Production Information Systems

Production planning is fundamentally an information problem: deciding what to make, when, and with what materials only works if data flows cleanly between forecasting, inventory, the shop floor, and suppliers. You'll work through the classic MRP/MPS calculations, lot-sizing and capacity decisions, and compare how push systems (ERP, MRP) and pull systems (JIT, Kanban, TOC) coordinate the same factory differently, mostly through written problem sets and two essay-style midterms plus a final. It sits on top of your earlier IE stochastic and optimization courses and feeds directly into operations, supply chain, and systems-design electives — basically the bridge between abstract OR models and how a real plant actually runs.