Master Production Schedule

A Master Production Schedule (MPS) is a manufacturing plan that quantifies significant processes, parts, and other resources in order to optimize production, to identify bottlenecks, and to anticipate needs and completed goods. Since an MPS drives much factory activity, its quality dramatically affects a factory's profitability. Typical MPS's are created by software with significant user input and tweaking.

Due to software limitations, but especially the intense work required by the "Master Production Schedulers", schedules do not include every possible aspect of production, but only key elements that have proven their control effectivity, such as working hours, machines, available storage, and parts supply. The choice of what to model vary between companies and even between factories. The MPS is a statement of what the company expects to produce and purchase expressed in selected items, specific quantities and dates.

The MPS translates the business plan, including forecast demand, into a production plan using planned orders in a true multi-level optional component scheduling environment. Using MPS helps avoid shortages, costly expediting, last minute scheduling, and inefficient allocation of resources. Working with MPS allows to consolidate planned parts, produce master schedules and forecasts for any level of the Bill of Material (BOM) for any type of part.

= How the MPS Works = =

By using several variables as inputs the MPS will generate a set of outputs used for decision making. Inputs may include forecast demand, production costs, inventory costs, customer orders, inventory levels, supply, lot size, production lead time, and capacity. Inputs may be automatically generated by an ERP system that links a sales department with a production department. For instance, when the sales department records a sale, the forecast demand may be automatically shifted to meet the new demand. Inputs may also be inputed manually from forecasts that have also been calculated manually. Outputs may include amounts to be produced, staffing levels, quantity available to promise, and projected available balance. Outputs may also be used to create a Materials Requirement Planning (MRP) schedule.

The Master Production Schedule has become a necessary tool for many organizations to synchronize their operations and become more efficient. An effective MPS ultimately will:

*Give management the information to control the manufacturing operation
*Tie overall business planning and forecasting to detail operations
*Enable marketing to make legitimate delivery commitments to warehouses and customers
*Greatly increase the efficiency and accuracy of a company's manufacturing

Different issues in MPS:
* Width of the time bucket.
* Planning Horizon
* Rolling Plan
* Time fensing/ Schedule freezing.