Production Planning and Control Functions

Production planning and control (PPC) is a necessity for manufacturing facilities around the globe that are seeking to maintain a competitive advantage in the market. These strategies allow manufacturers to effectively generate a production plan, execute it, and ultimately take control of their operations through continuous improvement initiatives.

What is Production Planning and Control?

As its name suggests, production planning and control is the process of planning and subsequently controlling all aspects of manufacturing and production. This includes ordering material, scheduling employees and work on the machines, and even distributing goods to end customers.

The success of any production company comes with having a robust production planning and control strategy. This is because virtually all processes that occur within the production facility rely on each other or on properly carrying out production planning and control.

Example of Production Planning and Control

For example, if you have scheduled production to start on jobs at a certain time but you do not have the material required for production, you will have to delay the start of production for that item. This means that you might have to adjust the production schedule so that your machines are not idle while you are waiting for your materials to arrive. This also means that you might have late customer orders, especially if you are working with a just-in-time production model.

As you can see, production planning and control is an essential component for any manufacturing facility that is looking to improve the efficiency of its operations and increase its profits. In this blog, we will examine some of the main functions and components of production planning and control. 

Key Functions with Production Planning and Control

Some of the key functions within production planning and control include the following:

• Materials Management - One of the functions of production planning and control is the specific measure of materials that are needed for production within a certain time period. Accurately determining the amount of material you will need is essential to eliminate waste, high inventory levels, and other inventory carrying costs. On the other hand, this also prevents the risk of stock-outs and running out of materials. Overall, managing materials enables production to run smoothly as raw materials, parts, and other components can be delivered in a cost-effective and timely manner. 
• Equipment - Production planning and control ensures the proper functioning of equipment. This includes analyzing equipment downtime to identify any bottlenecks and inefficiencies within the production process. Doing so will ensure that production is flowing smoothly, staying efficient, and orders are completed on time. In addition, this component looks at equipment maintenance schedules to prevent any unexpected breakdowns that could stop production for extended periods of time. 
• Methods - This component of production planning and control involves the analysis of possible alternatives to production processes as well as various schedules that production can follow. A production planning and scheduling software can generate multiple schedules to allow manufacturers to choose the best one for their production operations and constraints.
• Routing - Similarly to the last point, production planning and control ensures that raw materials are transformed into finished goods using the best route possible. Eliminating useless steps or excessive motion through the shop floor are the main objective of this component. 
• Estimating - 
• After the process sheet for operations is made available, operation times are then estimated. The function is then carried out using analysis on areas of operations such as routing, raw materials, and various other areas.
• Dispatching - This phase of production planning in control involves the execution of the production schedule. It involves the release of materials, components, and tools to the machine operators so that production can begin. As one can imagine, this is where the importance of production planning and control is highlighted. If there are any delays in procuring materials or inefficient routing or processes, production will be hindered.
• Expediting - This step is also called Follow-Up and involves checking the progress of production. It also involves the follow up of materials, work in progress, and assembly. In this step, manufacturers should identify bottlenecks in the production process and work to remedy them to ensure that the production plan is executed as planned. 
• Evaluation - One of the most important steps in production planning and control, and any process ingeneral, is to evaluate it. This portion helps identify areas where productivity is still lacking and where improvements could be made. Managers can then focus on these areas and determine what needs to be changed and then implement strategies to improve those areas. 

A software that is becoming extremely common to handle production planning and control strategies is PlanetTogether's advanced planning and scheduling (APS) software. This type of software provides insight into the current operations and allows the planning and scheduling to occur concurrently to increase the efficiency of the operations.

I can just say that every process, from order entry to warehouse management, scheduling, materials planning, and so on, have ALL become more responsive and able to plan better than ever.

CHUCK DIPIETRO, DIRECTOR OF PROCUREMENT & PLANNING, BEMA INCORPORATED

 

PlanetTogether APS comes packaged with features such as finite scheduling, resource planning, production scheduling, and performance tracking and analysis. This software is easily integrated with manufacturing facilities that utilize ERP, MRP, and MPS software to plan and schedule their production.

Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) Software

Advanced Planning and Scheduling Softwares have become a must for modern-day manufacturing operations as customer demand for increased product assortment, fast delivery, and downward cost pressures become prevalent. These systems help planners save time while providing greater agility in updating ever-changing priorities, production schedules, and inventory plans. APS Systems can be quickly integrated with an ERP/MRP software to fill the gaps where these systems lack planning and scheduling flexibility, accuracy, and efficiency.

With PlanetTogether APS you can:

• Create optimized schedules that balance production efficiency and delivery performance
• Maximize throughput on bottleneck resources to increase revenue
• Synchronize supply with demand to reduce inventories
• Provide company-wide visibility to resource capacity
• Enable scenario data-driven decision making

The implementation of an Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) Software will take your manufacturing operations to the next level of production efficiency by taking advantage of the operational data you already possess in your ERP system. APS is a step in the right direction of efficiency and lean manufacturing production enhancement. Try out a free trial or demo!