In many Indian SME manufacturing businesses, the lack of a proper production management system leads to firefighting, delayed dispatches, and cash-flow stress. Without an efficient system in place, manufacturers often struggle with production delays, resource wastage, and missed customer commitments. These operational inefficiencies also increase operational costs and impact customer satisfaction.
TL;DR: A production management system standardises planning, execution, and monitoring to improve OTIF, reduce rework, and control costs—by linking production with inventory and purchasing, giving real-time visibility to act early.
Freshness: As of October 2025.
Questions this page answers:
- How does a Production Management System reduce firefighting in Indian SMEs?
- Which features matter most for batch/job-shop factories?
- How is a PMS different from operations management?
- How can a Tally-first team start implementing a PMS?
- What improvements should you expect in OTIF, quality, and cost?
This blog post will explain what a Production Management System is, why it matters, and how it helps Indian SMEs move from reactive to disciplined production.
What Is Production Management?
Production management is the function that plans, organises, directs, and controls manufacturing activities to convert raw materials into finished goods efficiently. It balances demand and capacity, sets standards, and ensures resources are used optimally.
Owner takeaway: Clarity in who does what, when, and to what standard reduces daily chaos.
Read Also – Production Planning and Control Explained
Function of production management
Production management coordinates planning (MPS/MRP), routing, scheduling, dispatching, follow-up, and continuous improvement. It links with purchasing, stores, quality, and maintenance to keep the line moving.
So what: The function succeeds only when masters are clean and the shop floor updates on time.
Read Also – What Is Material Requirements Planning (MRP)?
Example of production management
Consider a valve SME in Vadodara: Sales confirms a delivery; production checks capacity and material via MRP, generates a schedule, issues job cards, and updates WIP daily. Exceptions trigger expediting or re-prioritisation.
In short: Good production management turns promises into reliable dispatches.
Read Also – What Is Sales and Inventory Management System?
What Is a Production Management System?
A production management system (PMS) is a software-enabled framework that standardises production planning, execution, and monitoring. It integrates masters (items, BOMs, routings), demand (SO/MPS), material (MRP), capacity (CRP), and quality to deliver OTIF with control.
Owner takeaway: Think “one source of truth” for what to make, when to make, and with what.
Importance of Production Management
For Indian SMEs, disciplined production reduces rework, protects margins, and builds customer trust. It also improves cash flow by avoiding last-minute purchases and idle WIP.
Bottom line: Discipline today beats expediting tomorrow.
Types of Production Management
Common contexts are project, job, batch, and mass/continuous. Most SMEs operate job or batch, where variability is high and planning must be tight.
Next step: Match your process type before choosing tools; job/batch need stronger scheduling and change control.
Key Features of Production Management System
There are various features of the production management system that help unify planning and shop-floor execution. The most important features of production management are as follows:
- Planning and Scheduling: See /blogs/master-production-schedule for the big picture. The system generates production plans and schedules from orders and capacity, then keeps them current as priorities change.
- Inventory Control: Ensures right materials at the right time via MRP, reservations, and reorder signals—reducing stockouts and overstock.
- Quality Control: Captures checkpoints, rejections, and CAPA so defects are found early and prevented from moving downstream.
- Cost Control: Tracks material consumption, labour time, and overhead—so you see true cost and act before margins erode.
- Reporting and Analytics: Provides live WIP, capacity, and exception dashboards to help managers make faster, better decisions.
Pro tip: Make dashboards actionable—alerts should trigger material, capacity, or priority changes, not just show numbers.
Read Also – What Is Sales and Inventory Management System?
Benefits of Production Management System
A production management system improves OTIF, reduces rework, limits excess WIP, and simplifies audits. With real-time visibility, teams fix issues early instead of firefighting at dispatch.
Owner takeaway: Fewer surprises → faster cash cycles.
Read Also – Warehouse Receiving: Process and Procedure for Optimization
Automate Your Production Management With TranZact
Indian SME manufacturers can transform production by integrating TranZact’s planning, MRP, and shop-floor features with Tally. Teams get a simple, practical system that fits existing workflows, not a heavy ERP overhaul.
Bottom line: Start with clean masters, live updates, and a daily review. Scale features as discipline sticks.
Ask this next:
- How do we set up clean masters (items, BOMs, routings) to avoid floor chaos?
- Which 5 KPIs should we monitor daily to protect OTIF?
- What’s a minimal rollout plan for a PMS in a Tally-first SME?
FAQs on Production Management System
1. What are the types of production management systems?
It depends on volume and variety: project, job, batch, or mass models. Pick what matches your customer mix and repeatability.
2. What is a production information management system?
It centralises product and process data—masters, BOMs, routings, drawings—so planning and the shop floor stay aligned.
3. What is a production system in production management?
It’s the arrangement of people, processes, and resources used to convert inputs to finished goods under standard controls.
4. What are the 4 types of production systems?
Project, job, batch, and mass/continuous.
5. What is an example of production management system?
ERP (with production modules) plus MES for live shop-floor control.
6. What are the 5 types of production management?
Planning, scheduling, inventory, quality, and cost management.
7. What is operations management?
The broader function covering sourcing, production, logistics, and service.
8. What is the difference between production and operations management systems?
Production = making; operations = making + delivering reliably.
9. What is a production system in operations management?
A coordinated set of activities that plan, schedule, execute, and control production, including inventory and quality.
10. What is the definition of production management system?
A software-enabled approach to plan, execute, and continuously improve production.
