Qualifications for material controllers

Every company in the manufacturing industry has a position that is indispensable, that is, production planner (Production Planner). The person responsible for production planning is called production manager, or production management engineer, production management planner, commonly known as Production Control (PC); the person responsible for material planning is called Material Manager, or commonly known as Material Control (MC). Some companies follow the name in Taiwan and are called Material Manager (Manager).

No matter what his/her name is, his/her main responsibility is to plan and schedule production and materials. This is a very hard job, and we have to face many problems and challenges every day, such as customer requests to insert orders, early delivery, changes in order quantity, machine failure and shutdown, delayed delivery from suppliers, poor quality of purchased goods... .

However, the company still has to ship goods to customers as scheduled, not only to maintain the efficiency and normal operation of the production line, but also to maintain very low inventory levels. He/she is the soul and nerve center of the manufacturing plant. Faced with many possible emergencies every day, he/she has to make many decisions every day, but generally speaking, they should not deviate from three basic issues:

1. To produce Or purchase something?

2. How much to produce or purchase?

3. When will a production or purchase order be issued? When should the order be completed?

None of these three questions are easy to answer.

It is not easy to play the role of a successful production manager and materials manager. He/she must have a good understanding of the company's products and production steps, as well as the characteristics and uses of materials, and must always control the production progress and the status of materials. Only in this way can we plan and control production and materials. In addition to professional skills and knowledge, what qualities does he/she need to possess?

The American Production and Inventory Management Society (APICS) lists ten qualities that a production planner (Production Planner) should have, which are explained one by one below.

1. Good numerical concepts: Since production and material planning and control deal with quantities, for example: What is the order quantity for production or purchasing? Which item (material number)? How much is the inventory worth? On which day (and when) should the order be completed? Moreover, the numbers are changing at any time. If you lack the concept of numbers, you will find it difficult to do it and it will be difficult to get things done well. Whether one has a good sense of numbers or not is mostly a matter of one's nature, and acquired efforts and changes are limited. This is why people who hold this position must first understand their own characteristics.

2. Understand the hidden meaning of numbers: Although numbers provide some information, what do they indicate? For example: Is inventory too high or too low? Can the plan be achieved as scheduled? Is the production efficiency as expected? Has the on-schedule delivery rate for customers improved? These all need to be discussed or explained by production management or material management personnel. Therefore, it is helpful to have a deeper understanding of the meaning behind the numbers.

3. Remain calm under pressure: As production management/material management personnel face rapidly changing conditions, many originally unexpected problems will occur, and many things cannot be carried out according to the original plan, such as : Suppliers delay delivery, inventory accounts are inaccurate causing shortages, etc. Under such pressure, production management/material management personnel must remain calm in order to make better alternatives and avoid the impact of unexpected impacts. The negative effects will be minimized. If the production management/material management personnel are panicked, the people in the production and related departments will be panicked and at a loss.

The article comes from: ♂Zhimei Production Management Network♀-www.zmay.cn Article address: /PlantSupervision/c5/627.html