Production Planner / Expeditor

Type: Full Time

Location: Beachwood, OH

Helix Linear Technologies designs and manufactures high-precision motion control systems — ball screws, linear actuators, and custom assemblies — for customers ranging across aerospace, medical, defense, and automation applications. We design, machine, grind, and assemble critical components in-house, holding tolerances down to ±0.0001 inches in a climate-controlled facility equipped with advanced machines and equipment. We're a growing company building the systems and team required to scale with discipline.

About the Position

This role owns the gap between what's planned and what actually ships. The Production Planner / Expeditor is the connective tissue between scheduling, the floor, purchasing, and customer commitments, making sure nothing stalls, and no one's surprised.

Reporting to the Master Scheduler, you will work daily with Planning, Operations, Production Supervisors, Purchasing, Engineering, and Customer Support. The work is hands-on, detail-heavy, and system-dependent. This position reports to the Master Planner.

Responsibilities:

Work Release & Backlog Management:

• Firm and release jobs from the Production Planning Workbench; maintain 6-8+ weeks of available work on the floor
• Manage the open sales order backlog daily; verify operation and job status entries in Epicor (ERP).
• Make planning decisions, combining jobs, adjusting quantities, sequencing, and communicating with internal teams when material needs to be expedited to meet demand.
• Coordinate job priorities with the Master Planner and Production Supervisors
• Identify recurring planning or scheduling breakdowns; surface them with a recommendation

Schedule Adherence & Escalation:

• Actively track WIP; identify jobs at risk before they miss dates
• Expedite critical jobs through operations to protect customer commitments
• Communicate job status, delays, and risks to supervisors and leadership proactively
• Attend daily production meetings; provide accurate, concise updates

ERP Discipline & Data Integrity:

• Maintain clean, current job data in ERP (Epicor); no stale records
• Transfer and organize scheduling data from Epicor into Excel/Word as needed

Cross-Department Collaboration & Communication:

• Flag material availability issues to Purchasing; escalate supplier reliability risks that affect the schedule
• Coordinate with Engineering and Quality on job holds or deviations that impact sequencing
• Support Customer Support with accurate job status and realistic ship date visibility
• Support broader operational improvement initiatives as assigned

What Success Looks Like

• Schedule health: 6-8+ weeks of jobs released and ready to run at all times
• Reduced past-due: Declining volume of orders with late start or ship dates
• Accurate WIP: Epicor reflects real-time job status daily
• No surprises: The Master Planner, supervisors, and leadership always know where jobs stand

Who You Are

• You track dozens of open jobs at once and nothing falls through the cracks.
• When priorities shift mid-day, you re-sequence and keep moving forward.
• You're comfortable moving between the floor and the leadership team.
• You spend the time understanding the details and verifying before you trust the output.
• You want to understand why a job is late, not just that it is, and you go find out

What You Bring

• Hands-on ERP experience in a manufacturing setting (required); experience with scheduling workbenches, job management, MRP, and WIP tracking, not just order entry
• Experience in a job shop, precision machining, or high-mix manufacturing environment is required (distribution, warehouse, or high-volume production is not a fit for this role)
• Able to carry a large open-job load with constantly shifting priorities and not lose track
• Excel proficiency: you build and maintain your own tracking tools, not just read reports others create
• Clear, direct communicator who escalates early and doesn't need to be asked

Why Join Helix

Helix is building something meaningful, not just high-precision products, but a company defined by integrity, clarity, and disciplined execution in industries where the stakes are high. We engineer with purpose, take ownership of our work, and believe doing things the right way matters.

You’ll work in a clean, climate-controlled facility with advanced equipment, alongside machinists, engineers, operators, and commercial team members who take pride in their work and hold themselves to high standards.

We offer competitive compensation, comprehensive benefits, retirement plans, PTO, and major holidays, along with steady daytime hours and scheduling flexibility to support work–life balance.

If you take pride in solving problems, contributing to a team that values craftsmanship and accountability, and doing work where precision and reliability matter, Helix is a place where your work will truly matter.

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Helix Linear Technologies is an Equal Opportunity Employer.Due to U.S. export control laws, applicants must be U.S. persons (U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident).