Understand PPC functions in manufacturing—materials, routing, dispatching, follow-up, and evaluation—and where APS fits for better schedules.
Production planning and control (PPC) is how manufacturers translate demand into executable work—making sure materials, routing, capacity, and dispatching stay aligned as conditions change. Core PPC functions include materials management, equipment readiness, methods/routing, dispatching, follow-up (expediting), and evaluation. When variability is high, APS can help keep schedules feasible by continuously reconciling constraints with priorities. 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.
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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.
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.
Some of the key functions within production planning and control include the following:
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 .
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.
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.
Use this quick check to decide where to focus first:
Are shortages or late components driving schedule changes?
→ Prioritize materials management + supplier/lead-time controls first.
Are bottlenecks and downtime the real constraint?
→ Focus on equipment analysis + constraint-based sequencing (protect the bottleneck).
Do schedules break because routing/process steps vary by SKU or changeover?
→ Standardize methods + routing rules and make changeovers explicit.
Do priorities change daily (hot orders, expediting, customer escalations)?
→ Strengthen dispatching + follow-up, and add what-if scenario planning.
Do you manage multiple lines/plants or complex constraints?
→ That’s typically the handoff point where APS scheduling software + ERP/MRP integrations remove the spreadsheet bottleneck and improve schedule reliability.
Production planning and control breaks down when any link in the chain slips—materials arrive late, equipment goes down, routings are inefficient, or priorities change mid-shift. APS software supports PPC by combining finite-capacity scheduling with resource planning and performance tracking, so planners can build schedules that reflect real constraints and then adjust quickly when conditions change.
APS also complements ERP/MRP/MPS systems by using the operational data you already maintain (orders, items, routings, calendars) while improving scheduling flexibility and accuracy—especially around downtime, bottlenecks, changeovers, and material readiness.
With PlanetTogether APS, you can:
When PPC is supported by APS, planning and scheduling can happen concurrently—making it easier to keep machines utilized, prevent avoidable delays, and continuously improve performance based on real results.
Managing production across multiple plants introduces new scheduling complexity: shared constraints, competing priorities, variable lead times, and the need to shift work when capacity or demand changes. This video explains the fundamentals of multi-plant scheduling and how Advanced Planning & Scheduling (APS) helps manufacturers coordinate schedules across sites with realistic capacity and operational constraints in mind.
For production planners, master schedulers, supply chain leaders, and IT/ERP stakeholders, the goal is to align what each plant can produce with what the business needs to ship—without relying on disconnected spreadsheets and constant manual expediting. APS supports this by improving visibility into capacity and helping teams update priorities and schedules more quickly as conditions change.
The video also connects multi-plant scheduling to upstream systems by showing where ERP/MRP + APS fits together. PlanetTogether APS complements ERP/MRP by closing common execution gaps—so schedules are more accurate, flexible, and aligned to real-world constraints like downtime, changeovers, and material readiness.
Multi-plant scheduling magnifies everyday scheduling problems. When each site manages priorities in spreadsheets, planners spend more time reconciling updates and moving jobs between resources than improving throughput and delivery performance.
Download our infographic that compares spreadsheet scheduling vs. PlanetTogether APS to see where teams typically lose hours each day—and what changes when scheduling is built for manufacturing and distribution coordination. It’s a fast, ToFU-friendly resource for planners and operations leaders who want quicker schedule updates, easier what-if adjustments, and clearer communication to execution teams.
What you’ll take away from the infographic:
PPC typically includes materials management, equipment readiness, methods and routing, estimating, dispatching, follow-up (expediting), and evaluation. Together, these functions ensure the schedule is feasible, materials are available, and execution stays aligned to priorities.
Scheduling is one PPC output (the “what runs when”). PPC is broader: it also covers materials, routing rules, dispatching, follow-up, and performance review—so execution can be controlled, not just planned.
Schedules usually fail because of missing materials, underestimated changeovers/setup time, unplanned downtime, or frequent priority changes. If these constraints aren’t modeled explicitly, the schedule becomes a wish list instead of an operating plan.
Look for improved on-time delivery, lower schedule churn (fewer daily rewrites), higher bottleneck utilization, reduced WIP, and fewer expedites. Pair outcome metrics (OTD) with control metrics (schedule stability) to see whether the process is actually improving.
APS is usually the right fit when constraints are tight (finite capacity), variability is high, and planners need fast re-optimization—especially across multiple lines/plants, complex changeovers, or frequent order reprioritization.
Scheduling is an important stage in the production planning and control process. Here, we focus on this stage and the methods used to approach it.
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