Director of Planning & Customer Relations Position Available In Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut

Director of Planning & Customer Relations in

East Hartford Job Ref:

2969833325

Employer:

Network Company Name:

HORST ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING CO

Industry:

Executive

Job Type:

Full Time

State:

Connecticut

City:

East Hartford

Zip Code:

06108

Post Date:

06/23/2025 The Director of Operations Planning and Customer Relations will lead, manage, and improve the operations of the business with an emphasis on planning and customer service. This role holds a seat on our Senior Leadership Team and they will run the demand and supply or the organization with direct responsibility for these functions: SIOP, Customer Service, Purchasing, Shipping & Receiving. This key role will lead in the effort to execute the operations plan and meet our customers’ requirements.

Major Areas of Responsibility:

Manage, coach/mentor, integrate, and align a team of functional managers and supervisors. Resolve conflicts, prioritize top priorities, make decisions, and create accountability. Serve as subject matter expert when needed.
Establish and report to Senior Leadership Team meaningful daily, weekly, and monthly metrics such as production output, scheduling commitments, on time releases, inventory turns, sales and budgets.
Provide strategic direction of a SIOP process along with necessary master schedules and capacity plans.
Manage material requirement planning data and issue job travelers (routers) to the production floor that optimize manpower, machinery utilization, and inventory levels.
Assess needs and implement corrective action on an ongoing basis. Inform management, purchasing, manufacturing and customer service of schedule slippages, bottlenecks, or other problem areas in a timely manner.
Accountable for full-life cycle customer service operations, including but not limited to contract review, new order entry, contract administration, contract negotiation, and RFQ/Quoting/Proposal activity.
Establish clear and accurate communication with customers.
Oversee administration of contract requirements, deliverables, and terms and conditions to functional areas.
Implement procedures and standard work. Leverage lean enterprise principles, industry best practices, and ensure adequate training of our workforce.
Communicates directives, polices, and change management. Serve as a hands-on initiative-taker working with a sense of urgency while ensuring the workforce builds trust in common goals and objectives.
Coordinate the integration of cross functional teams in support of production objectives to drive outcomes.
Partner with Human Resources to recruit, develop, train, and retain our production workforce. Responsible for keeping the employee skills matrix up to date, hiring plans, forecasting, performance management.

Requirements:

Bachelor’s Degree in relevant field required and/or 10 years of experience in the field of production planning in aerospace.
Forecasting and materials management background.
Previous Sales-Inventory-Operation-Planning (SIOP) methodology in advanced manufacturing required.
Customer-facing experience preferred.
Understanding of the aerospace and high technology industry ecosystem and supply chain including special processes such as heat treatment, coatings, and testing.
Experience working in a mid-sized company workforce, driving accountability into management team, and developing a robust labor force for sustainable growth.
Must be able to work under stringent deadlines and have a sense of urgency
Demonstrated project management, organizational, budgetary, and negotiation skills.
Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively at all levels of the organization – internally and externally.
Demonstrated ability to create, analyze and report on data in a professional manner to all levels of the organization to drive business results.
Strong technology skills including ERP proficiency (e.g., Epicor Kinetics) and communication tools (e.g., Microsoft Windows, Outlook, Excel, Word).

Physical Requirements:

Must be able to sit/stand for prolonged periods of time.
Ability to walk long distances through the building.
Ability to push/pull/carry up to 50 lbs.

Physical Demands:

Legend N (Not applicable) Activity is not applicable to this position O (Occasionally) Position requires this activity up to 33% of the time (0-2.5 hours/day) F (Frequently) Position requires this activity up to 66% of the time (2.5-5.5 hours/day) C (Constantly) Position requires this activity more than 66% of the time (5.5+ hours/day) Lift/Carry 10-50lbs O Stand O Walk O Manually manipulate O Squat or kneel O Bend O Reach above shoulder O PIc7-5786