Chapter 6 PRODUCTION PLANNING AND CONTROL

Production planning and control is the function of the management, which plans, directs and control
the production work. The three management functions of planning, directing and controlling apply to
all management jobs.

Planning is the process of deciding what to do in the future. Directing includes issuing orders,
instructing production team and coordinating the production work. Controlling finally means the
implementation of the plans and to constrain the events to follow the plans.

6.1 PRODUCTION PLANNING

ROUTING

A complete program of production control starts with planning. The production control makes the
planning effective through coordination and check. Routing includes planning where and by whom
work will be done. Fundamentally, Routing determines what work will be done on a product/part,
where and how it will be done. It establishes the operation, path, sequence and proper class of machines
and personnel. Production department has the major responsibility of Routing.

ROUTING PROCEDURE

The routing procedure for a new product consists of the following.

1. An analysis of the product on what to be made and what to be purchased (standard parts).
2. An analysis of the product to determine what materials is needed.
3. A determination of the manufacturing operations with sequence.
4. A determination of the lot size and the number of units to be manufactured.
5. An analysis of the cost of the product

6.2 PPRODUCTION CONTROL

SCHEDULING

When a customer orders for a certain quantity of goods to an industry, he/she is anxious to know, when
the goods will be delivered to him/her. If the goods do not belong to a particular customer, the company
will deliver these in the market at certain schedule.

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The important phase of production control is to make a program so that estimated delivery date may
be given. The preparation of this program is known as “scheduling”.
Scheduling involves the establishing the amount of work to be done at a particular time.
This involves allocating the quantity of production within a time frame. It also includes the allocation
of the time and the date of starting job along with the route prescribed.
For developing the scheduling program, three important decisions are to be taken.
I. Selection of work measurement units (man, hour, machine).
II. Selection of proper facility.
III. Selection of technique to be used.

TYPES OF SCHEDULING SYSTEM

1. Master Scheduling
2. Scheduling by loading
3. Order Scheduling

1. Master Scheduling
This technique offers reasonable control and provides necessary coordination between the various
departments. It is necessary to have the knowledge of maximum machine hours available for each
group of machines. Master schedule can be prepared in terms of hours, days, weeks and months.

2. Scheduling by Loading
Loading differs from scheduling: a schedule gives timetable to a department for a definite period
(hours, weeks, months) while a load gives a timetable to a machine or an operator for a day or a week.

3. Order Schedule
This is more detailed technique. In this
technique each and every operation assigned
to a facility is timed such as setup time,
operation time, delay time, etc. For this type
of scheduling a Gantt chart is used.

DISPATCHING
In this phase, actual work starts. All the work
plans are dispatched to different work sections. It is responsibility of each individual to see how closely
the plans are followed.

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The production orders and schedules are dispatched to various sections. In dispatching, it is necessary
to provide information and to issue the materials, tools, production aids, etc.

EXAMPLE
For producing a job, many of operations are involved. Dispatch section to control the operation no.1,
will follow this procedure.

Store issue order: advise store keeper to deliver the materials.

Tool order: advise tool room to provide necessary materials.
Job order: instruct the operator to start operation number.
Time ticket: note the workers beginning time and ending time.
Inspection order: instructs the inspector to examine and report.
Move order: instruct move men to move the job for next operation.

For the operation no.2 the same procedure is followed and so on.

QUESTIONS
1. What function is production planning?
2. What does routing include?
3. Who has the responsibility of routing?
4. What do work measurement units include?
5. What are the three types of scheduling system?
6. In which stage of production control does actual work start?