Hippo Harvest is seeking a Production Planner to coordinate production, meet sales commitments, manage deliveries, and handle invoicing for its greenhouse facilities.

Description

Location

This is a hybrid role in the SF Bay Area. We work remotely some days but regularly get together at our greenhouse location in Pescadero, CA.

Overview

In a world increasingly impacted by climate change, pollution, and population growth, conventional production of fresh vegetables is unsustainable. Compared to field production, greenhouse hydroponic methods use 90% less water, increase yields, reduce food waste, use fewer pesticides, eliminate fertilizer runoff, and allow crops to be grown locally. However, greenhouse producers make up only a small part of today’s market due to high capital/labor costs and operational complexity. To close this gap, Hippo Harvest designs hydroponic grow systems from the ground up for simplicity, robotic automation, and machine learning to build sustainable, economical, and scalable production systems of the future.

As a Production Planner for Hippo Harvest, you will be a critical bridge between Operations and Sales. Your job will encompass elements of production planning, commodity management, and support for a 150,000 square foot greenhouse in Pescadero, CA. You’ll be responsible for coordinating production to meet sales commitments and supporting order and sample deliveries with, among other things; ASNs, maintaining a record of deliveries and BOLs, and invoicing fulfilled orders.

You Will

Analyze actual customer orders and incorporate advertising schedules and forecasts across customers to estimate demand and manage capacity.
Maintain a 6 week production plan, inclusive of seasonal yield variation.
Coordinate with Operations and Growing teams to forecast production; identifying flushes or shorts, and proactively communicate volumes to sales.
Create weekly production plans, set daily production schedules, and practice nimble problem solving to implement production adjustments to achieve a 98% + fill rate.
Work with Sales to dictate or divert daily target allocation of harvest volumes per SKU to optimize revenue potential.
Communicate supply and quality related issues with Sales to make sure customers are aware of any shortages or other potential issues
Coordinate with and direct operations team how to respond to changes in customer orders, unplanned equipment downtime, emergent quality issues and more.
Manage finished goods inventory to reduce rework and loss due to shelf life.
Practice constant communication about what is in inventory, what is being returned/rejected and what is still required to fill orders so adjustments can be made.
Coordinate with Operations to ensure that schedule does not exceed capacities, minimizes frequency of change-over’s, and reduces or avoids the need for overtime.
Evaluate actual customer orders vs. estimates to identify trends that may require adjustments to longer term planning.
Ensure orders are properly fulfilled and meet customer requirements; ITIF expectations are met, ASNs are shared in a timely manner, BOLs are confirmed and organized, etc.
Manage and communicate freight and logistics requirements, coordinate delivery routes and timelines, and recommend changes where necessary to delivery schedules.

You Have

3+ years of experience in production planning or management. Preferably agricultural or perishables manufacturing settings, but candidates with experience in other industries are encouraged to apply.
High attention to detail, are highly organized, and have deep experience building and optimizing efficient workflows for production management.
High level of comfort working on a computer and utilizing common productivity software such as CRMs, spreadsheets, calendars, google drive, email, google docs, virtual checklists, etc.
Strong verbal and written communication practices.
Ability and desire to work effectively in a cross functional team, collaborate effectively with sales and operations, and set an example of operational excellence for the team.
Experience with SQL is a plus

Details

Compensation: $60,000 to $100,000 in annual compensation, inclusive of performance-based bonus if applicable.
This is a hybrid role, with an expectation of 2-4 days per week on-site in Pescadero, depending on the week’s responsibilities
Includes a stock option package.
Competitive benefits package including Medical and Dental, Paid Sick, Vacation, Holiday Time, and Personal Hours.
We are accepting applications from Developing up to Senior level candidates who demonstrate a high capacity to execute.

Hippo Harvest is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status or disability status.