Production Control

Production control is an inevitable consequence of the need for production planning. Any plan must incorporate certain controls to ensure that targets are achieved. In particular, there must be provision for managers to be informed of, and to investigate, unexpected variances from the plan. In a large organisation a wide range of production controls will exist as shown below:

Progress Control, which is the control of production programmes and schedules in order to ensure that planned output is attained.

Cost Control, which is the control of a whole series of budgets, including such aspects as material cost control and labour cost control, in order to ensure that the original budget for costs of production is observed.

Quality Control, which is the control of the quality or standard of the product. This is closely allied to, and indeed will often be the responsibility of the inspection department.

Machine Utilisation Control, which is the control of machine loading, in order to ensure that the ‘load’ is related to machine capacity.

Stock (inventory) Control, which is the control of stocks and stores, in order to ensure that supplies are available as required and that their availability will not, therefore, interrupt production schedules.

Computer Control, which is the control of some operation which is entirely automatic. It differs fundamentally from the other controls in that, whereas, they involve taking corrective action in response to a detected deviation from target, usually some time after the deviation has been detected,computer control involves an immediate and automatic adjustment to maintain the required target. In other words, control is ‘in-built’ and there is no separate control process.

Production control is -part of the ACCA syllabus and is covered by the e-books of tony.surridge.co.uk

We recommend the tony.surridge.co.uk ACCA e-books which cover exam text, diagnostic questions and answers, mnemonics and charts in selected subjects. These provide important support for students studying the ACCA syllabus.