Introduction to Production Management
Production Planning and Control:- Production Planning and Control or PPC is a managerial function that integrates and coordinates the production processes to accomplish predetermined objectives. It establishes schedules to plan the entire production and assure efficiency in processes and resources.
Basically, it determines:
- The requirement of the production facilities.
- Accommodation of the facilities in the available space.
- Production of desired product at the expected cost.
PPC integrates all the activities participating in the manufacturing process. Concurrently, the managers focus on four core elements, i.e. Quality, Quantity, Cost and Time.
Besides, it helps in achieving an uninterrupted materials flow. It ensures the availability of the materials at the Right – Time, Place and Quantity. For this purpose, it establishes Master Production Schedules and Routes.
Thus, it is said to be the Brain and Nervous System of the production system.
PPC primarily focuses on efficient and economical production. Also, it assists each activity involved in converting the raw materials into a finished product.
So, the managers strive to implement the production plan religiously. In addition, the managers also exercise control for its successful implementation.
During the planning phase of PPC, the managers must answer the following questions:
- What to Produce?
- How to Produce?
- Where to Produce?
- When to Produce?
- Who will Produce?
- How much to Produce?
Objectives
The objectives of production planning and control are furnished below:
- Optimum Resource Utilization: Production planning ensures the best use of the Materials, Men and Machinery.
- Consistent Production Flow: PPC aims to achieve consistency in the production flow. This is because, it helps in optimization and waste elimination.
- Quality and Cost: It ensures the production of quality goods at the least cost.
- Efficient Production: Through PPC, one can bring efficiency at all stages of the production system.
- Materials Management: It optimizes the use of materials and resources by creating plans and schedules.
- Fix Bottlenecks: It assists managers in identifying and fixing the bottlenecks in the process.
- Scheduling: The planning part of PPC facilitates the creation of schedules for uninterrupted production.
- Reduce Idle and Set-up Time: Routing in PPC helps avoid machine idle time and cuts setup time.
Functions of Production planning and control
Majorly it performs two functions –Planning and Controlling. However, it also serves the following: functions:
- Forecasting: The manufacturers make future projections for creating schedules.
- Scheduling: It provides the schedule or timetable for manufacturing activities. Therefore, meeting delivery commitments and completing production on time.
- Routing: PPC describes the flow of work and the sequence of production activities.
- Make or Buy Decisions: It plays an important role in taking make or buy decisions. Generally, these decisions are taken in the planning phase of PPC.
- Requirements Planning: PPC determines the exact quantity of materials required for production. Also, it assures the availability of materials whenever needed.
- Material Control: Besides availability, it also ensures the best use of resources and eliminates waste.
Maintenance Management: Maintenance activities are related with repair, replacement and
service of components or some identifiable group of components in a
manufacturing plant so that it may continue to operate at a specified
‘availability’ for a specified period.
Thus maintenance management is associated with
the direction and organisation of various resources so as to control the
availability and performance of the industrial unit to some specified level.
Thus
maintenance management may be treated as a restorative function of production
management which is entrusted with the task of keeping equipment/machines and
plant services ever available in proper operating condition.
The minimization of machine
breakdowns and down time has been the main objective of maintenance but the
strategies adopted by maintenance management to achieve this aim have undergone
great changes in the past.
Maintenance has been considered
just to repair the faulty equipment and put them back in order in minimum
possible time.
In view of the utilization of
mostly general purpose/conventional machines with low production output, the
demands on maintenance function were not very high. But with fast developments
in the design, development and mechanisms of control such as electronic, NC and
CNC in machine tools the manufacturing scenario has changed a lot.
Importance of Maintenance Management: Maintenance
management is responsible for the smooth and efficient working of the
industrial plant and helps in improving the productivity.
It also helps to keep the machines/equipment in their
optimum operating conditions. Thus plant maintenance is an important and
inevitable service function of an efficient production system.
It also helps in maintaining and improving the
operational efficiency of the plant facilities and hence contributes towards
revenue by decreasing the operating cost and improving the quality and quantity
of the product being manufactured.
As
a service function it is related with the incurrence of certain costs. The
important component of such costs are — employment of maintenance staff, other
minor administrative expenses, investment in maintenance equipment and
inventory of repair components/ parts and maintenance materials.
Absence of plant maintenance may lead to frequent machine
breakdown and failure of certain productive centres/services which in turn
would result in stoppages of production activities, idle man and machine time,
dislocation of the subsequent operations, poor quality of production, failure
to meet delivery dates of product supply, industrial accidents endangering the
life of workers/ operators and allied costs etc.
However,
the importance of plant maintenance varies with the type of plant and its
production but it plays a prominent role in production management because plant
breakdown creates problems such as:
(i) Loss
of production.
(ii) Rescheduling of production.
(iii) Materials wastage (due to
sudden stoppage of process damages in process materials).
(iv) Need for overtimes,
(v) Need
for work subcontracting.
(vi)
For maximum manpower utilization workers may need alternative work due to
temporary
work
shortages.
Hence, the absence of planned
maintenance service proves costlier. So it should be provided in the light of
cost benefit analysis.
Objectives of Maintenance
Management: The purpose of maintenance management is to optimize the performance of
productive facilities of an organization by ensuring that these facilities
function regularly and efficiently. This can be achieved by preventing the
failures or breakdowns if any, as far as possible and by minimizing the
production loss due to failures.
The main objectives of maintenance
management are as follows:
(1) Minimizing the loss of productive time because of
equipment failure to maximize the availability of plant, equipment and
machinery for productive utilization through planned maintenance.
(2)
To extend the useful
life of the plant, machinery and other facilities by minimizing their wear and tear.
(3)
Minimizing the loss due to production stoppages.
(4) To
ensure operational readiness of all equipment’s needed for emergency purposes
at all times
such as fire-fighting equipment.
(5) Efficient use of maintenance
equipment’s and personnel.
(6) To ensure safety of personnel
through regular inspection and maintenance of facilities such as
boilers, compressors and material
handling equipment etc.
(7) To maximize efficiency and
economy in production through optimum utilization of available
facilities.
(8) To improve the quality of
products and to improve the productivity of the plant.
(9) To minimize the total
maintenance cost which may consist of cost of repairs, cost of preventive
maintenance and inventory costs
associated with spare parts/materials required for
maintenance.
(10) To
improve reliability, availability and maintainability.
Functions of Maintenance
Management: The
important functions of maintenance can be summarized as follows:
(1) To develop maintenance policies, procedures and standards
for the plant maintenance
system.
(2) To schedule the maintenance work after due consultation
with the concerned production
departments.
(3) To carry out repairs and rectify or overhaul planned
equipment/facilities for achieving the
required level of availability and optimum
operational efficiency.
(4) To ensure scheduled inspection, lubrication oil checking,
and adjustment of plant
machinery and equipment.
(5) To
document and maintain record of each maintenance activity (i.e., repairs,
replacement,
overhauls, modifications and lubrication
etc.).
(5) To maintain and carry out repairs of buildings,
utilities, material handling equipment’s and
other service facilities such as electrical
installations, sewers, central stores and roadways
etc.
(6) To carry out and facilitate periodic inspections of
equipment and facilities to know their
conditions related to their failure and
stoppage of production.
(8) To prepare inventory list of spare parts and
materials required for maintenance.
(9) To ensure cost effective maintenance.
(10)To forecast the maintenance
expenditure and prepare a budget and to ensure that
maintenance expenditure is as per
planned budget.
