STEPS IN PRODUCTION PLANNING & CONTROL Planning is the determinative phase of production management. It figures out what is to be done.

Production planning translates sales forecasts into master production schedules, takes off material, personnel & equipment requirements & prepares detailed area or department schedules. It also determines the maintaining of raw materials & finished goods at proper levels. Also, it prepares alternative plans of action as a means of meeting emergencies. Control balances production & inventories apart from the determinative phase of planning. Production control supervises the execution of production schedules so that work flows through the manufacturing departments on time & without interruptions. Control also maintains raw material inventories at levels that neither tie-up excessive amounts of working capital nor lead to shortages that interrupt production. At the same time, finished goods inventories are regulated so that they neither become excessive nor fall so low that they fail to meet demands & so cause back orders to accumulate. Functions/scope of production planning & control 1. Materials: Materials should be made available at the right quality, right quantity, right price & right price. Inventory control & regular supply of materials should be guaranteed. 2. Manpower: It is important to carry out manpower planning to maintain operational & managerial staff possessing requisite skills & expertise. 3. Methods: It is always desirable to consider all the available alternatives & select the best method of processing. Simultaneously, to plan for tooling, jigs & fixtures & to determine the best sequence of operations. 4. Machines & equipments: The choices of manufacturing methods depend on available production facilities & utilization of plant, machines equipments. 5. Routing: The routing function specifies what work is to be done where & when it is to be performed. 6. Estimating: it involves establishing performance standard of each work after duly analyzing operation sheets. These sheets indicate feeds, speeds, depth of cuts, use of special attachments & methods. 7. Loading & scheduling: Loading & scheduling machines have to be made as per the production requirements. Machine loading generates accurate information on work standard, scrap allowances, machine-time requirements & machine capacities. Scheduling is a time-table for performing the job on the available machines so that delivery dates are maintained. 8. Dispatching: Dispatching is the release of orders & instructions to start production as per the route sheets & schedule charts. 9. Expediting: It refers to follow-up which is done after the dispatching function. 10. Inspection: It is related to maintenance of quality in production & processes, methods labour so that improvements can be made to achieve the quality standards. 11. Evaluating: It provides a feedback mechanism on a long term basis so that past experience can be used to improve upon use of methods, facilities & resources in future period. 12. Cost control: In manufacturing products, costs can be kept within control through wastage reduction, value analysis, inventory control & efficient use of resources. Objectives of production planning & control 1. To make all preparations to manufacture goods within specified time & cost. 2. To make available supply of materials, parts & components at the right time. 3. To ensure most economical use of plant & equipment by scheduling best machine utilization. 4. To provide information for production management & distribution of goods. 5. To issue relevant orders to production personals to implement the production plan. 6. To make available materials, machines, tools, equipment & manpower in the required quality & quantity & at the specified time. 7. To ensure production of goods in the required quantities of the specified quality at the pre-determined time. 8. To keep the plant free from production bottleneck. 9. To maintain spare capacity to deal with rush orders. 10. To maintain cordial industrial relations. Organization of Production planning & control Activities in Production planning section includes: 1. Production budget office: In this office, incoming orders are recorded in order book. Budget allocation is

done to execute each order. In case the customer gives a required date of delivery, the date is noted for further action. 2. Material Requirement planning: No sooner the planning engineer receives the product to be produced, the production planning department prepares material requirement plan. Material can be applied either internally from the store or ordered from outside. 3. Methods planning office: The responsibility of this office is to assess the potentialities of available methods & to select the best method for producing components. 4. Capacity planning office: This office checks the status of each of the facility & allocates them as per requirement of jobs. 5. Tool & jig design office: The planner tries to provide simple & cost effective tools & jigs for performing the operation. The selection of suitable tool & jig is advised by industrial engineers. 6. Operation layout & routing office: The responsibility of this office is to prepare several forms & documents so that the production people can work with ease. 7. Scheduling office: The planner is excepted to prepare a time table of machine allocation for different jobs. Individual capacity of the machine indicates to the planner that with the existing number of machines how much work can be cleared & time taken to complete the work. Activities of Production Control section: 1. Dispatching office: This office releases production orders & instructions to those who are expected to carry out production activities. 2. Expediting centre: This centre implements the plan. The centre maintains an effective communication with help from expeditor, between shop floor & the scheduling office. 3. Transportation office: It looks after movement of men & materials within the factory premises. 4. Stores & inspection section: This section assumes the materials management & control functions. Principles of Production Planning & Control 1. The kind of production planning & the control system required in a factory is determined by the type of production. 2. The operation of production planning & control department is influenced by the number of parts involved in manufacturing the product. 3. The complexity of production planning & control function varies with the number of assembles involved. 4. The scheduling activities must be carried out strictly as per time table. 5. A sound production planning & control system works on the same principle for both small & large plants. 6. An effective production planning & control function brings about cost control. 7. Production planning & control allows management by exception. 8. Production planning & control is a tool to coordinate all manufacturing activities in a product system.

Phases of PPC 1. Planning phase: It has two categories of planning , a. Prior planning is pre-production planning & b. Active planning is actual production planning. Prior planning refers to all the planning efforts that take place prior to active planning. The modules of prior planning are: product development & design, forecasting, aggregate planning, master scheduling etc. Active planning includes various activities directly related to the production. The modules of active planning are: process planning & routing, material planning, tools planning, loading, scheduling etc. 2. Action phase: Action phase directly deals with dispatching. Dispatching is the transition from planning phase to action phase. The employee is ordered to start manufacturing the product. The tasks that are included in dispatching are: job order, store issue order, tool order, time ticket, inspection order, move order etc. 3. Control phase: Control phase includes (a) progress reporting & (b) corrective action. Progress reporting helps to make comparison with the present level of performance. Corrective action makes provisions for an unexpected event e.g., capacity modifications, schedule modifications etc. Steps in production planning & control The production planning & control department has thus to initiate the following steps.

1. Routing i.e. determination of the manufacturing path. 2. Scheduling i.e. establishing time for starting & finishing each operation or job. 3. Despatching i.e. issue of orders. 4. Follow-up i.e. ensuring that work proceeds according to plans & there is no variation. This means to ensure smooth flow of work. Routing Routing is one important step in production planning & control. It is useful for smooth & efficient working of the whole plant or factory. Production planning starts with routing. It decides the path of work & the sequence of operations. The demand for a more systematic method of carrying the work through the shop gave rise to the practice of routing. In fact, production planning starts with routing which includes the following activities: a. Determining the quality of the product to be manufactured; b. Determining the men, machines & materials to be used; c. Determining the types, number & sequence of manufacturing operations; & d. Determining the place of production. Routing has the following objectives: 1. It determines the sequence of manufacturing operations. 2. It ensures the strict adherence to the sequence so determined. 3. It strives for the best possible & cheapest sequence of operations. 4. It influences the design & layout of the factory building with a view to get quick & better production results. 5. It also influences the installation of plants & factory for better results.

Advantages of routing: 1. Well chalked out division of labour. 2. Production of goods according to schedule. 3. Maximization of productivity. 4. Interruption free production. 5. Reduction in cost of production. 6. Optimum use of all factors of production. 7. scientific layout of the plant. Scheduling Scheduling is next to routing & is concerned with timetable of production. Scheduling arranges the different manufacturing operations in order of priority, fixing the time & date for the commencement & completion of each operation. It includes all requisites of production like scheduling of parts, materials, machines, etc. perfect coordination must exist between operation so that parts that are separately produced are brought to the final assembly in right time. In brief, scheduling means fixing or deciding the amount of work to be done & fixing the time for starting & finishing each operation. It is like a timetable of the production plan. Essentials of master scheduling: 1. Inventory policy & position. 2. Procurement including subcontract. 3. Sales forecast. 4. Departmental manufacturing capacities. 5. Operations required & operations schedule. 6. Specific operations presenting critical path or imbalance of production flow. 7. Specific customer demands or delivery requirements. 8. Alternative delivery schedules. 9. Production plan including quantitative data. 10. Production standards.

11. Demand for finished products. Uses of scheduling: 1. Scheduling is certainly a necessity in a large setup which produces a variety of products with numerous components. The time within which products must be manufactured forms an important element in production control. 2. Scheduling also determines the total time required to perform a given piece of work or assembly. 3. Time & motion study helps standardization of methods of work after a careful analysis of all the vital factors surrounding the manufacturing processes.

Dispatching Dispatching is concerned with starting the processes & operations of production. Dispatching is based on the route sheets & schedule sheets. Dispatching provides the necessary authority to start the routed & schedule work. It is similar to putting oneself into the train after deciding the route of the particular train & the destination. Functions of dispatching: 1. To ensure that the right materials are moved from stores to machines & from operation to operation. 2. To distribute machine loading & schedule charts, route sheets, operation instruction cards & identification tags for each works order. 3. To instruct tools department to issue the right tools, accessories & fixtures in time. 4. To authorize the work to be taken in hand as per the predetermined dates & time. 5. To direct inspection at various stages of production for inspection report. 6. To maintain proper report of the various subsidiary orders issued with each production order, for filing & reference. 7. To inform the follow-up section that production is starting.

Follow-up This is the last function of production control. It expedites the movement of materials & production process as a whole. It looks into determination of the present situation expediting the department lagging behind & removing the bottleneck in the production line. Once production commences it is necessary to check that it is proceeding according to plan. Before dispatching new orders to the manufacturing department the progress of outstanding orders must be known. There are certain factors over which the manufacturing department has no control & hence follow-up is necessary. The production schedule is likely to suffer even if slight irregularity is caused by one or more of these factors. The most important factors causing disturbances in production schedule are: excessive labour, absenteeism, machine breakdown, errors in drawings, strikes, late delivery of materials etc. the function of follow-up is to maintain proper records of work, delays & bottleneck. Such records can be used in future to control production. Follow-up Documents: Follow-up documents are prepared with the objective to identify the products. They also help to check completion dates with due dates. They vary greatly according to the type of production. These documents include the following information: 1. Labels with part numbers. 2. Order numbers mentioned on the article. 3. Number of products or batches of products. 4. Daily progress sheets showing the position of every order in process. 5. Reports showing orders behind schedule.