What is a daily production plan vs actual report?
It is a one-page daily report that lists, for each machine and shift, what was planned, what was actually made, how much was rejected and how many minutes were lost. Each shortfall carries one reason code. The production head reads it every morning and acts on the gaps.
Most owners know their monthly output. Very few know, by tomorrow morning, which machine fell short yesterday and why. By the time the month ends, the reasons are forgotten and the delivery is already late.
A plan is only a forecast. The shop floor is the truth. This report puts the two side by side, every day.
Why a plan without an actual does not help
Many plants have a plan on a whiteboard or in Excel. It is made with care, and then nobody checks it. Three things follow.
- The same shortfall repeats, because nobody sees a pattern.
- Supervisors say "the plan was wrong" or "material was late", and nobody can prove it either way.
- The plan gets changed after the shift so that it looks good.
When actuals are recorded against the plan with a reason, these arguments stop. The facts are on paper.
What the report contains
For every machine and every shift, one line with these columns.
| Column | Filled by | When |
|---|---|---|
| Work order and item | Planner | Before the shift |
| Planned quantity (and planned standard hours) | Planner | Before the shift |
| Actual quantity made | Supervisor | End of the same shift |
| Rejected quantity | Supervisor | End of the same shift |
| Minutes lost, with a reason code | Supervisor | End of the same shift |
The planner also keeps two simple master lists: a standard time for each part on each machine, and the working hours of each machine. These are small lists, but the report cannot work without them.
Measure in standard hours, not in pieces
Suppose a machine is planned to make 40 large parts, and another is planned to make 400 small ones. If you count pieces, the second machine always looks "more productive". That is unfair and misleading.
So convert each job to standard hours: quantity made × standard time per piece. Plan adherence is then:
Plan adherence % = standard hours achieved ÷ standard hours planned × 100
Example only: a machine is planned for 7 standard hours and achieves 6.3 standard hours. Plan adherence is 90%.
Give every shortfall one reason code
A note like "machine problem" or "waiting" cannot be counted, and so it cannot be fixed. Use a short list of reason codes, grouped under a few heads such as set-up and tooling, breakdown, material, manpower, quality waiting and no order.
One shortfall, one code. After a month, the codes tell you which head is biggest. The head also tells you who owns the fix. Material belongs to stores and purchase, breakdowns to maintenance, set-up to production.
Keep "no order for this machine" as a separate code. That is not a machine loss. It is a question for sales and planning.
The morning review: ten minutes, every day
The report is read at the structured daily meeting, not mailed to people. The production head asks three questions for each shortfall.
- What was planned, and what was made?
- What was the reason code?
- What will we do today, and who owns it?
If a promised date is now at risk, reschedule the same morning and tell sales the same day. Do not wait until the day before dispatch. A customer forgives an early warning much more easily than a late surprise.
A plan tells you what you hoped for. Plan vs actual tells you what really happened, and why.
Common mistakes
- Filling the actuals from memory the next day. Small stops vanish and the numbers become guesses. Fill it in the same shift.
- Free-text reasons. Words like "problem" cannot be sorted. Use codes from the first day.
- Counting pieces only. Use standard hours so that big and small jobs count fairly.
- No review. If the report is not read each morning, supervisors stop filling it carefully.
- Editing the plan afterwards. Lock the plan once the shift starts.
How to start in your plant
- Pick your bottleneck machine. Start with that one only.
- List a standard time for each part that runs on it, even if the first times are rough.
- Make a one-page sheet with the five columns above and a list of reason codes.
- Let the supervisor fill it in for one month. Do not set targets yet.
- Review it every morning for ten minutes. After a month, read the totals by reason code.
- Then add the next machine.
Fix the input, not the output. If the entries are wrong in the first month, correct the way they are filled before you judge the numbers.
Key points
- Plan vs actual compares what was planned with what was made, machine by machine, every day.
- Measure adherence in standard hours so that all jobs count fairly.
- Every shortfall needs one reason code, so patterns can be seen and owners named.
- Fill the actuals in the same shift and review them at the morning meeting.
- Start with the bottleneck machine and add others later.
