SAP PP Consultant - Intelligent Manufacturing (IL)

Job Summary

The SAP PP Consultant - Intelligent Manufacturing owns SAP Production Planning for the new Joliet manufacturing plant from end to end. The role is responsible for strengthening a stable SAP ECC backbone and developing an intelligent production environment that connects SAP with AI-supported forecasting, scheduling, quality, and maintenance capabilities. The consultant translates plant needs into practical SAP solutions and returns actionable insights to production planners, supervisors, and shop-floor teams.

Essential Functions

• Own SAP PP processes for Joliet, including material master MRP views, bills of material, routings, work centers, capacity planning, MRP, production orders, confirmations, backflush, and goods movements.
• Manage and improve SAP PP integration with MM, SD, QM, PM, and CO.
• Work directly with plant personnel to understand production lines, operating constraints, and planning issues before designing system changes.
• Identify root causes, recommend practical solutions, and implement sustainable corrective actions rather than temporary workarounds.
• Design and deliver AI-supported use cases on top of SAP ECC, including: demand and component forecasting that feeds MRP, finite scheduling and production-sequencing optimization, predictive quality and scrap reduction using production-confirmation and QM data, maintenance signals from machine data linked to PP capacity
• Define integration architecture across RFC/BAPI, IDoc, OData/Gateway, data-platform extraction, and the return of model outputs into SAP transactions.
• Write precise functional specifications and collaborate directly with ABAP developers; read and debug ABAP when required.
• Lead change control, testing, cutover, and go-live activities with plant management, production planners, and supervisors.
• Train and coach key users, develop operating knowledge within the plant, and reduce dependency on individual support resources.
• Measure solution outcomes using plant metrics such as schedule adherence, inventory, scrap, throughput, and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
• Other duties as assigned. 

Essential Functions (Continued)

Minimum Education and Experience Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Engineering, Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, or a related discipline.
• 5 years of hands-on SAP PP configuration experience in a discrete manufacturing environment using SAP ECC 6.0.
• Experience completing at least two full SAP implementations or major rollout cycles.
• Solid working knowledge of SAP MM and PP-MM-SD-CO integration, with exposure to SAP QM and PM.
• Ability to read and debug ABAP and produce clear functional specifications; practical experience with enhancement points, BAdIs, and user exits.
• Practical experience extracting data from SAP and working with at least one analytics or machine-learning platform, such as Databricks, Azure Machine Learning, or Python-based tooling.
• Demonstrated delivery of at least one AI or advanced-analytics use case into production, beyond the proof-of-concept stage.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing operations, including MRP logic, lead times, capacity planning, lot sizing, and Lean/Kaizen principles.
• Ability to clearly explain planning problems to plant supervisors and technical designs to developers.

Preferred Education and Experience Requirements

• S/4HANA Production Planning knowledge, with an informed perspective on the ECC-to-S/4HANA transition.
• Experience with manufacturing execution systems or shop-floor data-collection systems and their SAP interfaces.
• Exposure to large language model tooling for document processing, planner assistance, or code generation in an SAP environment.
• SAP PP certification.

Language Requirement

Travel Requirements