advanced Excel capability (pivot tables, formulas, dashboards, scenario modelling).
• Experience with ERP planning modules preferred.
• High learning ability and interest in being trained into a full Industrial Engineering role.
• Excellent team development and cross-cultural communication skills.
• Proactive, resilient, adaptable, and resourceful, able to work under pressure, meet deadlines, and multi-task in a fast-paced environment, with high personal integrity.