Towards smart production planning and control; a conceptual framework linking planning environment characteristics with the need for smart production planning and control

Rapid advances in Industry 4.0 have the potential to transform production planning and control (PPC) through the emerging concept of smart PPC. This paper provides a visionary perspective by addressing the gap in research on how the characteristics of a company's planning environment impact on the need for, and potential benefit of, smart PPC. The paper posits that the potential of smart PPC to improve PPC performance increases with the complexity of the planning environment. A set of propositions is developed for how 12 product, market, and process variables impact on the need for smart PPC. These are operationalized into a conceptual framework that can be used as a tool by practitioners and academics to assess a company's need for smart PPC. A case study from the food sector illustrates the applicability of the framework and describes three potential applications for how four elements of smart PPC (real-time data management, dynamic production planning and re-planning, autonomous production control, and continuous learning) can be used to address key PPC challenges and open new opportunities for improving PPC. Future research should strengthen the validity and applicability of the proposed framework through additional cases across industrial sectors and carry out case studies, surveys, and structural equation modeling to investigate the specific relationship between planning environment characteristics, smart technologies, and the elements of smart PPC.