Objectives of Production Planning and Control (PPC)

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. PPC is a term used to describe two essential components of manufacturing: production planning and production control.

Planning and control are interdependent components that are interrelated to each other. This means that one needs the other in order to work. Planning is a useless tool without having a production control process to take action and ensure that the plan is executed successfully. Production control provides feedback on the accuracy of the production plan, which helps in the modification of existing plans and the creation of future plans. On its end, control is dependent on planning as the standards of performance are laid out during the planning process.

Production planning and control allows manufacturers to effectively generate a production plan, execute it, and ultimately take control of their operations through continuous improvement initiatives.

As these processes are related, production planning and production control need to be integrated together in order to be executed effectively. In this blog, we are going to discuss the overall objectives of production planning and control and why the implementation of an advanced planning and scheduling (APS) software is essential.

Objectives of Production Planning and Control

The overall objectives of production planning and control include the following:

• Continuous Flow of Production - One of the primary objectives of production planning and control is the continuous flow of production through the production facility. Continuous flow and process improvement is one of the integral concepts of lean manufacturing, six sigma, and overall production enhancement. Production planning and control will attempt to achieve a smooth and continuous production process by eliminating bottlenecks and waste from your facility, which allows you to take your production to the next level in terms of productivity.
• Planned Requirements - The production planning component of production planning and control is essential to ensure that your production facility has what it needs, in the right amount, at the right time. Having a production plan ensures that you have enough material, machines, tools, equipment, and manpower to perform the work.
• Optimal Inventory Levels - Inventory is often considered to be wasteful within manufacturing operations. This is because inventory-related costs are some of the largest incurred for many operations. This is why you should aim to reduce inventory levels as much as you can to adequately cut costs within your operations. Production planning and control plans and executes the processes that allows a consistent flow of production to ultimately come closer to JIT (just-in-time) manufacturing and reducing inventory levels within manufacturing operations.
• Increased Productivity - Increased productivity is another substantial objective within production planning and control. Production planning and control ultimately aims to increase productivity through efficiency enhancement while also being economical. Increased productivity is successfully achieved through optimizing the use of existing production resources and labor resources while eliminating wastage/spoilage of materials.
• Customer Satisfaction - All companies want to increase customer satisfaction. This is because demand is driven by customers and happy customers means more business in the future. Having defective products and having delays in shipment days will only be harmful to the company. Production planning and control focuses primarily on ensuring that the manufacturing process successfully completes orders on time and reducing lead times. This ensures that customer orders are fulfilled on time and within a short time frame and will improve customer satisfaction with your company.

Production planning and control software is absolutely essential for manufacturing facilities that are seeking to improve overall efficiency within their operations.

PlanetTogether frees [our planner] from all the mechanics. We run more efficiently, with more money to the bottom line. From an executive point of view, that’s one result that gives me a chance to relax and enjoy another cup of coffee.

DANA KING, V.P. INFORMATION SYSTEMS, DIEDRICH COFFEE

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.

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.

Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) Software

Advanced Planning and Scheduling Softwares have become a must for modern-day manufacturing operations as customer demand for increased product assortment, fast delivery, and downward cost pressures become prevalent. These systems help planners save time while providing greater agility in updating ever-changing priorities, production schedules, and inventory plans. APS Systems can be quickly integrated with an ERP/MRP software to fill the gaps where these systems lack planning and scheduling flexibility, accuracy, and efficiency.

With PlanetTogether APS you can:

• Create optimized schedules that balance production efficiency and delivery performance
• Maximize throughput on bottleneck resources to increase revenue
• Synchronize supply with demand to reduce inventories
• Provide company-wide visibility to resource capacity
• Enable scenario data-driven decision making

The implementation of an Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) Software will take your manufacturing operations to the next level of production efficiency by taking advantage of the operational data you already possess in your ERP system. APS is a step in the right direction of efficiency and lean manufacturing production enhancement. Try out a free trial or demo!