Production Planning and Control-What Managers and Supervisors should know about it.

The word production Planning and Control are usually applied to the process by which the flow of raw material or part finished product is planned , regulated and monitored. The department with this name is responsible to

• Allocating work in most profitable way
• Providing information as to the progress of order and
• Adjusting the production schedule to suit changing circumstances

The Task

1. Assess Production Capacity: Evaluate the production capacity, focusing particularly on specialized and bottleneck operations within the manufacturing process.
2. Develop Long-Term Production Plan: Create a comprehensive long-term production plan by utilizing the existing order list, making necessary modifications to align with the current state of ongoing work.
3. Establish Production Schedule: Creating a detailed production schedule is essential to ensure that work in progress remains within agreed-upon limits and that production operates efficiently. Here’s a step-by-step guide for scheduling production on a monthly or weekly basis
4. Initiate Raw Material Orders: Notifying the purchase officer of the date on which the items are required.
5. Execute Order Loading: Load orders as needed to meet realistic delivery dates, ensuring proper documentation and maximizing the utilization of scarce resources.
6. Monitor Progress: Regularly monitor the progress of ongoing tasks to facilitate adjustments to plans and provide necessary updates to other management sections.
7. Facilitate Information Exchange: Establish a system for exchanging information, ensuring ease of access for both management and merchants.

The Challenge:

Sometimes, the job of Production Planning and Control (PPC) is not given enough importance and is seen as just paperwork – doing the same things every day, planning and re-planning. The main problems faced by planners, who work as management consultants, are:

The Range of Scope in Apparel

In the clothing industry, the Production Planning and Control (PPC) can be different for each clothing company. It depends on how specialized and varied their production is.

The most complicated part is making patterns and then going through processes like cutting, bundling, fusing, sewing using many different types of machines, pressing, final sewing, checking, and packing. The people working need to have both practical and office skills, and things like maintaining quality and productivity are crucial.

Different companies might have different challenges. Some might need to keep their work in process low and get things done quickly, especially when fashion changes fast or during specific seasons. In these situations, PPC becomes more complicated and plays a big role in making everything work smoothly.

Planning Scheduling and Controlling

Planning: Thinking ahead for the long term, like where we want to be in the upcoming season or the next three months. We start by looking at the orders we already have from buyers. It’s important to figure out if our production unit can handle the expected orders both in terms of quantity and in special styles like embroidery or specialized printing. Once we decide, the relevant departments need to take action. This might involve adjusting the plan, buying necessary items, getting special machines, training staff, finding new space, or getting help from other manufacturers.

Scheduling: Following the company’s usual way of doing things, work gets assigned to our production team based on the plan we agreed upon. This happens when orders are confirmed or through a combination of both. At this point, schedules are created, detailing all the activities we’ve planned. Some of these activities are routine and easy to predict, while others might need more attention and planning.

Controlling: Making sure that production happens according to the schedule, especially when the work is complicated and depends on individual performances. If things don’t go as planned, orders might get canceled, or urgent orders might come in, causing inefficiencies. To avoid these issues, it’s crucial to do the initial work thoroughly and have computer models to help us balance everything out.

Key Factor In Scheduling and Controlling

To plan and control work and raw material orders effectively, consider these key factors:

1. Throughput Time/Unit:
   • Example: Think about how much cloth or work you can get done in a minute.
2. Work in Process Delays:
   • When there are many steps in a process, use work in process as a buffer to handle changes in output. Each step can add to the overall time it takes to complete the work.
3. Critical Path:
   • Identify the critical path, which is the part of any process that determines how long the whole process will take. Some steps happen at the same time, while others follow one after the other.
4. Bottleneck Operations:
   • Find the steps in the process where limited capacity is slowing down production.
5. Plant Utilization:
   • Figure out how much of the available time is used effectively and how much might be wasted due to repairs or a lack of suitable work or skilled workers.
6. Minimum Order Size:
   • Consider the smallest number of items you’re willing to produce. It might depend on the expected profit per item. For instance, you might accept a small order for a profitable item but only take a large order for something less profitable.
7. Effects of Changeover:
   • Understand the expected loss of output when switching from making one thing to another. Consider the time lost in cleaning and any material that needs to be thrown away during the change. For example, in sewing, changing from making one type of shirt to another may cause some loss in efficiency.
8. Waste Percentage:
   • Think about how much cloth is used in cutting and predict how many garments might be rejected. This helps determine the overall waste percentage in the production process. For instance, in cutting cloth, combined with expected losses in rejects and recuts, consider how efficiently the material is utilized.

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