How To Become A Production Planner/Buyer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a production planner/buyer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a production planner/buyer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $27.33 an hour? That's $56,846 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -3% and produce -38,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreProduction Planner/BuyerUS Average

Salary

4.4

Avg. Salary $56,846

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.8

Growth rate -3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.53%

Asian 7.15%

Black or African American 9.94%

Hispanic or Latino 17.39%

Unknown 4.81%

White 60.17%

Gender

female 44.04%

male 55.96%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress level

7.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

5.3

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.9

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a production planner/buyer

Explore production planner/buyer education requirements

Most common production planner/buyer degrees

Bachelor's

64.0 %

Associate

21.2 %

Master's

7.1 %

Start to develop specific production planner/buyer skills

Skills	Percentages
Purchase Orders	17.33%
MRP	7.25%
On-Time Delivery	4.54%
Customer Service	4.11%
Commodities	3.79%

Complete relevant production planner/buyer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New production planner/buyers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a production planner/buyer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real production planner/buyer resumes.

Research production planner/buyer duties and responsibilities

Work with ERP system to manage material levels by running queries and reports.
Utilize EDI communications to manage customer requirements and shipment coordination.
Perform master scheduling and materials planning via JD Edwards ERP system.
Implement daily meeting with engineers to prioritize changes to production orders and assist with BOM changes due to production assembly needs.

Prepare your production planner/buyer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your production planner/buyer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a production planner/buyer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable production planner/buyer resume templates

Build a professional production planner/buyer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your production planner/buyer resume.