A factory’s production plan is tied to meeting large demands within the best timeframe. Through it, available resources, materials, and equipment are reorganized for production.
During the pandemic and the need for social distancing, many industries had to adapt based on the availability of raw materials and personnel to operate the machinery. Thus, the production plan proved to be a great ally to overcome these barriers. This is because it brings greater agility and flexibility to the production chain.
Production planning or the production plan (PP) can add countless advantages to your demand management process. Within this context, investing in a PP brings a series of advantages:
- Optimization of industrial production;
- Forecasting of the production routine;
- Minimization of losses;
- Cost reduction;
- Inventory control;
- Prevention of delays.
These activities proved extremely important during the pandemic, since many industrial suppliers had to suspend their operations. Therefore, the entire supply and production chain was affected, resulting in delays and a shortage of products in the market. The electronics sector, for example, was one of the most hit during the period.
How can a production plan help solve problems like these and prevent similar situations? Follow our article and see how the production plan can make the company more competitive and agile
What is the purpose of the production plan?
The production plan has a very clear purpose of organizing a factory’s production routine. Anticipating events that may affect productivity and deliveries is fundamental.
This dynamic can be developed by applying technological solutions called APS (Advanced Planning and Scheduling). These technologies perform integrated planning through disruptive innovations such as robotization, Machine Learning, and machine-to-machine communication.
Tools like these have the capacity to prevent various occurrences:
- Machine failures;
- Maintenance needs;
- Equipment downtime;
- Production capacity;
- Shortage or excess of raw materials.
APS tools in the production plan help perform advanced and detailed planning. The goal is to collect operational data and store it in a way that makes the interpretation and measurement of results easy.
Thus, industrial digitization, in addition to boosting the company’s digital transformation, manages to improve deliveries and continuously optimize processes. As a consequence, competitiveness increases, as well as market value and the conquest of new niches.
5 practical benefits of using a production plan
Integrated solutions collect and display essential information for decision-making within an industry. Furthermore, planning production manually is a very time-consuming task prone to errors, as unforeseen events can occur leading to delivery delays and losses.
But how do the digital factory and production planning contribute on a daily basis to drive the company toward higher productivity?
Time reduction
Both planning and production execution have their time reduced with the use of technology. Planning time can experience a reduction of over 80%.
An APS system like DELMIA Ortems, for example, ensures that annual industrial planning is done in up to 30 minutes. This happens because the tool replaces planning spreadsheets and compiles data for real-time analysis.
On the production line, equipment idle times and waiting for new tasks can be reduced. Thus, more time is left for planning and simulations. All of this leads to KPI improvement.
Greater precision
Technology offers full-time monitoring of the entire production line. With this, all shop floor work becomes integrated.
Due to greater visibility of data and information regarding production, analytical precision increases. This is due to the fact that managers will have a broader and more complete view of the work performed. Thus, it is possible to optimize production, routines, and increase productive capacity.
Additionally, the possibility of running simulations prepares the entire team to plan and execute necessary actions more assertively. This also contributes to collaboration among professionals for more efficient deliveries.
Increased speed
Not only is production optimization favored, but the ability to react to shop floor problems is also enhanced. This is because employees will be equipped with data and information about everything happening.
Often, teams receive alerts and gain sufficient time to make adjustments to demand and planning. These changes are possible even with tight deadlines, since the machines are interconnected. With this support, the risks of production losses decrease.
Predictability
Having an overview of production makes it possible to predict in advance if a piece of equipment is at risk of failure, whether due to overload or the need for a part replacement. Thus, it can be sent for maintenance and replaced by an idle one.
Furthermore, it is possible to quickly replan the assembly line and reassign employees to another activity so that productivity is not affected. This is because backup equipment is not always available.
Adapting to demand, seasonality, or a shortage of inputs is also important. And a production plan can contribute to this adaptation.
Cost reduction
We already know that an APS and a production plan bring the ability to predict problems and quickly find solutions. Thus, the digital factory contributes to preventing new situations that lead to production downtime.
The use of technology generally enables a Return on Investment (ROI) in about 12 months. After all, preventive maintenance helps reduce costs and improves productive capacity, as well as the quality of manufactured products.
What is needed to develop a production plan?
For an effective production plan, it is necessary to know production details, sales estimates, and strategy. You are already ahead of the competition, as many companies lack this detailed knowledge of their processes.
It is also necessary to be aware of the activities that will be inserted and applied on the shop floor for the continuous improvement of production.
With this information, it is possible to support the production process with solid planning.
The Delmia Ortems can be used to organize your factory’s annual production routine. Dassault Systèmes’ smart solution offers superior performance to your factory through integrated planning.
Want to know more about the financial gains for your company by planning production better? Watch our webinar on this topic!
