Increased product variety, short and difficult to manage lead times, and high
expectations of customers regarding product quality and delivery time have led to the
requirement of an efficient Manufacturing Planning and Control (MPC) system in the
manufacturing firms, especially in Make To-Order (MTO) environment. In order to
ensure long-term profitability, manufacturing firms have to produce consistently highquality
products at competitive costs and with high service levels (Revelle, 2001). The
MPC system is mainly concerned with planning and controlling of all aspects of
manufacturing, including managing materials, scheduling machines and people, and
coordinating suppliers and key customers (Vollmann et al., 2005). It is ‘selection and
implementation’ of appropriate techniques and approaches for the purpose of managing
materials and resources of a manufacturing firm. The selection and/or design of most
suitable MPC approach for a firm mainly depends upon the existing conditions of the
firm, and it is very crucial as ultimately it decides the success and hence, the future of
the firm.
MPC reflects planning hierarchy with sales/operations planning/Master Production
Scheduling (MPS) at the top level, capacity planning and material requirements
planning at mid-term level, and shop floor control, manufacturing execution systems
and supplier systems at short-term level (Vollmann et al., 2005; and Nieuwenhuyse
et al., 2011). In manufacturing planning, mainly logistic issues associated with the
production are addressed. After planning is over, production orders are scheduled to
the available resources. Scheduling may be considered at the middle of production
planning and controlling activities from the MPC’s point of view.
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