Setting performance standards and benchmarks for quality, quantity and cost Designing and installing facilities Development of time standards, costing and performance standards Selection of processes and assembling methods Selection and design of tools and equipment Design of facilities including plant location, layout of building, machines and equipment, raw material handling system and finished goods storage facilities Design and improvement of planning and control systems for production, inventory, quality and plant maintenance and distribution system Cost control systems Development and installation of job evaluation systems Installation of wage incentive schemes Design and installation of value engineering and analysis system Operation research Mathematical and statistical analysis Performance evaluation Organization and methods Supplier selection and evaluation Production planning and control Inventory control Job evaluation Facilitates planning and material handling System analysis Linear programming Simulation Network analysis Queuing models Assignment Sequencing and transportation models Games theory and dynamic programing Group technology Statistical techniques Quality control Decision making theory Replacement models Assembly line balancing Production planning is a managerial function which is mainly concerned with the following important issues:
› What production facilities are required?
› How these production facilities should be laid out in the space available for production? › How they should be used to produce the desired products at the desired rate of production? Production planning is dynamic in nature and always remains in fluid state as plans may have to be changed according to the changes in circumstances.
Production planning is usually done at
the following three horizon levels: › Long term (capacity planning) › Medium term (aggregate planning) › Short term (operation planning) Long term (capacity planning) › Up to 5 years ahead or more › Strategic/business issues › Reflected in process choice Medium term (aggregate planning) › Up to 2 years ahead › How can demand be met from existing facilities and resource inputs? Short term (operational planning) › Monitoring and correction of day-to-day activities versus plan It should be based on accurate data It must be flexible It must satisfy a set of pre-defined objectives (economy, quality etc.) It must be simple and straight forward It should have a reporting system, so that right information reaches at right place and at right time It should not have any week link Production control is a mechanism to monitor the execution of the plans. It has several important functions:
Making sure that production operations are
started at planned places and planned times. Observing progress of the operations and recording it properly. Analyzing the recorded data with the plans and measuring the deviations. Taking immediate corrective actions to minimize the negative impact of deviations from the plans. Feeding back the recorded information to the planning section in order to improve future plans. Inputs Transformation Outputs process • Resources (value addition) • Products & • Objectives Services
A closed loop system with control function
Control involves the monitoring and correction (where necessary) of operations to ensure that plans and objectives are being met. Many different forms of production control: › Quality control › Stock control › Order processing/ chasing against schedules › Cost control (budgeting) › People and labour productivity Say you are the owner of a furniture manufacturer company. Do a presentation on your company’s production planning and control based on the following criteria: › Product of your company › Your resources and your target buyers › Facilities of your organization › Production rate/schedule of your company › Number of workers in your company › Quality control › Short, medium and long term planning