Intended learning outcomes: Produce an overview on master scheduling and planning time fence. Present in detail the master production schedule (MPS) as a disaggregated version of the production plan. Explain the first task for establishing a master production schedule, which is the selection of the master schedule items.
Sales and operations planning works mainly with product families, that is, at an aggregate level of information. However, there will be a need for more specific information for individual products.
The corresponding planning process at the level of the individual product is called master scheduling[note 513].
The most important output of master scheduling is the master production schedule.
A master production schedule (MPS) is the disaggregated version of a production plan, expressed in specific products, configurations, quantities, and dates.
Figure 5.2.3.1 shows an example of an MPS as derived from a production plan (shown here only for the first four months of a year).
Fig. 5.2.3.1 The MPS as a disaggregated version of the production plan (an example of a product family P with three different products, P1, P2, P3).
As the figure shows, the MPS is not only more detailed for individual products rather than product families, but it also yields much more detail for the time period for which the quantities are aggregated. It is thus a link between the production plan, which is relatively close to the sales plan, and the products the manufacturing department will actually build. The MPS is the input to all planning actions in the shorter term.
The planning time fence corresponds to the point in time denoted in the planning horizon of the master scheduling process that marks a boundary inside of which changes to the schedule may adversely affect customer deliveries, component schedules, capacity plans, and cost ([ASCM22]).[note 514].
Planned orders outside the planning time fence can be changed automatically by the planning logic of a software. Inside the time fence, the master scheduler, that is the person charged with the responsibility of managing the master schedule for select items, must deal with changes manually.
Establishing a master production schedule entails a number of tasks:
First task: Selection of the master schedule items, that is, the items managed by the master scheduler and not by the computer. Taking the example in Figure 5.2.3.1, if the difference between the products of the family P is due to three different variants of a assembly (namely, V1, V2, and V3) and if the delivery lead time allows assembling to customer order, then the best choice for the (customer) order penetration point (OPP) is the assembly level. The final products P1, P2, and P3 are then produced to customer order, according to the final assembly schedule (FAS) (see Section 7.1.5). If the usage quantity is 2 for each variant, then Figure 5.2.3.2 shows the MPS corresponding to the production plan.
Fig. 5.2.3.2 The MPS on the level of assemblies V1, V2, and V3.
Continuation in next subsection (5.2.3b).
Course section 5.2: Subsections and their intended learning outcomes
5.2 Master Planning — Long-Term Planning
Intended learning outcomes: Describe demand management, sales and operations planning as well as resource requirements planning. Explain master scheduling and rough-cut capacity planning. Disclose supplier scheduling: blanket order processing, release, and coordination.
5.2.1 Demand Management: Bid and Customer Blanket Order Processing and Demand Forecasting
Intended learning outcomes:: Describe demand management, customer bid, order success probability and customer blanket order. Present some aspects of demand forecasting.
5.2.2 Sales and Operations Planning
Intended learning outcomes: Present the concepts of sales plan, production plan, procurement plan, inventory policy, and inventory plan.
5.2.2b Resource Requirements Planning (RRP) and Iterative Master Planning
Intended learning outcomes: Present the concepts resource requirements planning (RRP) and aggregate plan. Explain sales and operations planning as an iterative master planning process.
5.2.2c Iterative Master Planning — an Example of Integrated Resource Management
Intended learning outcomes: Disclose an example of iterative master planning by comparing three production plans, with zero, two or four changes in production rhythm per year.
5.2.3 Master Scheduling — The Master Production Schedule (MPS)
Intended learning outcomes: Produce an overview on master scheduling and planning time fence. Present in detail the master production schedule (MPS) as a disaggregated version of the production plan. Explain the first task for establishing a master production schedule, which is the selection of the master schedule items.
5.2.3b Master Scheduling — Break Down the Production Plan Quantity for a Product Family into Quantity for Each Product of the Family.
Intended learning outcomes: Explain the second task for establishing a master production schedule, which is the break down the production plan quantity for a product family into quantity for each product of the family.
5.2.3c Rough-Cut Capacity Planning (RCCP)
Intended learning outcomes: Describe the third task for establishing a master production schedule, which is the process of rough-cut capacity planning (RCCP).
5.2.4 Supplier Scheduling: Blanket Order Processing and Blanket Release
Intended learning outcomes: Produce an overview on supplier scheduling. Explain the systematics of blanket orders and blanket releases with quantities and time periods.
