Production Plan

A Production Plan is a document that helps organize and schedule manufacturing activities based on demand, stock levels, and resource availability. It ensures efficient use of materials, labour, and workstations to meet production targets.

To access the Production Plan list, go to:

Home > Manufacturing > Production > Production Plan

How to Create a Production Plan

Go to the Production Plan list, click on New.
Select whether to get items from a Sales Order or a Material Request.
Click on Get Items for Work Order to fetch the items from the above material requests or sales order.
Enter other details of the order
Save and submit

Key Details in a Production Plan:

Sales Orders: Links to customer orders to determine the items and quantities to produce.
Material Requirements: Calculates raw materials needed for production.
Work Orders: Automatically generates work orders for the required items.
Capacity Planning: Checks availability of workstations and labour to avoid bottlenecks.
Timeline:Defines start and end dates for the production process.

Purpose of a Production Plan:

To align production with customer demand and stock requirements.
To optimize resource usage and minimize delays.
To streamline the creation of work orders and material procurement.

Types of Production Planning

Broadly, there are three types of Production Planning Systems:

Make to Stock: In these systems, production is planned based on a forecast and the Items are then sold to distributors or customers. All fast-moving consumer goods that are sold in retail shops like soaps, packaged water, etc. and electronics like phones are made to stock.
Make to Order: In these systems, items are manufactured only after the customer places an order of a certain number according to the customer's requirement. For example, a wedding cake.
Engineer to Order: In this case, each sale is a separate project and has to be designed and engineered to the requirements of the customer. Common examples of this are any custom business-like furniture, machine tools, specialty devices, metal fabrication, etc.