Essential Manufacturing

22Production Planning

22.1 Introduction

In the previous chapters, we examined the processes used to create products. But the creation of a product, especially a modern complex one comprising many elements, also necessitates careful planning and control of the production system. This section of the book considers how the resources of materials, machines, money and people, or manpower to retain the mnemonic, are managed to produce competitive products for the world market.

Improvements in management techniques to increase efficiency are constantly appearing. As technology, markets and society change, so also the methods employed by management change. Concepts and techniques such as Simultaneous (or Concurrent) Engineering, Design For Manufacture (DFM), Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRPII), Just In Time manufacture (JIT), Optimised Production Technology (OPT) and Total Quality Management (TQM) are examples. Most of these are referred to by their acronyms. Simultaneous Engineering and DFM were discussed in earlier chapters; some of the others will be examined in Chapters 23 and 26.

We begin this chapter on planning by considering the geographic location of a manufacturing plant, then examining how the internal layout of the plant may be optimised for maximum efficiency. We next look at how to select the most suitable process to make a particular product, before going on to consider project and process planning. In the following sections, we discuss some of the previously mentioned ...