What is Production Planning and Control?
Production planning and control (PPC) refers to the two separate pre-production stages of manufacturing: production planning and production control. It basically comprises planning production in an organization prior to actual production processes and practicing control activities to ensure that the intended production is achieved with respect to quantity, quality, delivery schedule, and cost of manufacturing. Production planning involves everything from scheduling each task in the process to execution and delivery of products. In most cases the production of garments is very time sensitive in order to ship goods to stores and boutiques for the upcoming season. Effective production planning and control can help to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and improve competitiveness in garment industry.
The aim of production planning and control (PPC) in the apparel industry consists of the following factors:
- To dispatch the garments at required quality and quantity in time to attain buyer satisfaction.
- To ensure the maximum use of all resources.
- To ensure that quality garments are produced.
- To minimize the product manufacturing time.
- To maintain optimum inventory levels.
- To maintain flexibility in the garment manufacturing process.
- To coordinate between operator, machines and different departments.
- To eliminate bottlenecks at all phases of production and resolve the issues associated with production.
- To ensure efficient cost reduction and control.
- The vital objective is to increase the profit of the garment industry.
Stages of Production Planning and Control in Garment Industry:
There are three stages in Production planning and control, which are as follows:
- Planning stage
- Action stage
- Control stage
A. Planning stage:
The manufacturing of a garment begins with the planning for the same. It comprises selection of the best course of action within numerous alternatives. The two stages in the planning stage are pre-planning and active planning.
1. Pre-planning: Pre-planning process comprises product planning and development, demand forecasting, resource and facilities planning, plant planning and plant layout. Pre-planning in the garment industry plays a prominent role. Fashion forecasting is the first and foremost stage in planning for production.
2. Active planning: It comprises planning for quantity, product mix determination, scheduling, routing, material and process planning.
B. Action stage:
This stage is considered as the execution stage. It involves the dispatching and progressing function. This stage in apparel industry is the stage where the production of the garment is in process according to the requirements of the product. The planning and scheduling for the garment production including the assortment plan, layout plans, cutting and sewing are in progress.
It includes all the stages from receiving the fabric to dispatching the garments to the customer.
C. Control stage:
It involves material control, inventory control, quality control, labor control and cost control. This phase is more in terms of controlling the functions in production with an objective of manufacturing the products as planned.
The planning of these three different stages depends on the principles of the production planning, which are as follows:
- Type of production determines the kind of PPC system needed.
- Number of parts involved in the product affects expenses of operating the PPC department.
- Complexity of the PPC function varies with the number of assemblies involved.
- Time is a common denominator for all scheduling activities.
- Size of the plant has relatively little to do with the type of PPC system needed.
- PPC permits ‘management by exception’.
- Cost control should be a by-product of the PPC function.
- The highest efficiency in production is obtained by manufacturing the required quantity of a product, of the required quality, at the required time by the best and the cheapest method.
Levels of Production Planning and Control:
Production planning takes place at many levels of the industry / organization and covers different time perspectives. It could be categorized as strategic planning, tactical planning, and operational planning based on the graded altitudes in which it is carried out in the garment industry.
A. Strategic planning:
Strategic planning is an organization’s process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy. Generally, it is a long-run plan carried out at the top management level. The long-term plans concentrate on product lines, divisions, markets, and other business units. The factors considered for the long term planning includes investment capacity of the organization, life cycle of product, market requirements, etc.
B. Tactical planning:
It is executed for an intermediate term by the middle level management in an organization. It focuses on comprehensive products instead of individual specific style of products and has a time span of 6–18 months. It indicates the employment plans, utility plans, materials supply plans and expansion plans in the industry.
C. Operational planning:
This is executed for a short range time period by the lower level management in an organization. It is mainly concerned with the use of existing services or facilities in the industry rather than creation. It comprises adequate utilization of resources like raw materials, machinery, energy, etc. Short-term planning takes into account existing customer orders, priorities regarding material availability, labor absenteeism rate, cash flows, etc.
Requirements of Effective Production Planning and Control:
Production planning and control (PPC) is essential for optimizing manufacturing processes and ensuring the overall success of a business. Several key requirements contribute to the effectiveness of Production planning and control:
- Better organizational structure with proper guideline delegation of authority and finalization of responsibility at all levels in an organization.
- Information feedback system should give reliable and latest information to the concerned persons who are all carrying out PPC functions.
- Standardization of materials, equipment, labor, workmanship, quality, etc.
- Trained person for handling the special equipment and manufacturing processes.
- Flexibility to accommodate changes and bottleneck circumstances like shortage of raw materials, power failures, machine break-downs and absenteeism of workers.
- Correct management policies concerning production level and inventory cost, product mix and inventory turnover.
- Precise assessment of manufacturing lead time and procurement lead times.
- Plant capacity should be sufficient to achieve the demand as well as flexible enough to respond to the introduction of new product styles, changes in product mix, production rate, etc.
Conclusion:
Production planning and control (PPC) manages and schedules the allocation of human resources, raw materials, work centers, machinery, and production processes in garment industry. Production planning and control play a crucial role in the garment industry by ensuring the production process runs efficiently, maximum productivity with minimum waste and cost. It facilitates the coordination of various production stages, from sourcing raw materials to the final product, ensuring a smooth and cost-effective workflow.
References:
- Apparel Manufacturing Technology by T. Karthik, P. Ganesan, and D. Gopalakrishnan
- Garment Manufacturing Technology Edited by Rajkishore Nayak and Rajiv Padhye
- Jahanara Rony “Functions of Production Planning and Control Department in Garment Industry” https://fashion2apparel.com/functions-production-planning-and-control-in-garment-industry/
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Founder & Editor of Textile Learner. He is a Textile Consultant, Blogger & Entrepreneur. Mr. Kiron is working as a textile consultant in several local and international companies. He is also a contributor of Wikipedia.
