Executive Summary

Production represents the distinctive competency of most manufacturers. A separate functional area termed production activity control is typically responsible for coordinating production activities. Modeling different types of production activities often requires different types of production orders. A production order typically represents the set of production activities to build a single item, and the item defines the source of information for what needs to be done. Some types of production activities require linkage to the source of sales order demand, so that the sales order defines the source of information for what needs to be done. In some cases, a simulated production order is created to define and cost a one-time product, and it can be converted to a production order. Several considerations apply to production orders, such as the order-dependent bill and routing, the production order lead-time , and reserving components for a production order. A production order can have a status of planned, firm-planned, or released. For a released production order, production activities can be reported for material usage, internal and external operations, and output of completed items. Coordination of production activities is based on production schedules by work center (if routing data is defined) and suggested action messages generated by planning calculations. Production order variances are calculated for a finished production order. The case studies highlighted variations in manufacturing environments, such as highly regulated operations and integration with advanced planning and scheduling (APS) capabilities.