Cambridge University Press & Assessment
Production Planner - 7270
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Role Title: Production Planner (PRN-JA-26-07)
Job Title
Production Planner Salary: £29,700–£38,550 per annum Location: Cambridge/Wittlesford DC10 Contract: Full-time, permanent, 35 hours/week
About the Role
We seek a Production Planner to act as the central coordination point between Production, Studio, and stakeholders—balancing customer demand against manufacturing capacity and schedules.
Your impact will be measured in the operational efficiency, reliability, and customer satisfaction of Cambridge University Press & Assessment’s global print production.
Located within our hello! Print Operations hub ("DC10"), this role combines operational agility with strategic planning, transforming data into high-performing workflows that reduce delays and enhance quality.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic coordination of production plans and schedules against demand/capacity
- Develop production plans, aligning with SOW (Statement of Work)/delivery deadlines, resource constraints, andSKU (stock-keeping unit) priorities.
- Maintain live schedules and cross-check changes against capsite capacity, individual line throughput, and supplier lead-times.
Capacity optimisation and risk management
- Monitor and report on KPIs (e.g., delivery accuracy, order completion rates) alongside volume utilisations, lead-times and scrap rates.
- Identify risks (resource shortages, machine downtime, OSO (Out of Sequence Orders)) and recommend mitigation actions—e.g. re-prioritisation or third-party intervention.
- Audit labour deployment against demand and regularly propose capacity adjustments to avoid bottlenecks.
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Operational reporting and stakeholder engagement
- Provide daily production update meetings with manufacturing and client-facing teams.
- Report to Senior Management on STUN (Stock, Turnaround, Capacity, Utilisation, Network) metrics via custom Excel dashboards.
- Collaborate with Studio, CVHS (Customer Value & Helpline Solutions), and post-recovery quality.
Continuous improvement
- Lead small-scale automation (e.g., custom scheduling macros) and process Lean methods projects.
- Contribute to tech stack upgrades (e.g., integrating Vantage to replace current Planner kit).
Who You Are
Experience and insight – You thrive in high-velocity operationalenvironments, applying complexity to simple, repeatable planning processes. Your background ideally includes manufacturing, print, or supply-chain roles with ** fortes in**:
- Production planning or capacity management.
- Data-driven decision making (whatever your original discipline).
- Experience with workflow systems (WMS, ERP, or print scheduling software) is a plus*.
Skills: ✔ Advanced Excel/Google Sheets (e.g., pivot tables, what-if analysis, shared data models) ✔ Imperial/Thuur (preferred) add-on budgets for book production ✔ Skills to interpret and present key metrics (utilisation, lead-times, variances) transparently.
Superpowers:
- Pioneering continuous improvement initiatives.
- Playing “traffic controller” for global print workflows.
- Engaging cross-culturally (outside legacy believe I Press language barriers!).
About Cambridge University Press & Assessment
We’re a £250m publishing-and-assessment publisher behind over 10,000 books, from examination materials to academic reference. Our Cambridge Assessment family drives trust in education globally.
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Joining DC10 means working in a team focused on **feedback, iteration, and achieving “do it right—and the first time **+ performing like an agile pod". ⚠️ ⚠️ We experiment rapidly, so success here is helped by learning resiliency mindset.
Benefits
- Family-friendly: 28 days annual leave + bank holidays.
- Wellbeing: Inclusive private healthcare plan from day one.
- Abilities: Quarterly pension contributions up to 6% tax-free.
- Growth: Access to unlimited related courseware via FutureLearn as a Press employee.
Application Notes
🔗 “Why us?” with a good idea → Further details and link 💡 Desired criteria involve trust signals - assignable financial PMCAs -(£x per page against costs), print management tools or formula design?**
Equality: Our Disability Confident culture means reasonable adjustments are yours to request during the process.
Additional Contact Information
📧 Ask us your own questions about this role (before application) at jobs.campus@cupress.com for any queries.
About Cambridge Press (The Practical Part)
We redefine “organisation now”: from 4-core manufacturing hubs to legacy-centric updates via “quick wins” (e.g. AWS). Often manual resources collimate incoming the edge, and your challenge is reduce the tact time.
High volumes need high purpose: bring 5+ years’ experience in delivery/perfect production, first, demonstrating how you drove results. Spot mismatch with packed firms? Let’s talk.
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