Master Production Schedule (MPS)
What Is a Master Production Schedule?
A Master Production Schedule (MPS) is a time-phased production plan that specifies which finished goods will be produced, in what quantities, and by which dates over a defined planning horizon. It converts demand forecasts and customer orders into a concrete production commitment that drives downstream activities such as material purchasing, detailed scheduling, and capacity allocation.
The MPS sits at a critical junction in the planning hierarchy. It takes demand signals as inputs and generates purchase orders and work orders as outputs, making it one of the most consequential documents in a manufacturer’s operations.
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Understanding the MPS
The MPS must continuously balance two competing pressures:
- Demand-side responsiveness
- Supply-side feasibility
A strong MPS is:
- Stable: Procurement, production, and logistics can plan around it with confidence.
- Flexible: It can absorb reasonable demand changes within the planning horizon without causing expediting, overtime spikes, or frequent schedule changes.
Instability in the MPS (frequent changes to quantities or timing) is a leading cause of procurement inefficiency, excess inventory, and poor supplier performance.
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Core Components of an MPS
- Planning horizon
- Time buckets
- Demand input
- Confirmed customer orders
- Sales forecasts and promotions
- Service-level commitments (e.g., target fill rates, safety stock policies)
- On-hand and in-process inventory
- Production quantities
- Available to Promise (ATP)
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MPS in Practice
Example scenario:
A food and beverage manufacturer produces 40 finished SKUs across three production lines. Their MPS process looks like this:
- Frequency: MPS is built weekly.
- Horizon: The plan looks 12 weeks ahead.
