Practical Guide To Production Planning & Control [Revised Edition]

PRACTICAL GUIDE TO PRODUCTION PLANNING & CONTROL [REVISED EDITION]

PREFACE

This book covers production planning and control concepts such as MRP and MRP II and acts as a practical guide for all personnel directly or indirectly involved in production management and/or production planning and control, e.g., production planners and engineers.

For students of production engineering or management subjects, it will act as an easy-to-understand guidebook.

Computer personnel involved with computer-aided manufacturing will also find the book useful.

The book avoids technical jargon as far as possible in its attempt to explain the functions and work of the production planning and control department, the nerve center of any manufacturing organization.

Kerwin Mathew, Ph.D., PE, CMfgT, CPM

CONTENTS

Preface

1.  Introduction To Production Planning And Control

2.  Forecasting

3.  Preplanning

4.  Production Scheduling

5.  Ordering/Despatching

6.  Production Control

7.  Manufacturing Resource Planning: MRP II

8.  The Production Planner And His Problems

9.  Summary And Review

1  INTRODUCTION TO PRODUCTION PLANNING AND CONTROL

Production comprises of a sequence of operations which transform materials from a given to a desired form. The greatest efficiency in production is achieved by manufacturing the required quantity and quality of the product at the right time and at the lowest possible costs. For attaining this, production planning and control is one of the important tools. It enables the direction and coordination of the firm’s material and physical facilities towards achieving the respective objectives in the most efficient way.

In the implementation of production planning and control, two important goals have to be borne in mind and attained, namely, producing the required quantities of a given product and producing these quantities at appropriate times. It should be noted that the system of planning and control adopted and the procedures involved will vary from organization to organization, for instance, that in a firm with data-processing equipment will differ somewhat from that in a firm which does not possess such equipment.

However, regardless of how elaborately a system is developed, things will not work out perfectly at all times. Operation schedules which are developed by the most scientific methods will be disrupted when an employee decides to take the day off or when a supplier makes an incorrect shipment or when someone inadvertently jams his tool into the working parts of a machine. Planning and control activities furthermore involve the use of judgment or are based on predictions of the future course of events, and errors in judgment and in forecasting are common-place.

Also, in some companies, production planning and control is undertaken by the production control department, while in others, the function is part of the job of the manufacturing department. However, whether it is necessary to have a production control department or not does not matter, as there are organizations which produce goods efficiently despite the absence of a production control department.

Definition of Production Planning and Control

Production planning and control is a staff function which ensures that targeted outputs based on sales orders or forecasts are produced on time, in the right quantity and quality, and at the lowest possible cost.

Objectives

The goals of production planning and control could be as follows:-

(a) To determine when a job is to be carried out.

(b) To decide where the work is to be carried out in cases where there are similar machines or

work-places which could be used as alternatives.

(c) To ensure that materials or purchased parts are ordered at the right time to fit in with the

plan of work scheduled for the factory.

(d) To ensure that the proper person is performing the proper work in the specified time,

consuming specified materials, and at the specified quality.

Control is needed to ensure that:

(i)  the plan is implemented

(ii) adjustments are made when the plan fails or when