Master Planning and Scheduling, 4th Edition

Initial ThoughtsPeople and Process and Profession

Not everything that is faced can be changed,but nothing can be changed until it is faced.The time is always right to do what is right!

To open the somewhat lengthy master planning and scheduling discussion, the authors would like to highlight a few initial thoughts regarding supply chain management (SCM) as a complete planning, control, and execution function that includes master planning and scheduling (MPS) as a subprocess of that SCM function. These discussions will center around behaviors (as in people behaviors within a SCM/MPS environment), breakthroughs (as in breakthrough processes within a SCM/MPS environment), and business (as in business professional within a SCM/MPS environment).

There have been many changes in the supply chain management and master planning and scheduling world over the past 50 or so years. For instance, people were originally left out of the equation when material requirements planning (MRP) hit manufacturing support and the manufacturing floor; inventory and production control people were told to just buy this MRP system and then sit back and watch all their material shortage problems disappear. Well, that didn't happen! Over the next 10 years, production scheduling professionals were told to just buy this shop dispatching software, sit back, and watch all those missed production due dates disappear. Well, that didn't happen, either! And so, the story goes for many years thereafter.

Best‐practice ...