Production Expeditor

Production Expeditor / Production Chaser

Location: Wellingborough

Salary: Competitive, dependent on experience

Hours: Monday to Friday 0600-1430 or 1400-2230

 

An established and growing manufacturing business is looking for a highly organised, proactive and tenacious Production Expeditor / Production Chaser to join its busy production operation.

This is a key coordination role responsible for providing clear, accurate and up-to-date visibility of where every order is within the production process at any given time.

This role will act as the link between Production, Planning, Sales, Customer Service, Purchasing and Dispatch, ensuring that orders continue to move through the factory as planned and that any delays, shortages, quality issues or production constraints are identified and escalated quickly.

This is a hands-on role for someone who enjoys being at the heart of a busy manufacturing environment. You will need to be comfortable walking the production floor, speaking directly with production teams, checking the status of individual orders and challenging delays when necessary.

You will provide the information and control needed to ensure that customer commitments are met and that potential problems are dealt with before they become service failures.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Production Tracking & Order Visibility 

• Maintain accurate, real-time visibility of all orders progressing through the production process.
• Track individual orders from release into production through to completion and readiness for dispatch.
• Know the current status and location of priority and time-critical orders.
• Monitor production progress across the relevant manufacturing stages.
• Identify orders that have stopped, stalled or fallen behind schedule.
• Investigate the reason for delays and work with the relevant team to resolve them.
• Ensure that production status information is accurate and updated regularly.
• Maintain clear records of outstanding, delayed and completed orders.

 Production Expediting 

• Proactively chase orders that are at risk of missing their required completion or dispatch date.
• Work closely with Production Supervisors and Team Leaders to understand current capacity and constraints.
• Identify bottlenecks and potential production issues before they impact customers.
• Escalate urgent or high-risk orders to the Production Manager or Operations Manager.
• Coordinate priorities with Production to ensure urgent customer requirements are clearly understood.
• Follow orders through the factory rather than relying solely on system updates.
• Challenge missed milestones and ensure agreed recovery actions are followed through.

Cross-Functional Communication

• Act as the central point of contact for production status updates.
• Provide accurate information to Sales and Customer Service regarding order progress.
• Liaise with Planning to ensure production priorities are aligned with customer requirements.
• Work with Purchasing and suppliers where material availability is affecting production.
• Liaise with Dispatch to ensure completed orders are available for planned delivery dates.
• Communicate any changes to expected completion dates promptly and accurately.
• Ensure internal teams have a clear understanding of what is happening with priority and delayed orders.

Problem Solving 

• Investigate the root cause of production delays.
• Identify recurring issues and highlight trends to management.
• Work collaboratively with production teams to find practical solutions.
• Escalate issues involving material shortages, equipment breakdowns, quality concerns, labour availability or capacity constraints.
• Support the development of preventative actions to reduce repeat delays.
• Maintain a strong focus on finding solutions rather than simply reporting problems.

Reporting & Performance 

• Produce regular production status reports and exception reports.
• Maintain accurate information on orders at risk of delay.
• Highlight bottlenecks and production constraints to management.
• Provide daily updates on priority orders and outstanding issues.
• Support the measurement of production performance against agreed targets.
• Assist with identifying opportunities to improve production flow and reduce order dwell time.
• Use data and reporting to improve visibility and decision-making.

 KEY OBJECTIVES

 The successful candidate will be expected to help the business achieve:

• 100% visibility of orders throughout the production process.
• Early identification of orders at risk of delay.
• Reduction in production bottlenecks and order dwell time.
• Improved communication between Production, Planning, Sales and Dispatch.
• Accurate and reliable production status information.
• Improved on-time completion and delivery performance.
• Faster escalation and resolution of production issues.
• Reduced customer service failures caused by lack of production visibility.
• Improved accountability for orders that are delayed or off plan.

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE

We are looking for someone who is highly organised, commercially aware and naturally inquisitive, with the confidence to ask questions and chase information.

You will be someone who does not accept "I don't know" as an answer and will keep asking the right people until you understand exactly where an order is and what needs to happen next.

You will be comfortable working in a fast-paced manufacturing environment and will enjoy building strong working relationships across different departments.

The ideal candidate will have:

• Experience in a production, manufacturing, logistics or supply chain environment.
• Previous experience in a Production Chaser, Expeditor, Production Coordinator, Planner or similar role.
• Excellent organisational and prioritisation skills.
• Strong attention to detail.
• The ability to manage multiple orders and competing priorities.
• Excellent communication skills at all levels.
• The confidence to challenge and escalate when required.
• A proactive and persistent approach to problem-solving.
• The ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines.
• Good IT skills, particularly Excel and production or ERP systems.
• The ability to interpret production data and identify exceptions.
• A practical, hands-on approach to working with production teams.

Experience within the glass, fenestration, double-glazing, IGU or manufacturing sector would be advantageous but is not essential.

If interested, please apply here.