When you are in manufacturing, you need to understand what products to manufacture, how much, and when. For that, almost every manufacturer creates a master production schedule (MPS) to increase their business efficiency. By optimising your MPS according to your manufacturing goals, you can save lots of money and improve your demand management.
In this blog post, we will explore master production scheduling in detail with 5 easy steps to optimize your MPS in manufacturing business to increase efficiency.
What Is Master Production Scheduling?
Master production scheduling is a process of planning the production volumes of each product according to demand and sales forecasts to fulfil orders on time. You analyze your customer orders and resource availability to create an effective master production schedule. You also have to figure out the bottlenecks and potential issues that can cause production delays.
If you optimize the master production scheduling process according to your specific requirements, you can improve your production of finished goods for maximum outputs.
Objectives Of Master Production Schedule?
The main objective of the MPS is to increase efficiency. Let’s understand a few major objectives of MPS to increase your production efficiency and business productivity.
- Manufacturing each product in the right quantity to fulfil orders.
- Avoiding potential issues that can cause production delays.
- Make sure to use resources like raw materials, machines, and workers for maximum outputs.
- Reducing lead time in manufacturing all types of products.
- Improving communication between inventory, production, and sales departments.
- Identifying important orders to manufacture them first.
- Increasing customer satisfaction by fulfilling orders on time.
Key Components Of Master Production Schedule (MPS)
MPS has many components, such as inventory levels, communication plans, and performance metrics, that fulfil your manufacturing goals. Let's understand more about the key components of master production schedule:
1. Customer Demand Analysis: MPS starts with planning by analyzing customer demand to decide how many products will be manufactured in a certain time. It helps avoid wastage.
2. Inventory Analysis And Optimization: MPS helps you conduct inventory analysis to find out how much raw materials you have in stock. If you don’t have enough, then you need to order them to avoid disruptions. It can help you reduce inventory holding costs.
3. Resource Availability And Capacity Planning: MPS helps you figure out how much and what resources you will need to achieve your production target. It helps you analyze the availability of machines and workers according to their skills to handle tasks.
4. Production Quantities For Each Product: MPS includes a detailed plan of the product’s value and profitability too. If you earn more profit from certain products, then you need to manufacture them more.
5. Production Timing For Order Fulfillment: MPS helps you determine when to start production so that you can deliver them on time. It helps plan the Master scheduling process in the best order so that you can make important products first for order fulfilment.
Steps To Optimize Master Production Schedule For Manufacturing Efficiency
You can optimize your MPS by gathering data, collaborating with stakeholders, reviewing current processes, and more. Here are the simple steps of master production scheduling that can help you increase your manufacturing efficiency.
1. Analyze Orders
It is the first step in your production planning, and it is important to set production targets for several weeks or months. You can analyse how many orders you have already received. You should consider previous data and market trends for accurate demand forecasting.
2. Production Capacity
Next, figure out your production capacity. Find out how many skilled workers are needed to operate machines to manufacture products in time. You should also analyze resource availability according to production targets. This can help you set production rates to improve your order management.
3. Identify Bottlenecks
Identify the production bottlenecks to avoid disruptions in the real-time production process. When you identify these before starting production, you can solve them on time. It will help you manage all tasks in the production process and fulfill high customer demands on time.
4. Team Communicate
Communication with all departments, like inventory, production, procurement, and sales. It helps you keep the right amount of raw materials and reorder stocks at the right time to reduce inventory costs. It also helps you utilize machinery and workers according to their skills.
5. Monitor And Adapt To Changes
The MPS usually focuses on production planning for several weeks. You should monitor your performance and improve your strategies whenever you create your next MPS. You can also monitor the market trends and changes in customer demands to make the MPS according to your specific requirements.
Benefits Of Master Production Schedule
MPS helps you improve your overall business productivity. Here are the top benefits of master production schedule for your manufacturing business.
- Optimized manufacturing operations for increased efficiency.
- The right amounts of materials usage for production targets.
- Reduction in inventory costs and improved cash flow.
- Reduced lead time in manufacturing with tasks in the best order.
- Improved customer satisfaction by fulfilling orders on time.
- Smart decisions to be prepared for market trends.
- Adaptability to changes in customer demands.
Is MPS A Planning Or Scheduling Process?
Master production schedule (MPS) is more focused on the planning of the production of each product for a few weeks or months. However, it improves the scheduling process by making an effective plan to utilize time and resources wisely. Let’s understand this with a Master production schedule example.
Suppose you have made the best production plan according to demand forecasts and have security stock for the most important raw materials. Now, if you get rush orders for certain products that need these raw materials to be manufactured, you can modify your scheduling process in real time to make them on time.
How Do Manufacturers Use Master Production Schedule Software
Manufacturers use Master production schedule software to analyze previous production data for demand forecasting. They use it to make bills of materials (BOM) of finished goods. They integrate this software with other systems like purchase order software, inventory management software, and manufacturing resource planning software.
Manufacturers also use master production schedule software to identify the most important orders to prioritise them. They use it to make informed decisions, from demand forecasting to delivering finished products to increase efficiency.
Integrating Your MPS With Manufacturing Planning And Resource System
You can integrate your MPS with several systems in your business to improve communication between departments and plan your production in the best order. You can integrate MPS with a Manufacturing resource planning system, Enterprise resource planning system, and Manufacturing execution system to improve your overall production efficiency.
When you integrate these systems with MPS, you can reorder stocks at the right time to avoid disruptions in the production process. It can help you track your finished products until they are delivered to the customers. It helps you reduce overall production costs by reducing inventory holding costs and using resources for maximum outputs.
Manage Your Master Production Schedule With TranZact
Manufacturing businesses should keep a record of previous production data that they can analyze to predict future demands accurately. If you want to implement advanced planning and scheduling software, then TranZact could be your first choice. It is the easiest software made with Indian SME manufacturers and traders in mind.
Tranzact’s production planning software provides features like the multi-level bill of material and batch tracking. With TranZact, you can optimize your inventory and create purchase orders at the right time to avoid disruptions. TranZact is much easier to use than any complex ERP software. Choose TranZact now to streamline your resources, reduce your production costs, and improve your business efficiency.
FAQs
1. What is the master production schedule in manufacturing?
The MPS in manufacturing is a document that includes a detailed production plan for each product based on customer orders and sales forecasts to increase business efficiency.
2. How often should a master production schedule be updated?
A MPS usually plans manufacturing for weeks or months. And with time, it gets updated according to changes in customer demands.
3. What are the components of the master production schedule?
The components of the master production schedule are as follows:
- Product Details
- Production Capacity
- Lead Time In Manufacturing
- Inventory Analysis
4. What tools are used to create a master production schedule?
Manufacturers use several tools to create an MPS, such as master resource planning (MRP), enterprise resource planning (ERP), and manufacturing execution systems (MES).
5. What are the benefits of using a master production schedule?
The top benefits of using a master production schedule are:
- Effective Resource Utilization
- Reduced Lead Times In Manufacturing
- Improved Production Efficiency
- Improved Order Management
- Increased Customer Satisfaction
6. What are the different types of Master Production Schedules?
The different types of master production schedules may include make-to-stock (MTS), make-to-order (MTO), and assemble-to-order (ATO).
7. What is the difference between a Master Production Schedule and a Production Schedule?
An MPS is focused on long-term production planning, usually several weeks or months, while a production schedule is focused on short-term planning, like batch manufacturing.
8. What information is included in a Master Production Schedule?
An MPS includes information like customer orders, resource availability, and lead time in manufacturing.
9. Where can I create MPS?
You can create the MPS (Master Production Schedule) by using software like manufacturing resource planning (MRP) and enterprise resource planning (ERP).
10. What is the main function of the master production schedule?
The main function of the MPS is to analyze customer orders and business capacity to create a detailed production plan for maximum output.
