Levels and Stages of Production Planning and Control in Garments Industry

What is Production Planning and Control?

The terms "Production planning and control (PPC)" and "Production control" refer to two distinct pre-production stages in manufacturing. It essentially entails organizing production in an organization prior to the start of actual production processes, as well as carrying out control activities to ensure that the desired quantity, quality, delivery schedule, and manufacturing cost are met. Production planning includes everything from scheduling each step of the process to completing and delivering the final products. Clothing production is typically time-sensitive in order to ship items to boutiques and stores for the following season. With proper production planning and control, the apparel industry can become more competitive, efficient, and cost-effective.

 

Levels of Production Planning and Control:

Production planning occurs at many organizational and industry levels and spans a variety of time periods. Depending on the graded altitudes at which it is conducted in the apparel industry, it could be divided into three categories: strategic, tactical, and operational planning.

A. Strategic planning: 

Determining an organization's strategy, or direction, and deciding how to allocate its resources to pursue it are the processes of strategic planning. Usually, it is a long-term strategy implemented at the highest level of management. Markets, product lines, divisions, and other business units are the focus of the long-term plans. The organization's investment capacity, the product life cycle, market demands, etc. are some of the factors taken into account for long-term planning.

B. Tactical planning: 

It is carried out for a moderate amount of time by the middle management of a company. It spans six to eighteen months and emphasizes comprehensive products rather than single, specialized product styles. Plans for employment, utilities, material supply, and industry expansion are all indicated.

C. Operational planning: 

This is carried out for a brief period of time by the organization's lower level management. It is more focused on the utilization of already-existing services or facilities in the industry than on their development. It includes the efficient use of resources such as energy, machinery, raw materials, etc. Short-term planning considers cash flows, labor absenteeism rate, material availability priorities, and current customer orders.

 

 

Stages of Production Planning and Control in Garment Industry:

There are three stages in Production planning and control, which are as follows:

1. Planning stage
2. Action stage
3. Control stage
   

A. Planning stage: 

Planning is the first step in the production of a garment. It involves choosing the best course of action from a wide range of options. Pre-planning and active planning are the two phases of the planning stage.

1. Pre-planning: Product planning and development, demand forecasting, resource and facility planning, plant planning, and plant layout are all included in the pre-planning process. In the apparel industry, pre-planning is crucial. The first and most important step in production planning is fashion forecasting.

2. Active planning: It comprises planning for quantity, product mix determination, scheduling, routing, material and process planning.

 

B. Action stage: 

This phase is referred to as the execution phase. The dispatching and progressing functions are involved. At this point in the clothing industry, the production of the garment is underway in accordance with the product's specifications. The assortment plan, layout plans, cutting and sewing plans, and other aspects of the garment production planning and scheduling are currently underway.

It includes all the stages from receiving the fabric to dispatching the garments to the customer.

C. Control stage: 

It includes labor control, cost control, quality control, inventory control, and material control. With the goal of producing the goods as scheduled, this phase focuses more on managing the production processes.

The planning of these three different stages depends on the principles of the production planning, which are as follows:

• Type of production determines the kind of PPC system needed.
• Number of parts involved in the product affects expenses of operating the PPC department.
• Complexity of the PPC function varies with the number of assemblies involved.
• Time is a common denominator for all scheduling activities.
• Size of the plant has relatively little to do with the type of PPC system needed.
• PPC permits ‘management by exception’.
• Cost control should be a by-product of the PPC function.
•  The best and most economical way to manufacture the necessary quantity of a product in the required quality at the required time yields the highest production efficiency.