logo
logo
Sign in

ERP Implementation in Manufacturing Industry

avatar
Jennie Miller

Production management is vital for profitable success of a manufacturing business. And, master production schedule (MPS) is one of the primary pillars of production management. It’s a mandatory process because it helps optimizing and evaluating the production of finished goods. It’s an overall plan to assess your production capacity. It also details the product quantity to be produced within a specific time frame.     

Master production planning is necessary to;

  • Adjust demand fluctuations
  • Improve production efficiency
  • Prevent inventory stockouts  
  • Perform effective cost control

Now, before getting into the benefits of a master production schedule and how best ERP software – can help you piece it together, you must look into what’s master production schedule.   

Master Production Schedule (MPS):
Master production schedule is a commonly used term in the manufacturing industry which refers to a centralized document that details;

  • What to produce;
  • How much to produce;  
  • When to produce;
  • Batch size to be produced; and
  • Manufacturing route to be followed.  

In brief, it contains everything production related and enables you to meet your business commitments, including manufacturing lead time.  

Phases of Master Production Schedule: 
Perfecting your master production schedule process needs you to follow the below given steps.

  1. Make a demand plan by mapping customer demand  
  2. Work on the required raw materials and components
  3. Get your supply chain aligned with production planning
  4. Develop your MPS proposal and see if it’s workable  
  5. Apply rough-cut capacity planning to ensure MPS feasibility
  6. Determine whether your resource capacity can meet the demand.

Once your master production schedule gets into action, you can evaluate whether or not it is meeting the customer demand, how effectively resources are working and assess the inventory investment.   

After implementation of the master production schedule in your factory, every worker on the shop floor and production line will have a clear understanding about what they need to produce in a certain period – like daily or weekly. A well-prepared and properly implemented master production schedule at your manufacturing plant will ensure that everyone is working towards the same production goal.     

Moreover, master production scheduling will assist you in forecasting your demand and supply relationships. It will put you in a better position to decide when to increase or decrease the production without any problem.     

Functions of Master Production Schedule:
The primary goal of a master production schedule is to save your time and resources by using the two efficiently for well-managed production flow. It will give you more time and space to scale and improve your business operations. The other functions include;     

  • Interpreting production plans
  • Assessing alternative schedules
  • Facilitating capacity planning
  • Realistic utilization of resources
  • Simplifying information processing  
  • Making demand flow smoother
  • Lowering manufacturing lead time
  • Generating workable plans

Now, as you know what master production schedule stands for and what key roles it can play when used within your manufacturing business, let’s take a look at primary elements you must consider while developing a master production scheduling plan.   

  • All products and models you need to produce  
  • Create variation lists for each item to be produced
  • Split the schedule in terms of week, month and year
  • Quantity of manufactured units or products in a week.  

For long-term success, your master production schedule plan should be compatible with different types of production workflows, depending on the nature of the product you are going to manufacture in your factory. For example, your MPS plan should be compatible with;

  • MTS (Make-to-Stock)
  • MTO (Make-to-Order)
  • ATO (Assemble-to-Order)

ATO workflow means your master production plan should focus on the production and assembly of the components and finished goods into final products to meet client demand and expectations. However, remember that the products that are most likely to be profitable assets for your business will make up the majority of your resources for timely production and delivery. And, often these are your most critical and high-in-demand resources with greater potential and work capacity.   

Benefits of Master Production Schedule:
Once you develop and put your master production scheduling plan together and start utilizing it within your production plant, you can reap the following advantages.   

  1. Effective Demand Planning:
    Just like production management helps forecasting future demand, master production schedule helps the manufacturers in developing, optimizing and tracking the demand planning more effectively. This is something best done using a manufacturing ERP because it will give you a better and in-depth understanding of your current and upcoming production runs.   

  2. Resource Capacity Planning:
    Producing a specific quantity of units for a certain period of time needs the accurately picked and allocated resources. With an effectively planned master production schedule, your human resource department can easily forecast the necessary resources required on the shop floor and assembly line ahead of production.  

  3. Materials Capacity Optimization:
    You can maintain ideal inventory levels because the master production schedule helps you determine the materials and components you need to produce finished goods, thereby can easily avoid the stockouts. With a clear overview of production requirements through MPS, you can also determine and optimize the capacity of materials to achieve the desired levels of inventory.     
      
  4. Perform Predictive Maintenance:
    Besides, an improved procurement process you must know how much production is taking place currently, and how much you will need to produce in the future. With all this information in your access beforehand, you can easily perform predictive maintenance. It is significantly important for effective production.

  5. Easy Cash Flow Prediction:
    Master production schedule is equally beneficial for your finance department. With this document containing an overall plan of production, they can easily and accurately forecast the company’s cash flow. Knowing the production demand and time to complete allows them to manage the cash flow more proficiently.

Pro Tip: Don’t confuse master production schedule with production planning; both are entirely different. The latter defines the production levels (finished goods production in terms of batches) and deals with the early phases of the manufacturing process. Contrarily, MPS is a continuous production optimization process which determines the quantity of products to be manufactured depending on the production inputs and constraints.     

Bottom line:
Don’t waste your time in the spreadsheet system and focus on scaling your manufacturing business by automating your master production schedule (MPS) with MIE Trak Pro – a leading ERP software for manufacturing.

Source: https://infotohow.com/software-and-service/advantages-of-master-production-schedule/

collect
0
avatar
Jennie Miller
guide
Zupyak is the world’s largest content marketing community, with over 400 000 members and 3 million articles. Explore and get your content discovered.
Read more