A REVIEW OF HIERARCHICAL PRODUCTION PLANNING AND ITS APPLICABILITY FOR MODERN MANUFACTURING

The hierarchical production planning (HPP) paradigm has become an accepted planning and control strategy for many medium-to-large manufacturing situations. While the paradigm appears intuitively obvious and appropriate for many factories, there are a number of modern manufacturing situations where the application of the HPP approach may not be appropriate. By understanding the fundamental principles and concepts inherent in the HPP approach, it is possible to identify situations suitable for HPP with little or no adaptation, and situations where HPP must be extensively modified before use. A poor understanding of HPP possibly result in the mis-application of the paradigm: (i) totally inappropriate situations; or (ii) insufficient adaptation of the paradigm to the situation. We trace the history of HPP back to the origins of scientific management and discuss the fundamental principles and assumptions - what types of manufacturing situations it is suited for. We then discuss a number of possible adaptations suitable for modem manufacturing.