Production planning and control manages and schedules resources, raw materials, and equipment and controls the production line for better output. It helps to make an accurate and detailed production plan to produce higher-quality products. This helps to fulfill demand and satisfy customers.
In this article, you will learn about the difference between production planning and production control and how it operates to improve companies' profits and productivity. With better understanding and planning procedures, businesses can achieve target goals in minimum lead times.
What Is Production Planning and Control?
Production planning and control(PPC) is a tool that coordinates the entire manufacturing activities in the manufacturing industry. PPC allows businesses to plan the production process with details about raw materials, how, when, and how much production is required.
With the right plan, businesses can achieve target production goals and fulfill demands in minimum productiontime. It makes the system dependable and cost-effective. It minimizes wastage of any kind. The right plan is the right step towards a successful business.
What Is Production Planning?Production planning is the process that involves creating a strategy to make a company more economical and profitable. A detailed and accurate plan must include raw materials, workforce, equipment, and steps to make the production well-planned and successful.
Production planning includes how the production will deliver the goods and services on time. It consists of all data related to manufacturing operations and the effectiveness of production processes.
What Is Production Control?Production control is the process that monitors, manages, and controls the production process and helps businesses fulfill the target demand on time. With the proper techniques, production control can guarantee that all the resources and workforce are used best.
It helps businesses to achieve high performance in the production line with the proper distribution of resources. Production control also makes sure a quality control and assurance standard is maintained to increase productivity and customer satisfaction.
Objectives of Production Planning and ControlDespite having differences in production planning and production control, it maintains cost control and balances manufacturing and production operations by maintaining communication between various departments. It also supports customer satisfaction and scheduled delivery of products.
The main objectives of production planning and control that make the business run smoothly are:
The main goal for quality control and assurance is maximizing the materials, workforce, and productivity. With this technique, managers aim to maintain production results of appropriate quality and quantity as per the demands.
Here are the benefits of production planning and control:
1. Improved CommunicationIt helps businesses maintain better communication with suppliers and third-party vendors. It helps to keep a standardized source of materials and allocate the right resources to provide the best quality product.
2. Improved Production TimeBetter production time management helps businesses stay on time and successfully manage delays. It keeps business ahead of schedule to meet product demands and avoid blockage in the production line.
3. Reduced Production CostsWith a well-designed and well-executed plan, businesses can majorly reduce production costs. It will maintain the quality of products and result in lesser expense, and no damage is done to the product level.
4. Streamlined Production ProcessMaining inventory and planning processes can help businesses to streamline and guide their strategies. It will guarantee that the product prediction is suitable to fulfill product demand.
5. Reduced Resource WastageWith proper planning, the production line avoids overstocking of products. It helps prevent spoilage to wastage that can cause delays or blockage.
Importance of Production Planning and Control In the Manufacturing IndustryProduction planning and control are important in the manufacturing industry.
The following are the steps involved in the planning and control:
Step 1: PlanningIt is the first step in PPC; managers create production plans and operations. These plans cover all production activities and include all details about the supply chain.
Step 2: RoutingThe next step is the path on which the plan moves forward. It determines the area, operator, and equipment for the task.
Step 3: SchedulingThe third step is the scheduling part, in which managers will determine the order quantity and duration of production. These plans include master schedules, operation schedules, and detailed data about how and when about the product.
Step 4: DispatchingThis step is when products will be shipped to the distributor on schedule via the finalized route.
Step 5: Follow UpThe last step is to follow up on the total procedure. This step helps to identify all delays and issues in the production line and what steps to take to resolve them.
Improve Production Planning And Control With TranZactTranZact helps businesses improve their production planning and control with efficient and accurate execution of processes. With the right strategy, companies can maximize production while minimizing costs, problems, and complications related to the production process.
With TranZact, Indian manufacturing SMEs can improve relations with suppliers and distribution centers and meet production demands.
FAQs on Production Planning And Control 1. What is the main difference between production planning and production control?The key difference between production planning and production control is that production planning is required for scheduling, dispatch, and inventory management. But, production control makes sure production is on target, with reasonable quality control and cost savings.
2. What does PPC stand for?PPC stands for Production planning and control. It ensures a regular check on an operation to maintain a time frame and check everything goes as per the time frame scheduled.
3. What does OEE stand for?OEE stands for overall equipment effectiveness. It is equal to value when quality is multiplied by performance and availability.
4. What is the critical difference between production planning and production control?The critical difference between production planning and production control is that production planning is the sequence of activities done for producing goods, and the management of costs, labor, and equipment is done by production control.
5. What is the main benefit of production planning?Production planning is the strategy that makes the manufacturing process easier and provides details about the product to fulfill demand according to customer needs. It also ensures customer satisfaction and higher profits.
6. What are the three tasks of production planning?Production planning tasks are divided into three main areas. These tasks are the reason that makes production planning an efficient and accurate technique. It includes developing a production process and strategy, collecting resources from raw materials to equipment and workers, and training the workers to work efficiently.
Production planning and control (or PPC) is defined as a work process which seeks to allocate human resources, raw materials, and equipment/machines in a way that optimizes efficiency.
Production planning and control refer to two strategies that work cohesively throughout the manufacturing process. Production planning involves what to produce, when to produce it, how much to produce, and more. A long-term view of production planning is necessary to fully optimize the production flow.
Production control uses different control techniques to reach optimum performance from the production system to achieve throughput targets.
Job-Based or Project-Based production focuses on manufacturing a single product and is either handled by a single worker or by a group of people. The type of jobs that fall under this type of production planning can be on a small scale, such as creating a customized piece of jewelry. Larger, more complex production projects, such as building customized houses, also fall into this category.
Production planning for small-scale jobs that require very little specialized equipment is relatively easy to execute. This allows products to be made according to their customer’s requests and can usually be included at any time during the production process without altering its progress.
Batch production is used when items are produced in groups, rather than individually or through continuous production. For example, cookies are produced in batches which means that each production step occurs at the same time on the batch of cookies. You will start by measuring the ingredients for the entire batch, then mix them together, and finally bake them together so that the entire production process for the batch of cookies starts and ends at the same time.
The challenge that can occur when using Batch Production planning is accounting for the constraints at each operation step to ensure that you maximize your resource capacity without going over the maximum limit allowed. For example, if your dough mixer can fit a batch of 100 cookies, but you can only bake 300 at a time, you may encounter bottlenecks in production.
Flow manufacturing is a demand-driven method that is characterized by the continuous flow of units through the production line. This technique is commonly used in the production of televisions and household appliances where the product is manufactured by a number of collective operations in which materials move from one stage to another without time lags or interruptions.
The benefits of the flow method of production are that manufacturers can minimize the number of work-in-process and finished goods items they hold in inventory, reduce costs, and reduce manufacturing lead times.
Mass Production is very similar to Flow Production. This technique is highly beneficial when producing a large number of the same items in a short period of time.
This type of production is usually automated, which reduces the costs of labor required for production. Some manufacturing facilities have assembly lines dedicated to a specific type of item which reduces the changeover time required and increases the overall production output. This allows manufacturers to increase their profits as the cost of production is greatly reduced.
With this method, operations are scheduled based on the available resource capacity and the production time required at each operation.
Process Production is a type of continuous process similar to Mass Production and Flow Production but is characterized by the continuous flow of materials through the production line. Usually, the finished goods produced in this type of production are not counted as discrete units. For example, the production and processing of liquids, gases, or chemicals where the product is being produced in a uniform and standardized sequence.
The Process Method uses specific and sophisticated machinery to process materials at each operation step. There is little room for error in this type of manufacturing as changing from one item type to another will require a long changeover period. It is also common to have by-products or waste that result from this type of manufacturing.
BENEFITS OF PRODUCTION PLANNING AND CONTROL
The benefits of production planning and control include:
The objectives of production planning and control can vary from one business to another, but some general objectives include the following:
The role of production planning and control in the manufacturing industry is to ensure that materials and equipment are available when needed and that everything runs smoothly.
Component traceability and procurement have special challenges in the electronics industry that require diligent planning. The end goal is the most efficient and profitable production possible.
There are several basic phases of production planning and control.
This part of planning involves the precise route a product or the materials take on the production line. The whole operation is planned and designed carefully, and the pat and sequential order is determined and agreed on. At this stage, what equipment is used, and resources will be considered.
The scheduling state is used to determine the time needed for the process, resources, and machines to complete a certain step, activity or task.
This is when the execution of the scheduling and the routing occurs. The load at each of the routing points and the start-end of an operation or activity are checked for resources support and help. It’s during this step that the assignment of individual work will take place. It is also when efficiency will be put to the test.
This is the stage when the real work starts and the actual implementation of the plans that were made are put into production. During this stage, you will have production orders issued to be the operations and to fuel the onward movement on the production line.
There’s no way to know how effective a particular process is unless you follow up on it after an evaluation. You need to look for any visible or possible bottlenecks at this point that may hinder the seamless flow of the production line at any stage.
Inspection bouts and audits should be conducted to ensure everything under the production scanner adhered to the proper quality standards.
Once the steps above are done, the results will be seen, and you can take action to correct any issues. This is crucial to make the process more efficient in the future.
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