Overview

The master production schedule (MPS) is an anticipated build schedule for end products or product options which extends into the future for at least as long as the cumulative lead time of the products contained in the build plan. It is a statement of production rather than a statement of demand, i.e. although it may include forecasts for determining the MPS, the MPS actually differs from the forecast. The MPS takes into account planning requirements capacity limitations and the desire to utilize capacity effectively. To achieve this, items may have to be built before they are needed for sale.

The MPS is the 'best' disaggregated top-level production plan that drives the dependent demands on the materials requirement planning (MRP) system. It provides a matrix of what production should make in order to satisfy demand responsively, but also does so in a way that will optimize the utilization of resources. The MPS matrix must understand what capacity is available to produce the goods against how much demand is required, and when.

The MPS is the company's game plan, a strategized game plan, which forms the basis for determining manufacturing, and sales budgets. The formulation of the MPS considers bottlenecks within the production flow potential capacity issues demand requirements and timings. With this information decisions about order promising and trade-offs between what manufacturing can do and what marketing would like to do can be agreed.

The MPS Record

Table 9.1 is an example of a time-phased MPSrecord. The forecast...