Production Planning and Scheduling

To coordinate the many diverse yet dependent operations of an organization, a master plan of activities and a schedule of their timing are needed. Each operating unit should then derive from the master plan the information necessary to coordinate the activities for which it is responsible, careful planning anticipates the needs for people, materials and equipment so that sufficient lead time is available to make any changes that may be necessary.

Planning and scheduling are dynamic activities. No matter how carefully initial plans are formed, unanticipated events will occur and rescheduling will be necessary. The planners and schedulers of the firm arrange resources and available time in attempting to best utilize the firm's capacity to produce.