Production Planner

Job description 

POSITION AVAILABLE FROM:
March 2026

Location:
Athlone Industria, Cape Town, South Africa.

Job Description:

The Production Planner is responsible for developing, coordinating, and maintaining detailed production schedules for yacht and boat construction projects. This role ensures efficient workflow across departments including hull fabrication, joinery, mechanical, electrical, outfitting, and finishing. The Production Planner works closely with the Production Manager to align manufacturing capacity, labour resources, material availability, and project timelines to ensure boats are delivered on schedule, within budget, and to quality standards.

Key Responsibilities

Production Planning & Scheduling

• Develop and maintain detailed master production schedules for yacht/boat builds.
• Break down project plans into phase-level and work-center-level schedules (hull, deck, interiors, mechanical, electrical, finishing, sea trials).
• Monitor critical path activities and identify potential delays.
• Coordinate build sequences to optimize workflow and liaise with production manager to minimize bottlenecks.
• Adjust schedules in response to engineering changes, supply chain constraints, or labour availability.

Resource & Capacity Planning

• Collaborate with Production Manager to forecast labor requirements by trade.
• Balance workload across departments to ensure optimal productivity.
• Track man-hours against planned budgets and report variances.
• Support subcontractor scheduling and coordination.

Materials & Supply Coordination

• Liaise with Procurement and Stores to ensure timely availability of materials and components.
• Monitor long-lead items (engines, generators, navigation systems, custom interiors).
• Align production schedules with material delivery timelines.

Progress Tracking & Reporting

• Maintain daily/weekly production status reports.
• Conduct progress reviews with department Co-ordinators and HOD’s
• Identify risks to delivery timelines and propose mitigation strategies.
• Provide KPI tracking like schedule adherence, Labour utilization, work in progress status updates and milestone completion

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Work closely with: Engineering (design revisions and change orders)
• Project Management – sub contractors
• Procurement, /Inventory
• Participate in production meetings and planning reviews.

Qualifications & Experience

• Diploma or Degree in Production Planning, Engineering, Marine Technology, Industrial Engineering, or related field.
• 3–7 years of experience in production planning within yacht, boatbuilding, marine manufacturing, or complex custom manufacturing environments.
• Strong understanding of composite construction, metal fabrication, marine systems installation, and outfitting processes.
• Experience working with ERP/MRP systems.
• Proficiency in MS Project, Primavera, or equivalent scheduling software.
• Advanced Excel skills.

Key Competencies

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent organizational and time-management abilities.
• Ability to manage multiple boats / projects simultaneously.
• Strong communication and coordination skills.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
• Combination of office-based planning and shop floor coordination.
• Regular interaction with production teams and supervisors.
• May require occasional overtime during critical build phases.

The employer:
Southern Wind Shipyard builds luxury sailing yachts for the global market. The yachts are of contemporary Italian design and built with South African craftsmanship. Each yacht is unique, offering a high level of customization and the option of adapting design elements according to Clients’ personal preferences. The company has been in existence for more than 27 years with a Marketing division based in Italy and manufacturing facility based in Athlone Industria. For more information please visit www.sws-yachts.com

Please submit your details to apply for the above position

To apply please submit your Curriculum Vitae (maximum 4 pages) including three relevant & contactable references, a short motivational letter (maximum 1 page), and current contact details via form or email to recruitment@sws-yachts.com.

Please note: Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for follow-up interviews. Candidates who have received no response within three weeks of the closing date should kindly assume that their application has not been successful.