Question

Differentiate between production planning and production control. point out various functions of production planning and production control

Answer 1

Production managers are required to forecast future events, which have potential effects on their activities. Such forecasting may either be a long-run estimates or short-run estimates of demand. We have already detailed about the forecasting function. All the forecasting tools hold good for production forecasting. Difference between Production Plan and Production Control are given below:

Hence, in this chapter, we would not discuss the forecasting details here. From production managers’ point of view, forecasting is important for planning, scheduling and controlling the system to achieve efficient output of goods and services.

Planning of the system is done by the production managers by forecasting aggregate demand, and it helps to design or redesign processes to keep pace with the demand. To take an example, what should be the degree of automation (semi-automated or fully automated), types of production facilities (assembly line, job-shop or intermittent), etc., can be accessed through aggregate demand analysis. Similarly, using long-run estimates, capacity planning is also done to decide about expansion of capacity.