Production planning
Production planning |
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See also |
Planning is designing the future: making decisions about what to do, how to do it and when to do it. Planning is done prior to taking specific action. Production planning takes into account not only technical but also the organizational, economic and management issues.
The most important parameters, which should be taken into account for the production planning are:
- specification of products and processes,
- dates for the start and end of the manufacturing process of each product
- ordered chronologically steps that make up the manufacturing process along with the duration of each step
Planning for a period of one year
To create a plan for the production for a period of one year managers should take into account production capacity of company. It does not matter whether the capacity is owned by company, or will be provided by subcontractors. Properly designed production plan is one in which resources needed for the production are available in the right place and time in the necessary quantities:
- suitably qualified workers,
- machinery and equipment,
- raw materials and consumables,
- financial resources.
Back and forward planning
- Back planning is restricted by scheduled date of delivery of a product or service.
- Forward planning - involves orders for the product manufactured according to the selected criterion, which generally are the time of delivery of materials for production. Planing becomes more complicated with the increase in the quantity of orders. Load of machinery and equipment determine the possibilities for timely order fulfilment.
Therefore, it is necessary to schedule tasks, which:
- allows to plan the necessary tasks,
- is the basis for the performance of the tasks,
- facilitates the appropriate allocation of resources,
- helps to determine the critical path of the project.
See also:
References
- Magee, J. F., & Boodman, D. M. (1967). Production planning and inventory control.