An in-depth understanding of what is master production schedule, is essential to be prepared for a dynamic supply chain without losing sales. A manufacturing firm continuously produces goods in bulk, but without a smart strategy, it can lead to overproduction or underproduction. In case of overproduction, their commodities go to waste or become obsolete.
On the other hand, with less production, they lose out on market share due to increasing competitors. Businesses need to be aware of the right ratio of market demand and supply to carry on uninterrupted production.
To handle these problems, manufacturing engineers developed a unique process which is called the master production schedule (MPS). We're here to help you understand what is master production schedule, how it helps you handle the overproduction and underproduction of goods, and how it will contribute to your business growth.
What Is Master Production Schedule?
A master production schedule is ideally a database or document which tells you all about the product manufacturing schedule, such as what, when, and how many commodities you need to produce. The MPS or master production schedule is the backbone of your manufacturing business as it adjusts the production according to the fluctuation of the market's demand. This prevents your stocks from going obsolete.
The master production schedule also prevents you from stockout, which will increase your efficiency and reduce manufacturing costs. MPS deals with everything related to the production schedule, including the time frame, quantity, and variant of the products.
It decides the number of products to be manufactured, followed by market demand. Functions of the master production schedule further help you with the analysis of raw material requirements. The master production schedule makes sure that everyone in the business is working toward the desired goals and are not sitting idle. This offers a solid working schedule for the whole week or month.
Most of the time, the master scheduler also predicts the requirement of the market based on previous data and then analyses which variants should be produced on priority with quantity. So this helps to determine whether to increase or decrease the production, by analyzing the crucial information obtained from various data and then forming the master production schedule. It also strives to deliver products on time with little or no defects. This makes solid manufacturing functioning with no or negligible losses.
Why Is Master Production Schedule Important?
Master production scheduling is a significant planning function that uses current data as well as forecasts the market requirement. It ensures timely delivery and accurate quantity of products delivered to the market without shortages. Let us understand the importance of a master production schedule with an example. Suppose there is a farmer who overproduces tomatoes in a season. It leads to an over-supply of tomatoes, wherein tomatoes are available at either extremely low or negligible prices. As a consequence, the farmer cannot even bear the cost of transportation and other resources.
Taking a lesson, the next year, the farmer switched to potato production in bulk. Meanwhile, the price of tomatoes hiked up due to scarcity in the market, and the same phenomenon repeated with the potatoes as the farmers produced them in abundance. In such scenarios, the advantages of a master production schedule help producers plan the right amount of production to prevent loss and undersupply.
Functions of Master Production Schedule
We have outlined the key functions of master production schedule below:
1. Convert Planning Into Production
The primary functions of the master production schedule (MPS) are to plan for individual commodities production utilizing the right resources. It checks the availability of the required staff, management, technology, and raw material. Further, the execution of the written plan takes place by systematically producing goods in the manufacturing unit.
2. Facilitates Data Analysis and Information
Information assessment or data analysis is essential for any manufacturing unit. They can't opt for blind production without market research and the availability of raw materials in their warehouse. So, once, all the data, including the market demand and supply ratio are compiled and analyzed well, they come to a solid plan for fruitful production. This information is required to produce the right quantity of commodities so that the core system does not crumble due to overproduction or underproduction.
3. Produce the Right Quantity of Commodities
Other advantages of a master production schedule are that it increases the efficiency and accuracy of manufacturing with the right quantity and variants. This also helps in warehousing and inventory management because products are not manufactured in excess or too less. This means the warehouse is neither empty nor overloaded, at any point in time.
4. Utilizes Utmost Capacity & Resources
Just as when labor is sitting idle, it leads to labor loss, similarly, if machines are not running, and if the space is not being utilized fully, then it incurs a huge loss to the company. Hence, to utilize the full capacity of the labor, machine, space, time, and other resources, the master production schedule is leveraged. It is a detailed working plan with a time slot assigned for each production. Also, it supervises workforce and supplies management to complete manufacturing cycles in time and maximize space utilization.
Elements of Master Production Schedule
Once you understand what is master production schedule, let's know more about its elements which are essential for schedule creation. Here, the historical data and the prediction of product consumption are important to get a rough idea of the plan. But to put the real plan upfront and form a solid executable strategy, you also need to analyze a few other elements, as mentioned below.
Product List
To prepare a master production schedule, you need to have a list of the products required to manufacture. It is the primary and most basic element of this system. For example, if you have a cloth manufacturing plant, then the product list can consist of t-shirts, shirts, pants, jeans, and so on, along with the specifications of each of the items.
Variants (Product Sub Categories)
Another element of MPS is product variants or sub-categories that come under the umbrella of the main product. For example, if you have a cloth manufacturing plant, then color, design on the fabric, types of clothing styles, and more can come under one category.
Time Consideration for Manufacturing
When you are preparing a master production schedule, time is the key element to consider. Time scheduling is vital for manufacturing goods where the task can be segregated into days, months, or years followed by the available workforce, urgency, and other required resources.
Production Quantities
Production quantities are another key element in MPS, that is, the number of items that need to be manufactured within a scheduled time frame. While planning for the production quantities, you should also take oversee raw material consumption based on the types and variants of products you are going to manufacture. For example, if you want to design 100 t-shirts in different variants, then research the demand and supply ratio in the market before production, followed by your historical data.
How Do Manufacturers Use a Master Production Schedule?
As we have already discussed, what is master production schedule, now the question arises how do manufacturers use an MPS for their planning?
Often, we have seen that manufacturers find it difficult to implement MPS due to a lack of management. So here is a standard rule to implement the master production schedule (MPS) by classifying the following workflow.
1. Make-to-Stock
Make-to-stock in MPS is used to forecast the product demand for planning and scheduling. Following this schedule helps the manufacturer to produce and stock sufficient inventory in the warehouse. It helps the to fulfill the expected order in the upcoming period and maintain their supply chain.
2. Make-to-Order
The products which are made only upon receiving any order are called the make-to-order. To understand it better, suppose you are a car manufacturing company and receive an order from a car racer or a car racing brand with certain specifications and safety measures. Further, you start working on designing that variant which is called make-to-order and is done on demand.
3. Assemble-to-Order
When you work with production processes that include assembling multiple components to make a complete piece, it is called assemble-to-order. For instance, a car manufacturer has a large number of common parts with variants in their inventory. And when they receive any order to design or repair a car, they use different parts from their stock and assemble those for quick production. This assemble-to-order equips them to fulfill the request instantly without going through the full manufacturing process of the required component.
Advantages of Master Production Schedule
Next, let's discuss the advantages of a master production schedule with a few points that will help you easily understand its benefits.
- It gives you the ability to minimize waste by preventing demand fluctuation.
- Reduce the manufacturing time because you are making efficient use of everything from machine to human with a streamlined MPS.
- Reduces the cost of manufacturing because there will be no labor or other loss of resources.
- It decreases the chance of human error as you can automate it through the best MPS software or master production scheduling software.
- Your production will be on schedule and you will be able to fulfill market demand by producing enough quantity.
- Helps in warehousing and inventory control by optimizing raw material management and scheduling production.
- It helps in developing better communication and understanding with the supervisor on what to produce, how to produce, and how to meet the final product delivery.
- It becomes easy to handle both large and small-scale projects by analyzing the exact requirement of labor and time.
Master Production Schedule Example
A master production schedule (MPS) can be a data chart in the form of a spreadsheet or software database. It can consist of rows and columns filled with the details of sales orders, purchase orders, sales forecasts, current stock, and the number of products for a specific period required to be manufactured. Furthermore, there are many formats for creating MPS, and each company follows a different one according to its preferences and needs.
Let's see a practical example of a master production schedule arranged in a table for easy understanding.
| Week 1 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schedule/ Time | |||||||||
| Product | Variation | Day-1 | Day-2 | Day-3 | Day-4 | Day-5 | Day-6 | Day-7 | Total |
| T-Shirt | Black | 70 | 70 | 70 | 75 | 75 | 80 | 90 | 530 |
| White | 30 | 30 | 30 | 25 | 25 | 20 | 10 | 170 | |
| Jeans | Black | 50 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 275 |
| Blue | 50 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 425 | |
| Total | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 1400 |
Here, the first row of the table displays the 'Time' (Week, Month, or Year). And, the first column is 'Product,' and the second column is all about 'Variant,' followed by the data. The last row and column consist of the total number of required production items. Likewise, you can also arrange rows and columns for stocks and production forecasts based on your operational requirements.
Difference Between Master Production Schedule and Production Scheduling
The master production schedule and production schedule may sound similar, but they have some key differences as outlined below:
Master Production Schedule
It is all about optimizing the manufacturing process by scheduling the production of required commodities in advance to meet market demand. The MPS allows you to plan the production process by managing available and required raw materials, machinery, and human resources.
Production Scheduling
Production scheduling is a way to make the production process cost-effective and efficient, as well as deliver it on time. It is a process of assigning raw materials, resources, and technology to manufacture a particular product.
What Is the Relationship Between MPS and MRP?
MRP stands for Material Requirements Planning which is used to determine the amount of material to order, and the allocation of resources for the manufacturing of goods. While MPS refers to the Master Production Schedule used to determine when the material is needed for the manufacturing of products in the stated time duration. So the former is related to the amount of material required and the other is related to the time of material required. Further, MRP is dependent on the amount and helps in deciding how much material is required for production. It requires the data of existing inventory and the reference to the master production schedule to determine how much material to order. On the flip side, MPS is dependent on the time for the requirement of material based on the previous data of production, consumption, and the forecast of sales.
Common MPS Output Reports
1. Availability of Product
It provides data on products that must be available on a particular date which makes it convenient for the manager to analyze the number of products to meet the demand or order from customers.
2. Demand Report
It gives accurate data on the demand of the market based on the feed data of past and present requirements.
3. Forecast Data Report
It allows you to forecast data by analyzing previous sales and demand. It also helps to detect errors if your production doesn't meet the forecasted product consumption.
4. Period Summary Forecast
It provides a forecast report on each period ranging from weeks to years which is based on feed data.
5. Demand and Forecast Analysis
It presents historical data on demand and forecast of all times ranging from a week to a year and helps to predict future consumption for manufacturing.
6. Schedule vs. Actual Output
If you missed the target production, then you can easily identify the trend with this report. Schedule vs. actual output report will give you the accurate data that you have missed to meet the threshold.
Grow Your Business With a Well-Managed MPS Solution
You can effectively manage your production schedule and can grow your business with the right MPS tool. It streamlines the production process and gives you maximum benefits. You can also automate the whole process with smart master production scheduling functionalities specially designed for the manufacturing industry.
TranZact is built especially for Indian SME manufacturers, aiming to digitize their core production and inventory operations. If you are a manufacturer, entrepreneur, or SME, you must explore TranZact's expert software solutions and automate end-to-end manufacturing operations.
FAQs on Master Production Schedule
1. What are the different master production schedule techniques?
Make-to-Stock (MTS), Assemble-to-Order (ATO), and Make-to-Order (MTO) are the most commonly used master production schedule techniques.
2. Who maintains the master production schedule?
It can be maintained by anyone who is authorized and aware of its functionalities, but generally, the team leader or the manufacturing unit manager maintains the MPS.
3. What is the purpose of a master production schedule?
A master production schedule is used to manage, forecast and plan the manufacturing process with ease to effectively manage deadlines and resources to meet market demand.
4. What information is necessary to create the MPS?
Inputs such as sales forecast, current stock, current order, the quantity of product, safety stock, warehousing capacity, and production capacity are some key information parameters you need to create an MPS.
5. Where can I create MPS?
You can create your MPS on a spreadsheet using a computer or maintain data manually on paper, but using automated software like TranZact would be the easiest. A software helps you to combat the challenges or disadvantages of a master production schedule efficiently.
6. What are the objectives of the master schedule?
Inventory control, stabilizing production, setting up the production due date, maximizing the use of manpower and machinery, and scheduling are the main objectives of the master schedule.
