Functions of planning and control in production management are closely related with each other. Planning concerns with the formulation on production strategies and targets for the enterprise whereas control is vested with actual implementation and execution of planned objectives. Importance of Production Planning and Control are given below:
Importance of Production Planning and Control
(i) Developing economy needs production planning and control. We are in the age of planning. The chief object behind planning of industries is to increase the productivity, so that our products may get a suitable foreign market. But the need for greater, better and cheaper goods is out of question without planning and control. A successful production control programme lessens the idleness of men and machine, optimizes the number of set-ups needed, keeps in-process inventories at a satisfactory level, reduces material handling and storage costs and finally, allows quantity and quality production at low unit costs.
(ii) Production control is factory’ s nervous system. As Franklin G. Moore has described the function of production planning and control in a factory can easily be compared with the nervous system in human organism. It serves to co-ordinate the activities of a plant just like the nervous system. Moore has also stressed that when simple repetitive operations are performed, production control is accomplished more or less sub-consciously, in the same manner that the nervous system automatically regulates one’s breathing. When less repetitive activity is involved, more conscious direction is necessary, both in the plant and in the human system. When a product contains thousands of parts, the integration of the efforts of numerous personnel becomes a problem of major proportions and one which justifies specialization of abilities.
(iii) Production planning and control is a must for intermittent process industry. In a continuous production process industry, where the raw material enters at the end of the factory and flows through it in a steady stream, the problem of production control is clearly, very simple as the path route that the materials is to flow is fixed by the natural sequence of processes, and the times of operations are fixed largely by the capacity of the machines and process. But in an intermittent process industry of the special order type, where, products are made only to customer’s orders and where repetition of such orders is unusual, the case is very different. Here, each succeeding part produced may follow a new way through the shop.
The time required for each operation may not be known and unlike the continuous process industry, the parts do not move automatically from machine to machine, but must be so moved as occasion requires. Thus, it is clear that unless some supervision is given to the sequence of parts, congested conditions will arise in the factory, some machines having more work than they can do and some being under-loaded, and as a consequence the product will not be produced at the time set for delivery. In the majority of cases, some kind of production control is needed, and this control is, usually attempted through a so-called production planning department.
(iv) Production planning and control is an effective instrument of cost control. In the absence of any well-regulated plan of manufacturing activities, machine and men facilities may not be used to their full capacity and idle or partially occupied time of men and idle time of plant may go unnoticed. Again, a poorly organized system of production control must result in inefficiency as all the direct and auxiliary factory costs will be difficult to control and wastes that are bound to occur will not be detected. In this way the concern will fail to maintain its competitive standing in the consumer field. In short, production control serves as an effective instrument for cost control.
(v) Production planning and control rationalizes the production activities. The chief object of production organization is to stimulate production by ensuring an orderly flow of materials and tools and a full utilization 01 wit and machines so as to regulate productive activities in quality and technique from the raw state to the finished product. It takes tile influx of sales orders, boils them down into production orders and feeds them to the plant at a rate and in a sequence that enables the plant to digest them most readily and with minimum of internal disorder.
(vi) Other benefits of planning control. According to Mac Niece (Production, Forecasting, planning and control), the benefits of production control has seen classified as exerting influence on five segments of society. He summarizes them as given
1. The Consumers
(i) Increased productivity.
(ii) Better values.
(iii) Deliveries at proper times.
2. The producers
(i) Adequate wages.
(ii) Stable employment.
(iii) Job security.
(iv) Improved working conditions.
(v) Increased personal satisfaction.
3. The Investors
(i) Security of investment.
(ii) Adequacy of return.
4. The Community
(i) Economic and social stability.
(ii) Standard of Living Raised
5. The Nation
(i) Security.
(ii) Prosperity.
(iii) All-round Development.
Difference between Production Planning and Production Control
Functions of planning and control in production management are closely related with each other. Planning concerns with the formulation on production strategies and targets for the enterprise whereas control is vested with actual implementation and execution of planned objectives. Production planning determines the operations required to manufacture some product and control regulates and supervises these operations. Through production control information the organization can locate the shortcomings in the Planning process and the necessary modifications can be done at the time of Planning in future. Similarly production control operations can be improved to adjust with the planning requirements. The cycle of planning, operation, control, flow of information and
