What is production control, and how does routing improve operations?

"Every company needs to have systems in place to see that production and operations are carried out as planned and to correct errors when they are not. The coordination of materials, equipment, and human resources to achieve production and operating efficiencies is called production control. Two of its key aspects are routing and scheduling. Routing is the first step in production control. It sets out a work flow, the sequence of machines and operations through which a product or service progresses from start to finish. Routing depends on the type of goods being produced and the facility layout. Good routing procedures increase productivity and cut unnecessary costs. One useful tool for routing is value-stream mapping, whereby production managers “map” the flow from suppliers through the factory to customers. Simple icons represent the materials and information needed at various points in the flow. Value-stream mapping can help identify where bottlenecks may occur in the production process and is a valuable tool for visualizing how to improve production routing. Awning manufacturer Rader Awning & Upholstery used value-stream mapping to automate some of its operations. With the assistance of New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), the company evaluated how orders were processed from sales to manufacturing over two days. With the implementation of the processes suggested by MEP, productivity improved by 20 percent per salesperson, production defects decreased by 15 percent, and installation corrections dropped by 25 percent."