Production Planning Tools and Methods

Introduction

Production Plan is a written document that states the quantity of output a company
must produce in broad terms and by product family. Production planning involves
the means by which a manufacturing plan is determined, information issued for its
execution, data collected and recorded, which will enable the plant to be controlled
through all its stages.

Objectives

1) What are the different techniques and method in production planning?

2) What are the steps involved in production planning process?
3) Why production planning is essential in engineer managers?
4) What planning activities are undertaken at various management levels?
5) What are the barriers to planning? Aids?

Achieve maximum output with minimum input. It is of vital importance that

production department of the organization should be managed in such a manner as
to ensure economy in material resources and production time.

Make sure that customers will be supplied their orders, on their delivery dates and
also at the minimum overall cost by planning the sequence of activities.-H.A.
Harding

1. To achieve coordination among various departments relating to production.

2. To make adequate arrangement of men, money, materials, machines tools,

implements and equipment relating to production.

3. To decide about the production targets to be achieved by keeping in view the

sales forecast.

4. To keep production operation continuous.

5. To achieve desired share of the market.

6. To fix right type of man for right type of job.

7. To determine the desired level if profits in production planning.

8. To make all arrangements to remove possible obstacles in the way of smooth

production.
Definition of Terms

Research where the engineer is engaged in the process of learning about nature
and codifying this knowledge into usable theories.

Testing where the engineer is directly in charge of production personnel or

assumes responsibility for the product.

Management where the engineer is assigned to manage groups of people

performing specific tasks.

Goals precise statement of results sought, quantified in time and magnitude,

where possible.

Budget a plan which sets forth the projected expenditure for a certain activity and
explains where the required funds will come from.

Project a single-use plan that is usually more limited in scope than a program and
is sometimes prepared to support a program.

Summary

Method of Production Planning:

A) Planning
B) Routing
C) Scheduling
D) Dispatching
E) Follow-up & Expediting
F) Inspection

The process of planning consists of various steps depending on the management

level that performs planning task. Generally, however, planning involves the
following:

A) Setting organizational, divisional, or unit goals

B) Developing strategies or tactics to reach those goals
C) Determining resources needed
D) Setting standards

Production planning is very important and essential in engineer managers in the

field of engineering;

A) To achieve economy in production cost and time.

B) To initiate production on modern lines.
C) To operate the plant at planned level of efficiency.
D) To develop alternative plans in order to meet any emergency or contingency.
Planning at various management levels:

A) Top management level strategic planning

B) Middle management level intermediate planning
C) Lower management level operational planning

Barriers to effective planning: Aids:

A) Managers inability to plan A) Gather as much information

as possible
B) Improper planning process B) Develop multiple sources of
information
C) Lack of commitment to the planning process C) Involve others in the
planning process
D) Improper information
E) Focusing on the present at the expense of the future
F) Too much reliance on the planning department
G) Concentrating on only the controllable variables

References/Bibliography

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT BY ROBERTO G. MEDINA

Assessment

The production plan must contain amount of capacity the company must have, how
many employees are required, and how much material must be purchased. It is very
essential for an engineer to master everything about production planning to
conquer and avoid unnecessary additional expenditures that will definitely affect
directly in the project as well as the engineer. Functional area of the project
branches the production planning which directly defines to the effect of numerical
values of factors under production and manpower to the main project. It utilizes
the resource allocation of activities of employees, materials and production
capacity, in order to serve different customers.