Introduction

Production Planning is the critical process of defining what, when, and how much to produce, ensuring the availability of necessary materials, labor, and equipment to meet forecasted customer demand. Insight into this process is essential for optimizing efficiency, minimizing costs, and enhancing customer satisfaction within the supply chain.

The Production Planning process refers to the following generalized flow:

Creation of Planned Orders (as a result of Material Requirements Planning/Scheduling) → Conversion of orders to Production Orders → Reservation of materials for Production → Execution of Production Order Operations + capacity scheduled and consumed at Work Centers → Completion of Production Orders