Decision pattern

Production Planning

Production planning decides what to make, when each operation should run, and which capacity should perform it while respecting orders, routes, and delivery commitments.

Use this when

Manual production plans break when multiple orders share machines, jobs need to move through workshops in sequence, and due dates compete for the same capacity.

Inputs

orders and due dates, operation routes and durations, machine or line capacity, release dates and priorities.

Constraints

Workshop precedence, Machine no-overlap, Machine choices per workshop, Order release dates, Due dates.

Decision output

feasible production sequence, operation start and finish times, machine assignments, late-order exceptions.

A small example

A planner manually staggers jobs by expected dates, often missing machine conflicts or downstream workshop waits. The decision process makes the rules explicit, then compares feasible options against the stated objective: Minimize makespan first, with optional weighted tardiness when late delivery risk matters more.

OrderProductQtyWorkshop routePlanned startDue date
001-W33Power supply200SMT > Assembly > Packaging2022-08-032022-08-11
002-W31Power supply500SMT > Assembly > Packaging2022-07-152022-07-25
003-W32Speaker1000Assembly > Packaging2022-07-202022-08-04