Manufacturing Process Planning
Manufacturing process planning is the translation of a product's engineering definition into how it will be made: the sequence of operations, the work centers and machines assigned to each, the tooling, fixtures and materials consumed, the work instructions and the quality checkpoints. Its outputs are the manufacturing BOM and the routing, which ERP schedules against and MES executes.
In context
An engineering BOM lists a pump's motor, impeller, housing and seals grouped by function. The process plan regroups them into a manufacturing BOM by assembly sequence, adds a routing of twelve operations across three work centers with a leak test after operation eight, and generates the operator work instructions. ERP creates work orders against that routing; MES executes it and records which seal lot went into which serial number.
Why it matters
Process planning is the step between design intent in PLM and execution in MES, and the gap where most enterprise PLM deployments leak into spreadsheets. When it is linked to the engineering change process, a design change reaches the shop floor as a governed update. When it is not, two BOMs drift apart and nobody knows which version shipped.
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External References
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Cite this definition
Finocchiaro, Michael. “Manufacturing Process Planning.” DemystifyingPLM PLM Glossary, 2026, https://www.demystifyingplm.com/glossary/manufacturing-process-planning