What is production control?
Missing parts, late deliveries and rising scrap rates? When production control doesn't take hold, deadlines, quality and costs quickly spiral out of control — modern PPS and ERP solutions create transparency, stability and speed in manufacturing. But what exactly is production control, and how does it prevent operational frictions in the day-to-day production?
What is Production Control? Definition / Explanation
Production control deals with the implementation of the previously planned manufacturing program by releasing orders, scheduling them in detail, allocating resources, and monitoring and correcting processes in real time.
In the definition it is described as a sub-area of the production planning and control (PPS), which bridges planning to execution and continuously intervenes through target-vs-actual comparisons in the control loop. Core elements are order release, sequencing and machine assignment, scheduling and capacity matching, material disposition, and production data capture for ongoing control.
Objectives of Production Control
- ✅ Higher on-time delivery reliability through stable sequencing, capacity balancing and on-time order releases.
- ✅ Cost reduction through reduced lead times, less WIP/inventories as well as shorter setup and waiting times.
- ✅ Quality assurance through early deviation detection and initiated corrective actions in the control loop.
- ✅ Flexibility and responsiveness to disruptions, demand fluctuations or rush orders.
- ✅ Transparency about progress, bottlenecks and capacity utilization through production data capture/MES.
Core Tasks of Production Control
- Order Release: Decision of when which manufacturing orders are loaded into the system, depending on material and capacity availability.
- Sequencing & Machine Allocation: Priority rules and heuristics control the optimal sequence at bottleneck resources and work centers.
- Detailed Scheduling: Detailed time planning down to operation level, including buffers, setup and transport times.
- Capacity Planning: Balancing demand and available personnel/machine capacities with short-cycle alignment.
- Material Disposition: Secondary demand, lot sizes, inventory management and availability checks for smooth material flow.
- Production Data Capture/Monitoring: Ongoing actual data for progress, quality, disruptions and OEE as the basis for target-vs-actual comparisons.
- Escalation & Disruption Management: ⚠️ Quick countermeasures for outages, defective parts, quality deviations and schedule risks.
Production Planning vs. Production Control
| Aspect | Production Planning | Production Control |
|---|---|---|
| Aspect Time Horizon | Production Planning Medium-/long-term (program, rough planning) | Production Control Short-term/operational (daily/shifts) |
| Aspect Focus | Production Planning What, how much, when in principle | Production Control How concrete, in what sequence, on which resource |
| Aspect Typical Steps | Production Planning Primary/secondary demand, lot sizes, dates/capacities | Production Control Order release, detailed scheduling, monitoring, interventions |
| Aspect Data Basis | Production Planning Master data, forecasts, planning guidelines | Production Control Real-time actual data, BDE/MES feedback |
Together, these two components make up the PPS-System, with production control serving as the closed-loop control process for handling deviations and implementing short-term optimizations.
Methods and Concepts
- Priority Rules: e.g., FIFO, SPT, EDD, CR for sequencing decisions at work centers.
- Kanban/JIT: Pull-controlled replenishment signals reduce inventories and lead times in repetitive manufacturing.
- Control Room/Detailed Planning: Visual planning boards and heuristics for short-term re-planning during disruptions.
- Capacity-Oriented Requirements Determination: Time and capacity balancing in short cycles to relieve bottlenecks.
- MES/BDE: Recording runtimes, downtime, quality and order progress for real-time control.
- Control Loop Principle: Continuous target-vs-actual comparison and feedback into planning and control room.
Key Figures in Production Control
- Delivery reliability/OTD and due-date adherence per order/line as central service KPIs.
- Throughput time, WIP and inventories as time- and capital-commitment drivers.
- OEE, availability, performance, quality from MES/BDE for root-cause analysis.
- Scrap/rework rate for quality and cost control.
- Plan-vs-Actual deviations in quantity, time, and quality as triggers for countermeasures.
PPS and ERP: Software Building Blocks
PPS includes master data, Bills of Materials, work plans, material requirements, scheduling/capacity planning, order release as well as control-room/detailed planning and forms the heart of operational control.
In ERP systems these functions are linked with purchasing, warehousing, sales and service, speeding up data flows and making decisions more informed. Modern systems complement MES functions for real-time data, which significantly increases transparency and responsiveness.
The Closed Control Loop
The control continually compares planned targets with real-time data from production, detects deviations and triggers corrections such as re-planning, priority changes or capacity shifts.
The feedback not only improves current execution but also flows as a learning effect into forecasts, master data quality and planning parameters.
Production Control with Abas ERP
Abas ERP addresses the needs of medium-sized manufacturing companies with functions for PPS, detailed planning/control room, material disposition, machine allocation, and order-specific variant and lot-size logic.
Particularly for SMEs and manufacturing, master data (BOMs, work plans, production lists), capacity and scheduling, order release and production control with real-time transparency are the focus. Cloud options and industry-ready planning methods support make-to-order, variant production, extended workbench/contract manufacturing, as well as in/outflow control in dynamic environments.
- ✅ PPS/Detailed Planning: Control room, prioritization, machine allocation, and short-term re-planning.
- ✅ Disposition/Inventory: Secondary demand, lot sizes, availabilities and material flow.
- ✅ BDE/MES Integration: Automated data capture for transparency on performance and quality.
- ⚠️ Note: Focus on concrete production-control functions without empty marketing buzzwords – practical for the middle market.
Abas ERP Product Brochure
Would you like to see what the Abas ERP software looks like and discover the features it offers?
Our product brochure provides a detailed overview of all ERP functionalities. From materials management and production planning to project management, every key area is covered and explained in depth.
What is the difference between production planning and production control?
Planning defines the program, quantities, demand, and rough schedules; control implements it operationally, paces the sequences, balances capacities, and intervenes in case of deviations.
Which sequencing methods are commonly used?
Commonly used are EDD, SPT, CR and FIFO – depending on bottleneck and scheduling situation.
Why are BDE/MES data so important?
You provide the actual basis for the plan-actual comparison and enable timely countermeasures as well as well-founded replanning.
Who stands to benefit from a powerful PPS?
Especially for mid-sized manufacturers with variants, short lead times, high quality requirements, and fluctuating capacity levels.
What role does an ERP system play?
It links PPS with purchasing, warehousing, sales, and service, thereby better coordinating material flow, schedules and decisions.