In manufacturing companies, production planning is the most essential aspect to succeeding. Competition has become more intense over the years, meaning manufacturers need to be able to produce more efficiently. Therefore, investments in tailored production planning will be beneficial to the success of a company. In this article, we provide the most important insights regarding production planning. Hint, it involves the supportive technology of trigge.com.
Table of Contents
How to define a production planning
Production planning is a broad description of the whole manufacturing process. Therefore, it concerns supply chain management, order processing, raw materials, human resources and physical manufacturing space. In order to integrate all these aspects, a complete production planning has to be made to ensure the most efficient use of all resources.
Different types of production planning
Many different types of production planning exist, so there will always be a fitting type for a company. The fitting production planning depends on the size and purpose of a company. When a company manufactures a single product, the job method will be useful. This method involves a single employee or group of employees to execute the whole production process, which makes it useful for producing customizable products. When products are manufactured on a larger scale, the batch production method is most applicable. In this method, products are produced in batches, which drives down the production costs. Next, the process method involves what is being associated with a typical production in an assembly line.
With this way of production, different machines will be completing parts of the production process. Ultimately, all different parts are put together to a finished final product. When a company produces large quantities of similar products, the mass production method is most suitable. Standardized processes are used to produce as much as possible product within the least amount of time.
How technology supports the production planning
In this day and age, production planning can not be executed without the use of technology. Technological applications make it possible to make use of all aspects of the production process in the most efficient way. Moreover, technology diminishes the need of employees to struggle with making the production planning. Different technologies are available to support production planning. As mentioned earlier, the business platform of Triggre is a great solution. This no-code platform can be customized entirely to the wishes and needs of a company. This way, a company can choose all the applications they need. For example, a coffee and cacao trading company implemented Triggre to streamline their ordering processes, factory planning, and shipments. Thereby, they reduced their back-office staff and improved customer interaction. Amongst others, they implemented features such as an order intake application, transportation management application and back-end system.
The order intake application, for example, allows the B2B customers of the company to create and manage new orders and contracts. It also provides tracking and tracing, so customers will always have insights in the current location of their order. Lastly, this application allocates an order automatically to the correct factory and by that reduces unnecessary manual work. Click here if you want to learn more about this case.
Concluding
Production planning is a necessary but complex job. However, technology is there to ease the life of production planners and ensure the most efficient planning. This, in turn, will lead to a manufacturing company to be as competitive as they could be.