ABSTRACT
Once the production plan is done, the next step in the manufacturing planning and control system is to prepare a master production schedule (MPS). An MPS is an extremely important planning tool and is a vital link in the production planning system. It forms the basis for communication between sales and manufacturing. It also forms the link between production planning and what manufacturing will actually build, as well as the basis for determining capacity and the resources requirements. The MPS also drives the material requirements plan (MRP) by becoming the input to the material requirements planning process, which also takes the bills of material as input to determine when and how many of what components will be required from manufacturing and purchasing in order to meet the scheduled assembly of end items.
