Planning and Scheduling Lead - Battery Cell Development Center

Description

The Role

The Planning and Scheduling Lead - Battery Cell Development Center is responsible for developing, maintaining, and executing detailed build plans and schedules that enable safe, reliable, and on-time development builds at the Ancker Johnson Battery Cell Development Center (BCDC). This role is the central integrator for build planning, sequencing, and materials readiness, working hands-on with materials techs on the floor to ensure parts, consumables, and tooling are available when and where they are needed.

The Planning and Scheduling Lead partners closely with Engineering, Operations, Quality, Dock/Logistics, and directly with the Procurement, Materials, and Scheduling Leader in a fast-paced, non-steady-state environment supporting GM's electrification strategy. The role does not have direct reports but provides day-to-day coordination and leadership across planning, scheduling, and material flow activities.

What You'll Do (Key Responsibilities)

Planning and Scheduling

• Develop and maintain build plans and schedules for battery cell builds.

• Translate engineering milestones and lab readiness into sequenced builds, material plans, and capacity views.

• Perform scenario and recovery planning to protect timing and schedule adherence.

• Align schedules with Operations, Quality, Engineering, Safety, and Logistics; communicate status, risks, and recovery plans.

• Work daily with dock, warehouse, and floor materials personnel to ensure on-time material availability.

• Convert build schedules into pull lists, kitting plans, and staging; verify availability of materials, consumables, tooling, and fixtures.

• Support inventory control (cycle counts, accuracy, scrap/obsolescence, quarantine, shelf life).

• Ensure timely PO placement, expediting, and follow-up on critical materials; assist with shipment coordination (including DG).

• Utilize material and planning systems such as eSAP, MGO/MGOC, ASRS, WMS, FlexNet/Apriso, and BCDC-specific applications to create, maintain, and execute build plans.

• Maintain accurate data in planning and material systems (BOMs, part availability, status, and lead times) to ensure schedules are realistic and executable.

• Collaborate with IT and Operations to improve transaction discipline, data quality, and visibility across the end-to-end material flow.

• Support a strong safety culture; ensure planning and material handling meet GM and regulatory requirements (e.g., DG/hazmat).

• Ensure traceability and proper segregation of conforming, nonconforming, and quarantined material.

• Support investigations, problem-solving, and corrective actions on material and schedule issues.

• Help deliver KPIs (schedule adherence, material availability, dock-to-stock, inventory accuracy, logistics performance).

• Use data to identify bottlenecks and improvement opportunities.

• Apply or support IE and Lean Material Strategies (LMS) to optimize routes, kitting, line-side presentation, and labor.

• Contribute to standard work, visual management, and layered accountability; support new tools, dashboards, and digital solutions.

• Serve as primary contact for development build schedules and materials readiness.

• Align priorities and risk escalation with the Procurement, Materials, and Scheduling Leader.

• Promote processes suited to a development, non-steady-state environment and model GMS/continuous-improvement behaviors.

• Operates in an ambiguous, fast-paced development environment where priorities and designs can change rapidly.

• Directly impacts development readiness, build throughput, timing, and experiment success through effective planning and materials coordination.

• Influences operational decisions affecting safety, timing, cost, inventory, and quality across the development value stream.

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Business, Operations Management, or related field; or equivalent experience.

• 3+ years in planning, scheduling, materials, or supply chain in manufacturing, pilot, or development environments.

• Experience with master scheduling, build planning, demand/supply planning, and recovery planning.

• Working knowledge of lean material flow, warehouse/logistics operations, inventory control, and scrap/obsolescence.

• Hands-on experience with eSAP, MGO/MGOC, WMS, ASRS, FlexNet/Apriso, or equivalent systems.

• Strong analytical, data-driven, and root-cause problem-solving skills.

• Effective communication and collaboration with Engineering, Operations, Quality, EHS, Logistics, and Finance.

• Ability to manage multiple concurrent build plans in a dynamic environment.

• Flexibility for overtime, weekends, holidays, and cross-shift work.

• Knowledge of lithium-ion cell manufacturing (electrode, assembly, formation, testing).

• Experience in development, pilot, startup, or other non-steady-state operations.

• Background in Industrial Engineering (time studies, layout optimization, productivity analysis).

• Familiarity with Lean Material Strategies (LMS), GMS, and continuous improvement.

• Experience with supplier coordination for material availability; exposure to global logistics, import/export, and DG/hazmat.

• Experience with advanced planning tools, GTMC/PTPMC, and/or scheduling optimization tools.