Production Planning and Control: Mastering Efficiency, Inventory, and Capacity

Welcome to the comprehensive Production Planning and Control (PPC) course! In production environments, a lack of planning leads to severe negative outcomes, including late product delivery, customer complaints, quality costs, and expensive, urgent shipments often referred to as "premium freight". Poor planning also contributes to excess stock, increased clutter and space usage, high inventory costs, inefficiency resulting from production lines or operators waiting for materials, and increased workplace chaos, stress, and potential job loss.

PPC is the organizational unit focused on the fundamental concepts of what to produce, when to produce, and how much to produce. It is essential for bringing a long-term perspective to production, moving beyond merely "saving the day". The goal is to establish efficient, effective, and economical operations by integrating the planning and control system.

This course will equip you with the practical and theoretical skills needed to manage the entire process, whether you utilize advanced ERP/MRP software or simpler, customized methods like Excel and Gantt charts.

We will explore all the main stages of production planning:

1. Supply Management: Reviewing customer sales orders, and based on these, placing orders for raw materials and coordinating procurement, including determining shipping times and transit duration.

2. Inventory Management: This is one of the "must-haves" in PPC. You must accurately track finished goods, semi-finished goods, and raw material stocks. We cover how to perform stock analysis, determine minimum/maximum stock levels based on usage trends (including seasonal changes), and practice proactive ordering.

3. Capacity Management: Determining and effectively utilizing machine and labor capacity. This involves understanding the difference between theoretical capacity (the highest possible output) and practical (or actual) capacity (the output achieved after accounting for issues like machine breakdowns, energy outages, or worker absences).

4. Operations Scheduling: Learning how to assign production to specific machines and lines, and how to use Job Orders to give timely and complete information (product name, code, quantity, location) to manufacturing.

A critical component of effective planning is the ability to identify bottleneck operations. These are the slowest operations in an sequential line that dictate the maximum production speed of the entire line. Monitoring these bottlenecks is crucial, as they guide long-term investment decisions.

Finally, we address the common difficulties in PPC: ensuring accurate and continually updated Bill of Materials (BOMs) (or product recipes), overcoming challenges posed by purchasing/supplier negligence, dealing with external interference from bosses or management prioritizing "favored customers", and maintaining discipline in adhering to the production schedule.

By mastering PPC, you will streamline the production process, reduce investment in stock, increase efficiency, lower general production costs, and ultimately ensure the highest level of customer delivery performance. PPC is absolutely vital for achieving customer satisfaction and the overall success of the organization.