Production Plan
You’ll find this under Manufacturing → Production Plan.
A production plan brings demand from several orders into one place before work is released to the factory. It lets the planner check available stock and create the required manufacturing and purchasing documents together.
The plan shows what needs to be produced, what can be supplied from stock, and what still needs to be made or purchased.
A production plan does not move stock. It prepares the demand and creates the documents that will do the work later: work orders, job cards, purchase requests, and subcontracting orders.
When a plan is useful
A production plan is useful when several orders need the same materials or machines, an item has sub-assemblies made in-house, or purchasing needs one shortage list. For a small one-off run, it may be quicker to create a work order directly.
Before you begin
Check these first. Most problems in a plan begin in one of these records.
- The finished items have active, submitted BOMs.
- Sub-assemblies have their own BOMs if you intend to make them in-house.
- Current stock balances and item units are correct.
- Workstation types, operation times, and capacities are realistic if you will use Capacity Planning.
Creating a production plan
Start a new plan
Open Manufacturing → Production Plan, select New, and give the plan a recognisable name. A name such as “September Retail Orders, Week 2” will be more useful later than “Plan 4”. Set the posting date and add a short description when the plan covers a special campaign or deadline.
Bring in the demand
Select Get Items to choose sales orders. ERPX brings eligible lines into Items to Manufacture. You can also add an item manually when the run is for replenishment rather than a customer order.
Review the finished items
For each line, confirm the BOM, planned quantity, stock quantity to use, order quantity, and tolerance. The imported sales-order quantity is a starting point. Adjust it for practical batch sizes and confirm how much available stock should be used.
Load the sub-assemblies
Open Sub Assembly Items and select Get Sub Assemblies. ERPX expands the BOMs and shows the intermediate items needed by the finished goods. Choose whether each one will be made In House or Subcontracted, and review the stock utilisation before accepting the order quantity.
Calculate the raw material requirement
Open Material Request Items and select Get Raw Materials. This is the consolidated shortage after the BOM requirements and available stock have been considered. Review it before creating any purchase request; a wrong stock quantity here becomes unnecessary buying later.
Save the draft
Create the plan and read it once in view mode. The summary should agree with the sales orders, and every item to manufacture should have the BOM you expected.
Approve when the demand is settled
Approval makes the plan actionable. Once approved, use Create to generate work orders, job cards, purchase requests, or subcontracting orders from the plan.
What each tab is for
| Tab | What to check |
|---|---|
| Details | Plan name, posting date, description, accounting dimensions, and the overall quantity summary |
| Sales Orders | Which customer orders supplied the demand |
| Items to Manufacture | Finished items, BOMs, planned quantity, stock utilisation, quantity ordered, quantity produced, and what remains |
| Sub Assembly Items | Intermediate items, BOM level, stock used, order quantity, tolerance, and in-house or subcontracted method |
| Material Request Items | Raw material required, stock used, quantity requested, and quantity received |
| Work Orders | Manufacturing work created from this plan and its progress |
| Subcontracting Orders | Outsourced work created from this plan |
| Print Cards | Printable plan cards for floor use |
| Cost Breakdown | Planned cost and linked manufacturing cost; visible to manufacturing administrators |
If a quantity looks unexpected, open the Material Explosion View under the manufactured item. It shows the raw materials and operations behind that line so you can trace how ERPX calculated the total.
Planning options
| Option | Use it when |
|---|---|
| Include Non-Stock Items | A BOM contains services or other non-stock lines that still belong in the requirement |
| Include Subcontracted Items | Outsourced sub-assemblies should remain visible in the plan |
| Consider Minimum Order Qty | Purchasing or production should respect the item’s minimum lot size |
These switches change the requirement. If two planners get different numbers from the same sales orders, compare these settings before checking the BOMs.
Status and actions
| Status | What it means | Typical next action |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Still being prepared | Edit, approve, or cancel |
| Approved | Demand is confirmed | Create the required documents |
| Material Requested | At least one purchase request has been created | Follow purchasing and begin available work |
| In Process | Linked manufacturing work has started | Monitor work orders and the schedule |
| Closed | Planning work is finished and archived | Reopen only when more planning work is required |
| Cancelled | The plan was withdrawn | No further production should be created from it |
Closing a plan does not cancel its work orders or purchase requests. It closes the planning record; linked documents keep their own status and must be managed where they were created.
Scheduling from the plan
Once work orders and job cards exist, Edit Schedule lets you adjust their planned dates in bulk. If you need to see whether the dates are actually possible across all machines, use Capacity Planning. The production plan says what you intend to make; capacity planning tests when the factory can make it.
Choose the PDF that suits the people who will use it:
- Production Plan PDF gives the overall plan and quantities.
- Planned Schedule PDF records the dates you set.
- Expected Schedule PDF reflects the calculated production timing.
- Cost Breakdown PDF is the commercial view and should be shared only with users who are meant to see rates and costs.
Common problems
| What you see | Likely reason | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A sales-order item was not imported | It has no submitted BOM or is not a manufacturing item | Check the item and BOM, then run Get Items again |
| Get Items says there are no new items | Every eligible line is already in the plan | Review the existing Items to Manufacture tab |
| Sub-assemblies are missing | They have not been loaded, or the parent BOM does not mark them as BOM items | Check the parent BOM and use Get Sub Assemblies |
| Raw material looks too high | Stock utilisation is zero, safety stock is included, or the BOM quantity is wrong | Check the plan options, stock, and BOM batch quantity |
| Raw material looks too low | Non-stock or subcontracted items were excluded, or stock was overstated | Review the inclusion switches and stock quantity |
| Work order cannot be created | The plan is still Draft, the BOM is unavailable, or the line has no remaining order quantity | Approve the plan and review the affected item |
| A purchase request already exists for part of a line | The Requested Qty column records earlier requests | Create only the remaining shortage |
Final check
Before approving, check one finished item all the way through. Compare the sales quantity, available finished stock, sub-assemblies, raw materials, and selected BOM. This usually catches unit and batch-size mistakes before they affect every line in the plan.
Related pages
- Bill of Materials: where the requirements come from
- Work Orders: carrying out the plan
- Shop-floor Setup: machines, operations, and standard times
- Capacity Planning: testing the schedule against available hours
- Subcontracting: outsourced items in the plan