The Master Production Scheduling Guide

What Is a Master Production Schedule?

A master production schedule, or MPS, is a document that tells you which make-to-stock or sales orders you need to manufacture, the quantity you need to produce, and when you need to have the finished products ready.

It’s a long-term, specific production plan that covers a specific planning timeframe, usually a few months to several years. Within it, you can set the length of production periods to review inventory needs and goals at the end of each period.

However, a master production schedule does not contain a complete bill of materials (BOM) to provide details about the materials you need to use or the teams that will make the products. Instead, in a make-to-order scenario, it enables the sales, planning, and manufacturing teams to collaborate across departments to deliver the finished goods your sales teams promise.

In a make-to-stock scenario, an MPS is equally valuable. Meeting your demand forecast without overproduction or underproduction is critical in cutting costs and boosting profit.

In either case, the production plan in the MPS enables your manufacturing teams to know exactly what products to make and when to deliver them. It’s a vital connection between demand planning and scheduling production on the shop floor.

Planning teams can look over the MPS and assess whether the facility has adequate capacity and materials to manufacture the goods in time. Shop floor teams can then bump up production and order materials to fulfill orders or stock the inventory.

How Does an MPS Differ from MRP, CRP, and RCCP?

An MPS defines which products to make, the number of products, and the deadline to complete them. Material requirements planning (MRP), on the other hand, provides details about which materials you’ll need to manufacture them.

In contrast to an MPS, capacity requirements planning (CRP) is a process that analyzes your company’s ability to meet the production requirements stated in the MPS.

Rough-cut capacity planning (RCCP) occurs early in the manufacturing process to assess whether your facility has the capability to make the total number of products specified in the MPS. It allows you to adjust production levels to meet your goals or change the target production number in the MPS to a more realistic one.

Benefits of Master Production Scheduling

There’s no better way to align your production with your business goals than having a master plan for each product you produce. It can help you see the big picture, enabling you to solve operational challenges to achieve your goals.

Here are only a few of the benefits you’ll enjoy when you use master production scheduling:

• More effective inventory management: A master production scheduling solution improves inventory management by forecasting the demand for your products. This process gives you a more accurate estimate of how many products to manufacture and when the products are due. Having that estimate reduces the risk of overstock, minimizing storage expenses and the chance of product obsolescence. It also helps you avoid shortages and respond quickly to changes in market demand.
• More accurate demand forecasting: An MPS solution helps you schedule production by predicting the demand for your products and the availability of the materials you’ll need to make them.
• Reduced production downtime: With a leading-edge scheduling solution that covers a broad range of variables, you’ll slash downtime significantly. Eyelit’s advanced software suite considers all the factors: staffing issues, equipment maintenance, availability and cost of materials, weather conditions, transportation costs, and more. More accurate forecasts allow you to adjust production to compensate for these factors, reducing downtime.
• Enhanced resource allocation: By specifying the exact number of products to manufacture and when they are due, the MPS enables you to better allocate resources and reduce manufacturing lead time.
• Increased customer satisfaction: With more realistic deadline estimates on an MPS generated with the help of Eyelit’s advanced planning solution, customers will be more likely to receive their products on time. On-time deliveries make for happy customers.
• Improved visibility across departments: An MPS enhances visibility across the enterprise since it goes out to all teams. That visibility enables cross-departmental collaboration, enhancing production quality control with feedback from various perspectives.
• Cost savings through optimized planning: With demand forecasting in the mix, you can provide numbers on the MPS that reflect actual conditions on the ground. More accurate forecasts enable you to optimize manufacturing plans, creating only enough products to meet demand.

Who Uses MPS?

A broad range of industries can benefit from master production scheduling. Both process and discrete manufacturing companies need a master plan to guide production from planning and procurement to delivering a finished product.

Process Manufacturing Industries

Master production scheduling is critical in process manufacturing. With a central document to cover every aspect of the process, companies can ensure the consistency and quality of each batch.

Products like food, beverages, paints, cement, and cleaning solutions must adhere to a strict formula and process. Managing supply chains and coordinating with every department ensures that nothing deviates from the plan.

That plan becomes even more critical in the food and beverage sectors. It’s even more essential in the pharmaceutical industry, where even one deviation from the process could cause loss of life.

Since many of these products are perishable, MPS provides the guidance needed to avoid overstocking, which could lead to massive waste.

Key process manufacturers who can benefit from MPS include:

• Pharmaceutical companies
• Chemical producers
• Food and beverage manufacturers

Discrete Manufacturing Industries

Master production scheduling is equally vital in discrete manufacturing industries. Having the right parts and a consistent assembly process requires a master schedule to coordinate all aspects of production.

Many of these products go out of style or become obsolete. For that reason, having a master production schedule can reduce the chance of having more stock than they can sell.

Medical equipment, aerospace vehicles, and automobiles, too, must adhere to strict standards. Master production scheduling can assure customers they’ll get safe, effective products.

Discrete manufacturing companies that can benefit from MPS include:

• Aerospace equipment
• Automotive companies
• High-tech manufacturing, including electronics
• Medical equipment
• Garment and accessories manufacturers

Which Roles Use Master Production Scheduling?

Every employee in your company should know their role in implementing your master production schedule. However, MPS is especially critical for several key roles, including:

• Supply chain managers: With MPS planning, supply chain managers can look at the quantity and types of products they need to find raw materials for. Then, they can assess sources that can deliver the materials in time to meet the deadline.
• Operations leads: Operations leads ensure that the production process turns out quality products on time and on budget by translating the MPS’s specifications into actionable tasks.
• Production planners: These key employees help develop and tweak the MPS to align with materials availability and the facility’s capacity to achieve the schedule’s goals, then adjust the schedule accordingly.

What Is the Output from the Master Production Scheduling Process?

Outputs from the master scheduling process include:

• The maximum number of make-to-stock or sales orders that the shop floor can fulfill during the allotted time horizon
• Potential production bottlenecks and constraints
• Work centers where resource allocation needs to be optimized to improve throughput
• Inventory levels for raw materials, work in process (WIP), and completed products at different stages of the production process

Sophisticated master production scheduling significantly improves manufacturing performance because these outputs comprise the MPS. The MPS serves as the foundation for an accurate production plan, which, in turn, serves as the basis for generating consistent, feasible schedules.

Is MPS a Planning or Scheduling Process?

Despite its name, master production scheduling is a planning process that works a little differently from a standard detailed scheduling process.

In most situations, production scheduling provides details on how to execute a specific plan of action during the manufacturing operation. To achieve this goal, the schedule must explore minute details, breaking up time into very short increments, sometimes as short as a few seconds. The full schedule generally covers a week to two months of operations, making this a short-term resource.

Production planning focuses more on the mid-term future, generally the next three months to one year of operations. As a result, planning does not go into the fine details like scheduling does. Instead, it focuses on the core elements of manufacturing, i.e., what is being produced, how many units are needed, and how many units have already been produced. The master production schedule will also provide information on where production should take place and when to implement the operation.

How Does Software Enhance MPS?

Software can play a critical role in making your master production scheduling effective, scalable, and responsive. Eyelit’s manufacturing-specific solutions create master production schedules that align with your production demand, promoting greater efficiency and reducing downtime and overstock.

Here are only a few of the ways Eyelit’s manufacturing software can enhance MPS:

• Scalable order selection: Enabling both in-plant and enterprise-wide order selection, Eyelit’s solution has proven to simplify complex order selection and allocation even in companies with worldwide manufacturing facilities.
• Capacity planning: Automation makes this process easier by matching your production capacity with demands that come and go. With Eyelit’s AI-driven predictive capabilities, you can adjust your MPS planning on the fly to adapt to fluctuations.
• Single- and multi-line sequencing: Eyelit’s patented sequencing algorithms optimize your manufacturing processes and minimize sequencing issues. Integrated batching and sequencing streamline your production lines, adapting to whatever configurations you need.
• Virtual flow line: With a virtual representation of your production flow, you can anticipate any roadblocks and adjust your production to compensate.
• Efficient supply network planning: Finding the right suppliers to provide the materials you need to meet your MPS goals goes more smoothly with Eyelit’s automated software.

What Manufacturing Systems Are Involved in the Master Production Scheduling Process?

There is no such thing as standalone master scheduling software. Instead, MPS is executed in an advanced planning and scheduling software (APS) system, and that system is integrated with the MRP, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and manufacturing execution systems (MES).

Manufacturing Resource Planning Systems

The MRP system and material requirement planning process provide visibility into the availability of manufacturing resources and components. This visibility allows the master production scheduling process to accurately calculate what can be produced with the on-hand inventories.

More sophisticated production planning software allows master production scheduling to create master data that considers the bill of material against the currently available or planned supply. Safety stock and replenishment rules are included in the calculations. The master production schedule can also trigger material planning, ensuring that you order new materials from the suppliers on time.

Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

In addition, the master production schedule will work alongside ERP systems to ensure sufficient resources, including financing and staffing, are allocated to the project. While creating the MPS document, teams should refer to ERP systems to ensure appropriate resources are available at predefined points along the project timeline.

Manufacturing Execution Systems

Once you develop the schedule and begin the manufacturing process, you can track the project using a manufacturing execution system. The MES tracks a purchase order from the beginning of the manufacturing process through the predetermined routing and operations in the factory until it is packaged and ready to be shipped.

The MES collects performance data from machinery and workers, such as cycle times, downtime, and efficiency. You can use this information to optimize the master production schedule for future projects.

What Inputs Do You Need for Master Production Scheduling?

Draw upon existing data as you build your master production schedule. While the MPS is a vital resource for your business, it relies upon accurate data inputs. These inputs include:

• Current inventory data: The number of products you already have in stock and ready for delivery.
• Demand predictions: How much customer demand you expect over a set period and how many orders you need to fulfill.
• Existing demand: Use the orders you have already placed. Then, factor those numbers into your demand predictions.
• Viable production targets: The number of items you will need to produce over the forecasting period. The number should achieve an effective balance, meeting demand without creating an unmanageable surplus.

The 7 Steps of Master Production Scheduling

Crafting an effective MPS is achievable in seven straightforward steps:

1. Understand and Define Your Products
   Your master production schedule depends upon an in-depth knowledge of your products and clear definitions for product categories and product groups. You’ll need to form strict categories and definitions for your products before you can craft an MPS. Organize your products into categories, i.e., a specific type of product. Within these categories, you can define similar products together to create product groups.
2. Set Your Lead Time Targets
   When you manufacture your products, you should know how long it will take to complete a batch. What’s more, you’ll need to know this information with a relatively high degree of accuracy to pass this information on to your clients. Consider how long each component of the manufacturing process will take you to complete. Include the following:
   • After you place the order, how long does it take to get the relevant materials together?
   • How long does it take to turn these materials into a manufactured product?
   • How long does it take for the product to be packaged and sealed, including quality control checks?
   • How long does it take for the packaged products to be made ready for delivery?
   • How long does it take for delivery to the customer?

   These components together will give you your total lead time, i.e., the time taken from when the order is placed to when the customer receives the product. Draw upon experience and manufacturing data to define these lead times accurately.

3. Assess Public Demand and Decide on the Required Rate of Production
   If your product is already in demand among your customers, you will need to be capable of a high rate of production. This production rate will help you ensure that your product does not become sold out and remains available to customers. Losing out on sales because you cannot produce enough of your product represents a missed opportunity.On the other hand, if demand is low, the production rate will need to reflect that situation. Developing and delivering too many products that are difficult for retailers to sell is a waste of money and resources. With this fact in mind, you need to assess the public demand for your product and accurately calculate how many items you will produce over a set period.
4. Make Sure that Available Resources Align with the Production Rate
   Once the required rate of production has been calculated for each product category and product group, plan the resources needed to fulfill this. For some product groups, production rates may need to be over normal levels to keep retailer shelves well stocked with products.In this step of the process, you’ll have to ascertain how feasible this is with your current levels of available resources. You may need to expand the levels of resources available to your teams. Or you may need to reallocate resources from lower-demand production chains to higher ones to hit your targets. This step will involve assessing what resources you currently have available and how you can optimize this ahead of the next round of production.
5. Identify Production Shortfalls and Troubleshoot These Problem Areas
   There may be sections of your production line that cannot meet demand. These problems may relate to individual components that are particularly difficult or time-consuming to manufacture, or they might be more widespread, covering the entire production line.You will need to learn to recognize how to overcome these problems and troubleshoot them. This process begins by identifying problem areas and then calculating how you can free up resources to increase the rate of production or streamline and optimize the method of production. It’s not unusual to find production shortfalls within the manufacturing chain, so don’t panic. Simply adopt a pragmatic approach to overcoming them.
6. Use Quantitative and Qualitative Data to Craft Your Master Production Schedule
   During the first steps of this guide, you have gathered a significant amount of information and data. This data is both quantitative — i.e., the hard numbers relating to production rates, customer demand, and resource availability — and qualitative.The qualitative data refers to the product categories and groups, as well as retail partner requests and other information. You can draw upon all this data as you create your master production schedule. This schedule will outline which products you need to manufacture, viable lead times for all these products, rates of production based on demand, available resources, resource reallocation plans, and potential problem areas during manufacture. In essence, this will become the master sheet that your entire production operation will follow.
7. Check, Assess, and Adapt Your MPS During the Production Operation
   After step 6, you have completed the first draft of your MPS, and the manufacturing operation can begin. However, the MPS is not a static document. Instead, it should grow and evolve as you fine-tune your processes.This evolution is only possible with a continual policy of monitoring, assessing, and adapting. For example, you may find that your manufacturing lead time calculations were not quite accurate enough, so you will need to alter them.You may also find that your resource requirements predictions were incorrect. If you do, you will need to update them. You can alter and update this information as the operation progresses, making the MPS document more and more valuable to your team.

MPS Challenges

Challenges often arise when you try to implement or maintain a master production schedule without the tools to solve them. Eyelit’s software suite — specifically created for the manufacturing sector — can help you conquer these challenges and many more:

Labor Shortages

In today’s shifting labor market, labor shortages occur as employees leave to go elsewhere. Short-term labor shortages happen, too, when workers get sick or take time off for personal reasons.

If customers don’t get their products on time, your company loses its reputation — and, eventually, revenue.

Eyelit’s advanced planning and scheduling software optimizes production schedules according to your facility’s current operating state. As short-term absences occur, you can adjust the schedule in minutes. If employees leave for good, the solution can help project the labor you’ll need to replace them.

Fluctuating Demand

As demand fluctuates due to the economy or other factors, you need the ability to adjust on the fly.

If you don’t, you’ll run the risk of overstock, some of which might end up as waste — or sold at a deep discount.

With Eyelit’s software suite, you can scale production down as demand slows. Then, when demand rises again, you’ll be able to ramp up production quickly enough to deliver your products to customers on time and on budget.

Losing Sources of Materials

There will likely come a time when a source of materials you need will dry up. Whether it has gone out of business or doesn’t have an adequate labor force, it won’t be able to produce enough materials to meet your needs.

Without an alternate source, you won’t be able to manufacture your products, let alone deliver them on time.

Eyelit’s software can boost your teams’ ability to find the resources you need. With accurate estimates of your requirements, you can track down the materials needed and get production on track quickly.

Handling Unplanned Downtime

Power outages, machines that seize up, or late materials deliveries — these situations happen to manufacturing companies from time to time.

Lost time equals lost money. If it takes too long to get your system back on track, you’ll be the one whose customers experience late deliveries.

However, with Eyelit’s advanced planning and scheduling software, you can adapt your production process to the situation, minimizing the damage. Whether changing staffing schedules, shifting operations to another production line, or revising customer expectations, you can do it faster and more efficiently with Eyelit’s software suite.

Optimize Your Master Production Scheduling

Manufacturing operations that consistently generate accurate master production schedules reduce production costs and boost profitability.

Eyelit Technologies’ software solutions enable enterprise manufacturers to streamline and optimize their master production scheduling with intuitive advanced planning and scheduling software. Reach out to our team today to learn more.

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