The focus of operations planning and control for manufacturing firms has expanded successively over the last 50 years. New principles, techniques, and systems have emerged that have allowed for new approaches. The perspective for planning and control has expanded from internal production operations to supply chain operations linking suppliers, manufacturers, and customers. In this paper, we take a historical perspective identifying the key trends and focus shifts in the evolution of planning and control, from shop floor control through material requirements planning (MRP), master production scheduling (MPS), and sales and operations planning (S&OP) to supply chain planning (SCP).Keywords: manufacturing; master production scheduling; material requirements planning; operations management; production activity control; sales and operations planning; shop floor control; supply chain planning
IntroductionManufacturing firms have always sought ways to improve their competitiveness. During the first half of the twentieth century, internal manufacturing efficiency on the shop floor was largely sufficient for successful operations. However with increasing competition, companies have been forced to find new ways to improve their operations and to look beyond the walls of the factory. Today, firms need to be competitive in many areas, such as quality, delivery, cost efficiency, and flexibility, and must therefore plan and control their operations accordingly. The planning and control task has become more complex -lead times are shorter, product life cycles are shorter, bottlenecks must be utilised more efficiently, etc.There are many contributing factors to the evolution of operations planning and control. Over the last 50 years we have witnessed how new concepts and approaches have emerged and been implemented in manufacturing firms, some more successfully than others. The developments in information and communication technologies (ICT) have facilitated the gradual improvement of computer-based systems for operations planning and control. Rondeau and Litteral (2001) and Jacobs and Weston (2007) provide historical perspectives focusing on the software systems for manufacturing planning and control, discussing reorder point (ROP) systems, material requirements planning (MRP) systems, manufacturing resource planning (MRP II) systems, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. However, neither sales and operations planning (S&OP) nor supply chains are discussed in these two reviews. Here, we provide an updated and broader perspective on the evolution of operations planning and control.In this paper, we take a historical perspective and review the evolution of operations planning control over the last 50 years. This time period can be, in principle, divided into five decades with different characteristics. We first review each decade and then discuss the evolutionary pattern over the last 50 years with respect to planning and control focus, planning concepts, systems design, and improvement focus. In particular, we highlig...