Production Planning and Control

Jun 18, 2010 Maureen Cutajar

Classic Feedback Control Loop - Kjell Magne Fauske

The production function within an organization is dependent upon other areas of the organization
to forecast future demands and levels of production.
The production process involves the planning and control of how goods will be manufactured.
This usually includes the identification of raw materials required, the quantities of components
needed to manufacture items, and the human workforce required to produce these products.
These functions are the tasks carried out by the Production Planning and Control Department.

Production Planning Process

The production planning process within the production department involves the planning of what
materials are required for the production of supplies and what is required to put these materials
together. Issues to consider when conducting the production planning process include:

• Future Demand Planning – what is the trend of customers’ orders? Are there any
upcoming events that might increase or decrease the number of orders?
• Lead Times – What are the time frames to manufacture an item? Are all the materials and
tools required to manufacture an item available?
• Components Availability – are the components required to manufacture an item in stock?
If the components are to be ordered this has to be taken into account and included in the
time required to manufacture the item.
• Workforce Availability – this takes into consideration the skills and availability of the
workforces.

The above considerations will be taken into account by the production team during the planning
activity as a reference to organize the work involved according to the skills and machinery
available.

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By drawing up thorough production planning procedures that take into account all the
materials and time required to manufacture a product, it is possible to calculate the production
planning tools required and the cost of manufacturing.

Production Control Process

Production quality control involves the monitoring of the product manufacturing to ascertain that
the products are produced according to the methodology specified and that the product performs
to the planned functionality.

These functions are performed by the Quality Control team. Their role is to check products to
ensure that they meet the company’s manufacturing standards. Quality control inspection will
then proceed to identify any flaws in the established process.

Read on
 • Sales and Marketing Management
• Strategic Planning in Business
• Business Performance Monitoring and Business Process Management

The ultimate aim of production control is to minimize the number of product rejections and
ensure that the process of production is optimized.

Importance of Production Planning and Control

To summarize the planning and control functions within a production department involve three
main activities:

• Production work is initiated

• The work carried out is measured and monitored
• Any necessary alterations are made.

These three main activities are referred to as the classic feedback control loop. The feedback
control loop may yield results that indicate a necessary change in raw materials, manufactured
items and so on.

Read more at Suite101: Production Planning and Control

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Major functions of production planning and control

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All of the four basic phases of control of manufacture are easily identified in production planning
and control. The plan for the processing of materials through the plant is established by the
functions of process planning, loading, and scheduling. The function of dispatching puts the plan
into effect; that is, operations are started in accordance with the plant. Actual performance is then
compared to the planned performance, and, when required, corrective action is taken. In some
instances re-planning is necessary to ensure the effective utilization of the manufacturing
facilities and personnel. Let us examine more closely each of these functions.

Major Functions of Production Planning and Control:

o Loading
o Scheduling
o Combining Functions
o Dispatching
o Reporting or Follow – up
o Corrective Action
o Re-planning
The main functions of production planning are:

Estimating

Involves deciding the quantity of products to be produced and cost involved in it on the basis of
sales forecast.
Estimating manpower, machine capacity and materials required (bill of material is the basis) to
meet the planned production targets. These are the key activities before budgeting of resources
(e.g.-production budget is the basis for materials budget, capital equipment budget and
manpower budget)

Routing

This is the process of determining the sequence of operations to be performed in the production
process. Routing determines what work must be done, where and how.

Routing information is provided by product or process engineering function and it is useful to

prepare machine loading charts and schedules.

Route sheet

A route sheet is a document, providing information and instructions for converting the raw
materials into finished parts or products. It defines each step of the production operation and lays
down the precise path or route through which the product will flow during the conversion
process.

Route sheets contain the following information:

1.The operations required and their desired sequence.

2.Machine or equipment to be used for each operation.

3.Estimated set up time and operation time per piece (standard time)

4.Tools, jigs and fixtures required for the operation.

5.Detailed drawings of parts, sub-assemblies and final assemblies.

6.Specification, dimensions, tolerances, surface finishes and quality standards to be achieved.

7.Specification of raw materials to be used.

8.Cutting speed, feed, depth of cut, etc., to be used on machine tools for the operations to be
carried on.
9.Inspection procedure and metrology tools required for inspection.

10.Packing and handling instructions during the movement of parts and sub assemblies through
the operation stages.

Scheduling

Involves fixing priorities for each job and determining the starting time and finishing time for
each operation, the starting dates and finishing dates for each part, sub-assembly and final
assembly .Scheduling lays down a time table for production, indicating the total time required for
the manufacture of a product and also the time required for carrying out the operation for each
part on each machine or equipment.

Objectives of scheduling are:

1.To prevent unbalanced use of time among work centers and departments

2.To utilize labor such that the output is produced within established lead time or cycle time so
as to deliver the products in time and complete production at minimum total cost.

Loading

Facility loading means loading of facility or work centre and deciding, which jobs to be assigned
to which work centre or machine. Loading is the process of converting operation schedules into
practice .Machine loading is the process of assigning specific jobs to machines, men or work
centers based on relative priorities and capacity utilization.

A machine loading chart (Gantt chart) is prepared showing the planned utilization of men and
machines by allocating the jobs to machines or workers as per priority sequencing established at
the time of scheduling.

Loading ensures maximum possible utilization of productive facilities and avoid bottlenecks in
production. It is important to avoid either over loading or under loading the facilities, work
centers or machines to ensure maximum utilization of resources.

more at http://www.citeman.com/79-production-planning-functions/#ixzz2V4Z94T00