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The current planning module is provided as a pilot in beta mode and by
means of an integration with a 3rd party service. The features supported
are those described in this Knowledge Base section only - additional
functionality may be able to be provided on a case-by-case basis.
Production planning is a process that takes place every morning. Once Megaventory transactional data has been synchronized during the night and the forecast and forward inventory projections have been calculated, the system generates a production plan for each and every manufactured item.
The planning agent calculates planned production quantities for each period attempting to maintain ending inventory above (but as close as possible) to the minimum inventory policy level.
Then he makes no changes to the firmed production plan quantities – it only operates on the periods where the production plan is not firmed.
Also, he takes into account the batch size found in the item’s bill of materials and only plans production in multiples of batch size.
Finally, he can manually trigger the execution of the production planning agent by clicking the “Generate Production Plans” button in the “Planning” view. Once the agent execution concludes the view is refreshed with the newly calculated inventory projection.
When the planner is satisfied with the production plans numbers for a period the plan should be firmed in that period – this ensures that the planning agent makes no more changes to it and the plan is ready to be executed. Usually, the first month (or the first couple of months) in the planning horizon should be set.
Steps for Production Planning
The easiest way to firm the production plan is to drill down from the “Projection Details” tab of the “Planning” view to the “Production Plans” view. The view is also accessible through the main application menu: “Plans & Actuals” item, and “Production Plans” sub-item as you can see below:
To firm the production plan in a period simply check the “Firm Planned” box for the required period then click the “Submit Changes” button. The system will automatically recalculate the inventory projection to reflect the changes.
The system can be configured to automatically create work orders in Megaventory corresponding to the fixed production plan – one work order per period. The work order start date will take into account the production time specified in the bill of materials so the production will be ready at the beginning of the monthly period. Alternatively, the orders can be manually entered in Megaventory.
Next article: How to set inventory policies?