Production planning simply explained

Production scheduling is important because it transports relevant knowledge regarding internal processes, planning and shipments. It also provides information about the company itself. This makes it easier for companies to keep their production processes under control, work more efficiently and with less effort.

Production planning is usually handled by production managers. They work closely with the purchasing, sales and logistics departments.

Production scheduling essentially fulfills the following tasks:

Production program planning

Production program planning is divided into long-term, medium-term and short-term planning. Long-term planning covers a period of more than three years and deals with issues relating to market segments and the associated products. In medium-term planning, the focus is on quarterly and annual planning. Decisions are made on product groups. Short-term planning takes place on a daily or weekly basis and decides exclusively on the product quantity to be manufactured.

Material requirements planning

Material requirements planning is created by looking at primary requirements. This includes finished products that can be sold and are in demand. It is determined how many raw materials and secondary requirements, i.e. individual parts, are required for the production of the requested products. Many companies use PIM systems (Product Information Management System) to make it easier to compile the necessary information.

Production process planning

Production process planning includes the planning of batch sizes, deadlines and capacities. It also involves the planning of sequences and detailed scheduling through to order release.

The aim of production scheduling is to organize the production of goods and services in such a way that operational resources such as materials, machines, manpower and time are used efficiently to meet demand. The aim is to minimize costs, meet delivery times and ensure even utilization of production capacity.
The main objectives of production scheduling can be summarized as follows:

• Efficient resource utilization: optimal allocation of resources to avoid bottlenecks and reduce costs.
• On-time production: Ensuring that products are completed on time to meet customer requirements and delivery times.
• Inventory optimization: Avoiding overproduction or overstocking to minimize storage costs while ensuring that sufficient materials are available.
• Flexibility: Adaptability to changing market conditions, order changes or unforeseen disruptions in production.
• Quality assurance: Compliance with quality standards in the production process.
• Cost minimization: Reduction of production and storage costs through effective planning.

In summary, production planning aims to design production processes in such a way that the desired products are manufactured in the right quantity, quality and at the right time in a cost-efficient manner.

Production scheduling is responsible for planning production processes in the short or medium term.

Production control, on the other hand, is responsible for releasing, controlling and monitoring production orders that have already been scheduled.

Production planning runs through the following levels:

1. Long-term production scheduling: the aim is to strategically align production, define targets and ensure quality standards.
2. Medium-term production scheduling: With a view to planning production processes within a year, this involves the factors of production capacity, resource availability and required working time.
3. Short-term production scheduling: Short-term production scheduling involves regular planning, usually on a daily or weekly basis. It deals with the production quantity and quality, resource adjustment and deployment of labor. Production processes and performance are also monitored.
4. Production control: The focus is on monitoring actual production. It is controlled and compliance with specifications is ensured. Sub-areas include the monitoring of production costs, process data analysis and process optimization.
5. Production analysis: Production analysis evaluates the production results with the aim of identifying and realizing potential for improvement. Among other things, process performance, product quality and costs are evaluated.

Strategic production scheduling

In strategic production scheduling, long-term framework conditions are created to ensure the successful development of a company.

Tactical production scheduling

Tactical production scheduling provides a production infrastructure with which the value creation process can run according to the specifications of strategic production scheduling.

Operational production scheduling

Operational production scheduling is used to design and implement the value chain. Resources that were created in advance in tactical production scheduling are used for this purpose.

• Dealing with large amounts of data
• Identification of bottlenecks and their planning
• Regular plan changes triggered by external circumstances
• Responding to unforeseen outcomes such as machine breakdowns
• Fluctuations in demand
• Increasingly complex production processes
• Non-transparent processes and too little communication
• Resource bottlenecks

Production scheduling in regulated industries, such as the cosmetics, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical, medical device or food industries, has some special requirements and challenges resulting from strict compliance with legal requirements and standards.

Here are some of the most important special features:

1. Strict quality standards and regulations

In regulated industries, strict regulations are imposed by supervisory authorities such as the FDA (USA), EMA (Europe) or local authorities. In these industries, for example, ISO standards and GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) guidelines are observed. Production scheduling must ensure that all processes comply with these regulations and are regularly validated.

2. Documentation obligation

Every step in the production chain must be comprehensively documented. Batch traceability is essential in order to be able to prove the origin of all raw materials and the entire production process. This increases the administrative effort and influences planning, especially when managing production batches.

3. Process validation and qualification

Systems, processes and products must be validated and qualified prior to production. This applies to both the machines and the workflows to ensure that they are consistent and reproducible. This process requires additional planning and can lead to delays.

4. Longer lead times

Extensive testing, approvals and quality assurance measures can extend lead times. These steps must be factored into production planning to ensure that products reach the market on time without violating regulatory requirements.

5. Frequent audits and inspections

Companies in regulated industries must expect regular quality audits and inspections by regulatory authorities. Production scheduling must be prepared for this and meet the requirements for clean and auditable processes.

6. Risk management

Production scheduling must be risk-based in order to identify and eliminate potential sources of error at an early stage. This includes the evaluation of suppliers, the analysis of production failures and the management of quality deviations.

7. Safety and environmental requirements

The manufacture of products in regulated industries is often subject to special safety and environmental requirements. Production planning must take these aspects into account, such as the safe handling of chemicals or the environmentally friendly disposal of waste.

8. Capacity management and flexibility

In regulated industries, unforeseeable events such as product recalls, changes in regulations or shortages of raw materials can occur. Production scheduling must therefore be flexible enough to cope with such challenges without jeopardizing product availability.

9. High costs of non-compliance

Failure to comply with regulations can have significant financial and legal consequences, including fines, product recalls or even production shutdowns. Production scheduling must ensure that all requirements are fully implemented.

Yaveon 365 is our industry-specific ERP solution for companies in the process manufacturing industry. For production scheduling, Yaveon 365 offers a wide range of functions that are specially tailored to the requirements of these industries:

• Lot tracking: Facilitates planning through traceability of batches and serial numbers to target availability and usage.
• Recipe management: Enables accurate planning of recipes and bills of materials for efficient raw material allocation.
• Capacity planning: Helps to plan production capacity by identifying bottlenecks and optimizing the use of resources.
• Quality management: Integrates quality controls into production scheduling to detect deviations at an early stage and take corrective action.
• Material availability: Ensures that the required materials are available through inventory monitoring and flexibly adjusts planning in the event of bottlenecks.
• Automated planning proposals: Supports production scheduling with automated suggestions based on inventories and orders.
• Compliance: Ensures compliant production scheduling in regulated industries, e.g. through GMP-compliant processes.
• Multi-stage planning: Coordinates complex production processes across several stages to enable on-time production.