Strategic Planning

• According to a University of Pennsylvania study, a critique of 28 studies concluded that strategic planning is a valuable process for manufacturing firms. In such a process, an organization defines its overall directions and decides how to allocate resources such as people and money. One strategic decision a manufacturing company could make is if it should build a new manufacturing plant overseas or simply expand its current facility.
  
  

Capacity Planning

• The capacity planning process involves a company deciding what products it will produce and the required production capacity to create that product. Capacity is the amount of product that can be produced within a set time frame. Before capacity is planned, sales projections for each product that might be produced are made and then available capacity is reviewed based on those projections.
  
  

Process Planning

• Process planning determines how a product will be produced. The primary elements in a process plan include the end product that will be produced, the raw materials used to produce it, the step-by-step approach to manufacture the product and any special resources required to support the process. Such resources could include special equipment and people with specialized skills. After a preliminary process diagram is prepared, each step should be reviewed to ensure the step is necessary and to determine if the process can be done in another way to save money and improve processing speed.
  
  

Contingency Planning

• Contingency planning lists all potential events that can disrupt a manufacturer’s ability to continue to produce at full capacity. It involves looking at the events and developing alternate plans to eliminate or reduce the impact of the potential events. Such events could include an earthquake, flood, fire, labor strike or electrical outage.
  
  One example of a contingency plan is determining what actions to take if a company’s manufacturing facility was destroyed. A contingency plan could involve a backup arrangement made with another manufacturer with added capacity to assume the production of the company that experienced the problem.
  
  

Marketing Plan

• For many manufacturing companies, an integral part of their planning process is the development of a marketing plan. A marketing plan includes marketing objectives and a detailed plan for how those objectives are achieved. The plan would include such topics as what geographic areas and markets will be targeted, product pricing and advertising plans.