Strategic Production Planning - Definition, How-to Guide, & Free Essay Samples

Production planning is crucial in company development to help businesses organize manufacturing processes and minimize demand risks. Organizations can use this approach to define their strategies and boost the efficiency of their operations. Also, strategic production planning allows firms to increase output and decrease waste.

🔝 Top-10 Production Planning Examples

1. Orange PLC’s Organizational Behavior and Negotiation
2. Lush Cosmetics Marketing Plan – Strategies & Issues
3. Inventory Management in Supply Chain
4. Turner and Aramex Companies Logistics Issues
5. Entrepreneurial Management: Business Plan and Skills
6. Blue Shark Company's Marketing Plan
7. Steve Jobs: Leadership and Decision Making Styles
8. Inventory Systems: Types and Control
9. The Chocolala Company New Product Development
10. E-Commerce Impact on Business Practices

🔤 Definition of Production Planning

Production planning means creating a thorough scheme to produce the company’s goods and services. It considers the manufacturing capacity, materials, resources, and staff required to serve various clients.

Also, the method covers a wide range of production-related activities. They include demand forecasting, determining the raw materials, and planning the labor force, tools, and processes required to manufacture the company’s goods. As a result, organizations that apply strategic production planning can overcome scheduling problems and predict the short- and long-term demand for their products.

📈 Strategic Production Planning

Production planning is one of the most critical processes in manufacturing and a company’s overall strategy because it helps increase sales, profits, and customer satisfaction.

Why Is Production Planning Important?

Since strategic production planning is a vital component of a firm’s management, businesses should conduct it to receive the following benefits:

What Is Production Planning and Control?

Production planning and control refers to organizing a chain of operations to help companies get maximum value from their resources. It focuses on scheduling, allocating, and managing the workforce, raw materials, equipment, and manufacturing processes.

Businesses use various types of production control to achieve optimum production system performance and meet production planning targets. Also, control ensures that all manufacturing processes run smoothly and maintain quality standards throughout the production life cycle. The businesses applying production control can manage inventory, establish manufacturing schedules, and optimize resource and production process utilization.

🪜 What Is the First Step in Planning a Production Process?

The first step of production planning is estimating the demand. This stage is necessary to identify how many items a company needs to manufacture over a specific period. A traditional method of forecasting demand involves analyzing the firm’s past orders. Also, the company should consider external and internal events in its business environment, such as market trends or marketing campaigns, which could affect its historical patterns.

Production Planning Steps

Apart from demand forecasting, the template for strategic production planning includes more steps that each company has to take:

1. Plan the production phases and options. This step identifies the processes and resources required to generate the desired output. At this stage, the organization may also investigate alternative methods of reaching its manufacturing objectives, such as outsourcing some phases.
2. Select a strategy and schedule production. After weighing costs, deadlines, and risks, the company should choose a production strategy and discuss it with all relevant stakeholders. The organization should also develop a precise production schedule that details how the company will carry out the process, including the resources and timelines for each step.
3. Control and monitor the process. The firm should track its performance and compare it to the targets outlined in the production plan. Careful monitoring enables the organization to recognize and address any difficulties as soon as they arise.
4. Adjust the plan. After seeing the production plan in action, the company may notice areas for improvement. Hence, keeping production plans flexible enough is crucial to ensure the firm can make the necessary adjustments.

🔎 Strategic Production Planning and Control Examples

We have prepared 3 examples of strategic production planning to show how this process works.

Example 1: Flow Production Planning

An automobile manufacturer is building a factory for their flagship model. The company begins production planning with the assessment of its manufacturing capability at each assembly stage. Based on this information, the firm determines how mush cars it can produce per week. Then it identifies how many workers and materials are needed and what skills employees should possess. Finally, the firm develops a production schedule. It details how long the manufacturing process will take and when the company can release its first vehicle and ship it to dealerships.

Example 2: Process Production Planning

The manufacturer is revising its production planning for its polymer paint line. The main problem is periodic delays resulting in the paint moving through the system more slowly, thickening up, and leading to failed quality assurance checks. The company addresses the issue by developing a new production schedule with an updated quality control system and more pressure gauges. Additionally, the firm adds more checkpoints along the production line for workers to spot issues earlier and waste less paint.

Example 3: Job Production Planning

A jewelry designer receives a custom order for a bracelet. They assess the order to see what materials and procedures they will need to make the bracelet. Then the company accounts for the time it will take to procure materials and craft the bracelet and tells the client an estimated arrival time. This simple production planning helps the jewelry designer to provide a precise estimate to the client. This will result in customer satisfaction and increased brand loyalty.

📝 Production Planning Research Paper Examples

1. Social Media Marketing Strategy
   Business essay sample: Firms should use the internet and social media as strategies of direct marketing. Reaping the benefits of these strategies, they will generate higher revenues.
2. F2b2C as a New E-Commerce Business Model
   Business essay sample: A recent technological development in the manufacturing sector is the F2b2C. This paper discusses this new e-commerce business model. It also identifies its current and future roles.
3. Marketing: Concept and Approaches
   Business essay sample: Marketing is responsible for identifying and satisfying customer demands in a profitable manner. It refers to what an organization must do to exchange value with customers.
4. Laptop Industry’s Characteristics and Analysis
   Business essay sample: Researching the laptop industry? 💻 This paper conducts measurements of laptop market share and size: the PEST analysis and Porter’s six forces. 📈 You can find information about laptop industry in India and other countries. 🖱️
5. UK Electricity Companies: Industry Report
   Business essay sample: In the UK, the industry of electricity supply has been categorised into four: electricity generation, electricity transmission, electricity distribution, and electricity supply.
6. Energy Industry in the United States
   Business essay sample: This paper is about the energy industry in the United States. It is argued that the US energy industry has a multiproduct structure, which is majorly shaped by economies of scope.
7. Electricity Industry in the United Kingdom
   Business essay sample: This paper analyzes electricity industry in the United Kingdom and provides a critical appraisal of National Grid’s business plan.
8. Managerial Planning and Its Effectiveness
   Business essay sample: The paper explores the effectiveness of managerial planning in the performance of the organization. This study used the deductive approach of the research technique.
9. Tesla Motors Brand and Marketing Communications
   Business essay sample: Tesla Motors is an American automobile manufacturing company. This paper analyzes of Tesla Motors and its marketing communications.
10. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority: Quality Manual
    Business essay sample: One of the significant DEWA's achievements was the reduction of large losses in power transmission and distribution to 3.3% which puts the company in the position of the leader.
11. Brand Management for Ireland's Tourism Industry
    Business essay sample: This reflective paper attempts to classify the effectiveness of designing and implementing brand strategies in Ireland.
12. Forecasting in Operations Management
    Business essay sample: Operations management involves activities related to the production of goods. Organizations need to make forecasts before arriving at any decision.
13. Sony Strategy: Management & Planning
    Business essay sample: Working on Sony strategy report? 📷 Sony made alliances in countries with restrictions on penetrating the market. 🤓 Read more about it in the analysis of the strategic planning of the Sony company! ✅
14. Statistical Quality Control in Business Production
    Business essay sample: Statistical quality control refers to a group of analytical instruments and techniques used by process engineers to guarantee the quality of a process or product.
15. Strategic Quality Management Definition
    Business essay sample: The SQM concept suggests that considering the provision of quality products and services can have a positive impact on the performance of an organization and the system therein.
16. Texas Instruments Inc: Financial Planning and Forecasting
    Business essay sample: Texas Instruments is based in the United States and it was founded in 1930. It deals with the designing, production, and sale of semiconductors.
17. Supply Chain Management Role in Enterprise Planning
    Business essay sample: Effective supply chain management of an organisation ensures that the systems for supply chain management reduce various costs that are associated with supplies.
18. Leamington Spa Company's Competitive Product Development
    Business essay sample: This report evaluates technologies that are available for energy storage in the domestic sector to help Leamington Spa Company to select a competitive product in the market.

💡 Essay Ideas on Production Planning

1. Systems and Operations Management Practices at Airbus
   Business essay sample: Duplication of roles, conflicts and politicking are signs that the current organizational structure of Airbus should be redone.
2. Marketing Relationship with Other Functional Areas
   Business essay sample: Studying 🤓 the relationships and interdependencies between marketing and other functional areas? This essay sample ✅ describes the interrelationship between marketing and other departments in different marketing processes, and the importance of marketing.
3. Enterprise Resources Planning in Modern Business
   Business essay sample: Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is an emerging trend in business management operations. This research analyzes the relevance of ERP to the modern organisations.
4. Operations Management and Capacity Planning
   Business essay sample: In operations management, the firm considers capacity planning, organizing, and control of resources as the main areas allocate tasks so that the business can serve its market.
5. Management Product Life Cycle
   Business essay sample: For several decades, the product life cycle model has been very popular in management. Companies adopt this concept as a core of business operations and product management.
6. Application of Linear Programming in the Oil Industry
   Business essay sample: The oil company used quite a huge sum of money to set up its own system. Although it effectively, connects major manufacturing functions in an organization, care must be taken in training.
7. The Development of an Information System to Support Inventory Management
   Business essay sample: This dissertation describes the perceptions and opinions of the development of an information system for inventory management on the example of “Trinidad Energy Supplies & Services Limited”.
8. Information System and Inventory Management Connection
   Business essay sample: This work describes the perceptions & opinions of The Development of an Information system for Inventory Management Study factors affecting their drives & examination.
9. Toyota Company's Lean Manufacturing Project
   Business essay sample: The focus of this paper is on a manufacturing management project that was implemented by Toyota. Today this approach is known as lean manufacturing.
10. Operational Analysis and Effectiveness in Organization
    Business essay sample: The role of operations in the day to day functioning of organizations is very important, especially in the manufacturing sector.
11. Marketing Communications in Building Strong Brand Names
    Business essay sample: The paper investigates the views of different authors in assessing the role played by marketing communication in creating/building and sustaining a strong brand name.
12. Planning and Developing a New Product
    Business essay sample: Planning and development are important preliminary steps that account for a major part of success before the product reaches its market.
13. Toy Company: New Product Development and Branding
    Business essay sample: The business environment is very turbulent hence is quite imperative for all manufacturing industries to have strategies that can enable it gain competitive edge.
14. Marketing Strategy for Husky’s Breakfast Cereal
    Business essay sample: Description of macro environmental factors that impact the marketing of product: economic, natural, cultural, demographic, political and technological issues.
15. Business Plan and How to Build It
    Business essay sample: The purpose of this paper is to help highlight strategies and models suitable for turning the proposed idea into a reality.
16. Country Classics: Production and Operations Management
    Business essay sample: Country Classics, a furniture company with customized and standard furniture offerings is faced with the problem of not being able to cope with orders and also declining profits in its standardized furniture section.
17. Business Plan in the Cultural Industry
    Business essay sample: Cultural industries are today the most thriving businesses offering wide business opportunities that are yet to be exploited. This follows the changing of today’s societies which have transformed to be multicultural.
18. RelaxO Company’s Business Development and Production Plan
    Business essay sample: RelaxO is focused on providing a comfortable resting place for passengers at Indira Gandhi Airport through the use of high-quality boxes built using high-quality materials.

👍 Good Production Planning Essay Examples to Write about

1. Process Design for Riordan Manufacturing
   Business essay sample: The process design for the Riordan manufacturing is useful in knowing the operations advantage and the different processes involved in the manufacturing of electric fans.
2. Al Rawabi Dairy: Company Overview
   Business essay sample: The paper aims to organise a strategic plan for Al Rawabi Dairy farm through getting an overview of this company. It considers the history, mission, and its core business value.
3. Volvo Company's Operations Management
   Business essay sample: The key areas in Volvo that need operation management include management of quality, management of production, cost management social responsibility environment, and logistics.
4. Market Orientation and Productivity Regarding the Organization Strategy
   Business essay sample: To enhance the performance of the firm, choosing the right strategy to pursue in terms of a competitor or market orientation is the best method that an organization can apply.
5. Company ABC: Management Case Study
   Business essay sample: Company ABC is part of a large multi-national American Organization that assembles transmission for the North American Truck market.
6. Critical Reflection: Team Work and Project Management
   Business essay sample: The innovation world has undergone major transformations. This has in turn called fro more calculated measures and approach towards product development management.
7. Food and Beverages at Southwestern University Football Games
   Business essay sample: The president of Southwestern University has noticed the increasing capacity of the stadium, hence forming a strategy to ensure that the number is accommodated.
8. Internal and External Environment of PepsiCo: Company Analysis
   Business essay sample: PepsiCo is a large multinational company which operates across the globe, mostly in the US and other developed nations. Its main products are soda drinks.
9. Samsung Next Business Plan
   Business essay sample: Samsung Next is an outstanding electronics company offering consumers a wide range of entertainment products and services globally.
10. Nissan Motor Company: Building Operational Resiliency
    Business essay sample: The case of Nissan's resilience during a major catastrophe is an outstanding example of a rapid and efficient response to a crisis.
11. Production Management in the Company Jianxi Ventures
    Business essay sample: The Jianxi Ventures company specializes in beauty products ranging from lotions, creams and hair treatment products.
12. Backwell IXL: Company Analysis
    Business essay sample: This report describes the management fundamentals and quality management concepts of Backwell IXL Company regarding its historical background, company structure, strategy, product.
13. Using a Business Plan to Judge the Potential Viability of a Business Opportunity
    Business essay sample: A business plan is often regarded as the basic blueprint of the business opportunity because it actually covers the operation of the entire business.
14. No Risk in Abolishing Budgeting
    Business essay sample: Beyond budgeting has a very simple slogan in its head. That is “abolish budget”. This model claims to have abolished the traditional budgets and budgeting techniques.
15. HAYLO Hair Products Company Analysis
    Business essay sample: The purpose of this paper is to give an analysis of HAYLO Hair Products, Inc and ​established that the new hair product would compete well within the hair care products industry.
16. Consultancy Report on Reconstruction of Olympus Ltd
    Business essay sample: Olympus Product is an electronics company established in the year 1919 with a sole objective of manufacture and sales of electronics and related product.
17. Baric Footwear Limited: New Footwear Product
    Business essay sample: New product launches require that realistic cost and revenue assumptions are made to attract potential investors who will fund the project.
18. Superior Living Incorporation: Evaluation of New Production Plan
    Business essay sample: This report includes the merits and demerits for Superior Living Incorporation about Initial Public Offering and development of new product line.

🎓 Simple Research Paper Examples with Production Planning

1. Toyota Firm's Production and Operations Management
   Business essay sample: This essay covers the ten decision framework of the Toyota company, which demonstrates the diverse areas of its business that calls for strategic engagements.
2. Inventory Control: Factory Floor On-Line Benefit
   Business essay sample: Despite the real challenges, it is clear that the long-term benefits of putting in place online systems on the floor of the factory are immense.
3. Electronic Appliance Marketing
   Business essay sample: It is a fact that our organization Company G is a strong, well-accepted, and respected manufacturer of household electronic appliances.
4. Sports Marketing Affected by Internet of Things
   Business essay sample: This research paper provides a holistic understanding of how the Internet of Things affects sports marketing plans.
5. P&G Corporation: Transport Improvement Plan
   Business essay sample: This paper provides a comprehensive transportation improvement plan for a U.S-based company, Procter and Gamble (P&G).
6. Good Mark Company Limited: Evaluation Management Project
   Business essay sample: Good Mark Industrial Limited has faced various problems and challenges in the past period it has been in operation.
7. Ample Meeting Point: Marketing Planning
   Business essay sample: On the perceptual map on competitive positioning, AMP must set the service offered in the minds of the target customers and differentiate it from the other competitors.
8. Starbucks Coffee Company Planning and Promoting New Service
   Business essay sample: The use of social media marketing, promotional website and advertisement are suitable marketing strategies that the coffee company will utilize.
9. Analysis of Sony Group Corporation
   Business essay sample: The paper analyzes the Sony Group Corporation - one of the leaders in the sphere of consumer and professional electronic products.
10. The Social Network Review: Production Management
    Business essay sample: Innovative technologies, especially social networks, have a significant impact on human life. They have become one of the most important components of modern society.
11. Business: Crop Production Plan
    Business essay sample: An effective irrigation system, fertilizer schedules, harvesting plan, and pest control measures will turn the old and stagnant farm into a profitable business.
12. Planning Tools in Management Accounting
    Business essay sample: There are several types of budgeting, including sales, production, selling and administration, and material, labor, and expenses budgets.
13. Individual Report on Running a Company
    Business essay sample: This report presents a twelve-month business simulation program using SimVenture for the company XYZ which manufactured and sold personal computers.
14. The Pizza Cupcake: Sales Plan
    Business essay sample: Pizza cupcakes are aimed at solving customers' desire for pizza in a comfortable size, fluffy, and cheesy snack that can be taken anytime from anywhere.
15. Finance: Running a XYZ Company
    Business essay sample: This report presents a twelve-month business simulation program. The company was named XYZ, and it provided insights and awareness on how to run a firm.
16. Yum! Brands Inc.'s Strategic Management
    Business essay sample: Yum! Brands, Inc's, mission is the statement of building the world's most loved, fastest, and most trusted growing restaurant brands.
17. The Quick Bites’ Food Truck: Business Plan
    Business essay sample: This report has outlined the planned business venture to open a food truck called Quick Bites in Southwest Florida.
18. “Integrated Production Planning and Control” Study by Cheng & Xiao-Bing
    Business essay sample: “Integrated Production Planning and Control” by Cheng & Xiao-Bing focuses on planning and control methods as they influence the production and business activities of any company.
19. A Digital Business Startup's Critical Evaluation
    Business essay sample: This paper will show a complete vision of the future service, its growth perspectives, benefits, and limitations, as well as alternative options.
20. Business Plan For Luiz’s Home Bakery
    Business essay sample: This paper presents a business plan for a home bakery, a small-scale family business specializing in baked products. It is presented in the form of a case study.