A Master Production Schedule is a Schedule of the completions of the end items and these completions are very much planned in nature. Master production schedule acts as a very distinct and important linkage between the planning processes. With the help of this schedule, one can know the requirements for the individual end items by date and quantity. In companies, MPS are generally produced in order to know the number of each product that is to be made over some planning horizon. This schedule forms a very unique part of the company’s sales program which deals with the planned response to the demands of the market.
A master production schedule is also in management language referred to as the master of all the schedules as this schedule provides the production, planning, purchasing & top management, the most needed information required for planning and control of the whole manufacturing process or the operation.
Master production scheduling plays an important role in the balancing of demand with the supply i.e. satisfying customers according to the limits of the factory and the supplier’s base. MPS is used to know the number of the items that are to be produced, the planned inventories of raw materials, finished products and parts etc.
MPS tells the company what is to be made or produced and also refers to the time in which this production of the products is to be completed. It must be kept in mind that MPS does not act as a sales forecast or as a manufacturing schedule or a wish list or a final assembly schedule. MPS can be linked only with the final products and not with the planning involving the production of parts or the components, as these listings require very detailed planning – so these are left to the other plans that will follow this schedule.
In MPS, inputs are used to draw a master production schedule and the inputs used are – orders from customers, production plan from aggregate planning, forecast, resources that are available, inventory levels and the capacity constraints. While drawing a MPS, quantities of individual items must be equal to the aggregate quantities from the production plan and also the total requirements for a product must be allocated overtime in a very good manner.
MPS outputs include – the amounts that are to be produced, due dates, quantity that is available to promise with the projected available balance. MPS is a schedule that expresses the operations plan of production for a specific period of time only and is stated in terms of the end items, which may be either shippable products or the highest level assemblies used to make them.
The main steps in master production schedule can be summarized as –
1. Forming a preliminary MPS.
2. Performing rough – cut capacity planning.
3. Resolving differences.
Objectives of Master Production Schedule (MPS)
- Keeping the inventories at the desired level by making perfect use of the resources that are available with the company.
- Setting up due dates for the availability of the end items and also providing the required information regarding resources and also the materials – which act as the supporting pillars of the aggregate planning.
- Maintaining properly, the desired level of customer service.
- Setting particular schedules for the production of the parts and the components that are used as the inputs to materials requirements planning, in the end items.
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