Material lead vs production planner

The differences between material leads and production planners can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a material lead and a production planner. Additionally, a material lead has an average salary of $86,429, which is higher than the $60,390 average annual salary of a production planner.

The top three skills for a material lead include continuous improvement, logistics and materials management. The most important skills for a production planner are customer service, MRP, and ERP.

Material lead vs production planner overview

	Material Lead	Production Planner
Yearly salary	$86,429	$60,390
Hourly rate	$41.55	$29.03
Growth rate	-3%	-3%
Number of jobs	22,580	68,717
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 49%	Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	2	2

What does a material lead do?

As a material lead, they must know record-keeping practices, automated system operations, safety/supervisory practices and principles, adopt skills in operating materials handling, automotive and office equipment, and in lifting heavy packages and objects. They are entitled to coordinate the activities of subordinates, design stockroom layout and oversee rearranging processes, examine incoming shipments for shortage or damage and correspond with the shipper to rectify and fill out appropriate documents and forms. They also need to review the complex work procedure to resolve question presentations by workers.

What does a production planner do?

Production planners or schedulers are employees who take charge of the timeliness and accuracy of the production process. The planners develop production schedules which detail the tasks that need to be done to meet the set completion date. They emphasize the goods and materials necessary in the production phase. It is their job to make sure that the working space is well-maintained for optimal performance. They also manage the flow of information during production.

Material lead vs production planner salary

Material leads and production planners have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Material Lead	Production Planner
Average salary	$86,429	$60,390
Salary range	Between $56,000 And $132,000	Between $44,000 And $81,000
Highest paying City	South San Francisco, CA	Newark, CA
Highest paying state	New Hampshire	Washington
Best paying company	Biogen	Intuitive Surgical
Best paying industry	Technology	Energy

Differences between material lead and production planner education

There are a few differences between a material lead and a production planner in terms of educational background:

	Material Lead	Production Planner
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 49%	Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Western Carolina University	Western Carolina University

Material lead vs production planner demographics

Here are the differences between material leads' and production planners' demographics:

	Material Lead	Production Planner
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 73.9% Female, 26.1%	Male, 60.0% Female, 40.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.9% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.6% Asian, 7.0% White, 61.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 9.7% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 17.0% Asian, 7.1% White, 60.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	11%	11%

Differences between material lead and production planner duties and responsibilities

Material lead example responsibilities.

Manage materials MRP software systems set-up, sourcing, planning and layout for new product introduction of GACB.
Lead project to establish a Kanban system for hardware to a key station to reduce cycle time and increase efficiency.
Manage re-establishment of material management ERP system.
Manage all incoming domestic and overseas products including MRO and consignment materials.
Manage all raw materials and conduct inventory audits, maintain compliance guidelines, and supervise MRO purchasing to balance material shortage/surplus.
Utilize multiple databases and MRP systems to identify and resolve inventory issues daily

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Production planner example responsibilities.

Manage large supply base consolidations for both production parts and MRO items.
Manage customer accounts from small first time customers to large OEM's.
Manage and update inventory plan base on ABC and MTO statistic data.
Provide leadership and manage production JCL analyst team supporting and recovering of production job streams.
Track managed backlog dollars, OEM, finish product, and make to order specialty products.
Supervise NPI chip fulfillment process - manage wafer starts to meet internal qualification and board level build plan.

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Material lead vs production planner skills

Common material lead skills

Continuous Improvement, 9%
Logistics, 9%
Materials Management, 6%
Lean Manufacturing, 4%
Purchase Orders, 4%
Sigma, 4%

Common production planner skills

Customer Service, 11%
MRP, 9%
ERP, 5%
Logistics, 4%
Continuous Improvement, 4%
On-Time Delivery, 4%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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