Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) Practice Exam

Under production activity control's functions, which of these headings is concerned with ensuring resource availability?

1. Control

2. Plan

3. Execute

4. Review

The correct answer is: Plan

The correct choice focuses on the planning function, which is critical in production activity control. The planning phase involves determining what resources—such as materials, equipment, and labor—are needed to meet production schedules and demand forecasts. This stage ensures that all required inputs are identified and arranged before the production process begins. In the context of resource availability, planning includes forecasting demand, scheduling production runs, and allocating resources accordingly to ensure that they will be available when needed. This proactive approach helps avoid delays and bottlenecks during the execution of production activities, leading to more efficient operations. While control, execute, and review functions are also essential parts of production activity, they primarily focus on monitoring ongoing activities, implementing the production plan, and assessing performance respectively. However, they do not specifically address the preliminary step of ensuring that all necessary resources are ready and available before production commences, which is the central concern of planning.