Operations Planner

About Forge 

Forge, a member of Ajinomoto Bio-Pharma Services, is a gene therapy development engine, focused on enabling access to life changing gene therapies and helping bring them from idea into reality. We partner with innovators in the gene therapy community: scientists, physicians, biotech/pharma companies, and patient groups. We bring expertise in gene therapy manufacturing and therapeutics development to the table, helping to champion teams that are navigating the long road from the lab bench to the bedside. Our goal is simple but vital to patients living with disease, and we take it seriously. With a patient-first approach, we are forging new models for working together to better accelerate these transformative medicines to reach those who need them the most. 

Forge is based in Columbus, Ohio, in a 200,000 square foot facility known affectionately by team members as, the Hearth. The Hearth, is a custom-designed cGMP facility dedicated to AAV manufacturing and hosts scalable, end-to-end manufacturing services. 

About The Role:

We are currently seeking a Operations Planner to join the Forge Biologics team. In this role, the Operations Planner will directly contribute to the strategic, operational, and supply chain activities required to support our cGMP manufacturing programs and vision. This role will assist in the development and review of all short-term schedules, long term forecasts, and generated purchasing requirements, to support our internal and external gene therapy programs.

The Operations Planner will support the Scheduling, Demand Planning, and MRP functions, within all appropriate Planning Systems and partner with internal departments, to assure that all resources are optimized. This role will utilize continuous improvement tools and strategies, in order to support manufacturing and procurement, across all value streams. The Operations Planner will assist with the creation, planning, and fulfillment of new client forecasts, available capacity, and weekly production plans.  For this role, there are no aspects of logistics with this role.

What You'll Do:

• Review and generate business documents, such as production schedules, work orders, purchase orders or staffing tables, to determine appropriate resource planning
• Collaborate with various teams for the creation and alignment of schedules, to support business objectives and client programs
• Assist in the creation and maintenance of Master Data, as it relates to process specific materials, lead times, safety stocks, shelf life, and all other Material Resource Planning relevant variables.
• Monitoring and managing inventory levels to optimize storage and holding costs, while assuring production schedules are supported.
• Forecasting material and resourcing demand and creating supply plans that ensure availability of materials, products, personnel, and capacity.
• Extract and upload information between Planning systems, to assure real time accuracy and reporting functionality. (Smartsheets, InFlow, PowerBI, Excel, NetSuite, etc)
• Maintain cross functional partnerships with Sales, Finance, Procurement, PMO, MFG and site wide support functions in order to keep aligned with organizational strategies and priorities.
• Collect appropriate data for the creation of KPI relevant reports and subsequent analysis, to identify areas of opportunity within the business and performance.
• Collaborate with the Supply Chain Operations leadership team, to understand and identify potential capacity constraints and work with the manufacturing teams to maximize efficiencies.
• Implementing new systems and processes to improve supply chain efficiency, as it pertains to scheduling, demand planning, resource allocation, operational efficiencies, and other business specific supply chain planning opportunities

What You'll Bring:

• Bachelor's Degree in Supply Chain, Business, or related field, or equivalent professional experience
• 3+ years of experience in supply chain planning, demand planning, inventory management, or a related role within a manufacturing or regulated environment
• Proficiency in ERP/MRP systems (e.g., SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, or similar)
• Strong analytical skills with intermediate-advanced experience using Excel and data visualization tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau)
• Knowledge of demand forecasting models, production planning, and inventory optimization techniques
• Familiarity with Lean, Six Sigma, APICS, or other process improvement methodologies (certifications a plus)
• Ability to work onsite (Columbus, Ohio) on average, 3-4 days/week

Work Environment and Physical Demands 

This position works in both a warehouse