Glossary · Manufacturing systems
Production planning
Also known as: Production planning and control (PPC), Master production planning
German: Produktionsplanung
In manufacturing, production planning is the medium- to long-term planning of what to produce, in which quantities and when, based on demand, capacity and material availability, typically done in the ERP system.
- Manufacturing systems
In one sentence
Production planning decides what to produce, in which quantities and when, based on demand, capacity and material availability.
Example
Production planning sets a weekly quantity of 4,000 pumps and triggers purchase orders for the motors three weeks in advance.
How it applies
- Process: Production planning includes sales and operations planning, master production scheduling, material requirements planning and rough-cut capacity planning. It uses the Bill of materials (BOM) and Routing (manufacturing) as master data.
- Integration: Plans result in Work orders that are passed to the shop floor, often through the MES for detailed scheduling.
- Data quality: Plans are only as good as master data: wrong cycle times or BOMs lead to wrong capacity and material plans.
- Documentation: Document planning parameters (lead times, lot sizes, safety stock) and the responsibilities for maintaining them. For technical documentation teams, production planning determines when documentation must be ready for a new product or variant.
Production planning vs. production scheduling
Planning decides quantities and periods at aggregate level. Production scheduling sequences individual orders on specific resources in minutes and hours.