Production Planner and Scheduler

2 min read

A Production Planner converts demand and supply requirements into a schedule that a factory can actually execute.

The role is shorter-horizon and more shop-floor-oriented than broad supply planning.

Role scope

Typical responsibilities:

  • production schedule;
  • material availability;
  • capacity review;
  • work-order priority;
  • expediting;
  • schedule changes;
  • coordination with production;
  • ERP/MRP maintenance.

Master and production schedules

At a high level, planning defines what should be produced over a horizon.

At execution level, the planner answers:

  • which order;
  • on which line;
  • when;
  • in what quantity;
  • with which material;
  • against which constraint.

MRP inputs

MRP depends on:

  • demand;
  • BOM;
  • inventory;
  • lead time;
  • lot sizes;
  • open orders;
  • master data.

Bad inputs create noisy planned orders and expedites.

Capacity

A schedule is not feasible if it ignores:

  • machine hours;
  • labor;
  • changeovers;
  • maintenance;
  • tooling;
  • bottlenecks.

A planner needs enough production understanding to challenge the system output.

Materials

Before release, confirm:

  • components available;
  • shortages;
  • substitutions approved;
  • quality holds;
  • supplier timing.

Material availability can be the real schedule constraint.

Schedule adherence

Schedule adherence measures whether planned production was executed as intended.

Low adherence can indicate:

  • unrealistic schedule;
  • breakdown;
  • shortage;
  • quality problem;
  • priority churn.

Expediting

Expediting should be exception handling, not the default planning system.

If everything is urgent, priorities become meaningless.

ERP and MRP

Useful knowledge:

  • production orders;
  • planned orders;
  • BOM;
  • routing;
  • work centers;
  • inventory;
  • reschedule messages.

Metrics

Possible measures:

  • schedule attainment;
  • plan adherence;
  • shortages;
  • WIP;
  • expedite rate;
  • backorders;
  • utilization.

Career path

Production Planner can progress toward:

  • Senior Planner;
  • Supply Planner;
  • Materials Planner;
  • Planning Manager;
  • S&OP.

A strong production planner protects schedule stability while responding intelligently to real exceptions.

Related content

Sources