OE | Planning
Operational Excellence | Production Planning and Control
In our most recent blog we look at the ninth (of 15) main KPA that forms part of an Operational Excellence programme - Production Planning and Control.
Production Planning
Production planning deals with the basic concepts of what to produce, when to produce, how much to produce etc. It also involves taking a long-term view of overall production planning.
Production Control
Production control looks to utilise different types of control techniques to optimise performance out of the production system to achieve the overall production planning targets.
Essential Ingredients
Production planning and control are essential ingredients for the success of an Operational Excellence programme. The benefits are as follows:
It ensures that optimum utilisation of production capacity is achieved, by proper scheduling of the machine items which reduces the idle time as well as overuse.
It ensures that inventory levels are maintained at optimum levels at all time.
It ensures that production time is kept at optimum level and thereby increases the turnover time.
Since it overlooks all aspects of production, the quality of the final product is always maintained.
The System
The areas that will be reviewed, as part of an Operational Excellence initial assessment include; the production planning system that is driven by the sales forecasts, the communication process between various parts of the business including planning, purchasing, stores and maintenance, capacity planning, the flexibility of production plans and various key performance areas.
The Benefits
The many benefits of effective production planning and control show that it can increase a business's revenues by maximising the utilisation of its resources. Overall, if the individual components within the organisation are not working well together, there will only be a limited amount of success for the entire manufacturing operation.
If you are looking to transform your production planning, then you may need help in establishing robust planning and control systems.
The first step to achieving this is by completing an Operational Excellence programme.
eBook - First Steps to Operational Excellence
To read an overview of all 15 KPAs, download our eBook and find out what the first steps are to achieve Operational Excellence, and how you can take them…
