Industry dynamics; Porters Model; bases for competition and implications for Production Planning and Control. Dynamics of materials flow; role of inventory; effect of bottlenecks and process variability on materials flow. Planning levels and timescales; forecasting; aggregate planning; the Master Production Schedule. Manufacturing Resources planning and its limitations. Optimized Production Technology and synchronized manufacturing; Just in Time production; Kan Ban systems; mixed model production; evolution towards JIT. Maintenance management; preventive and predictive maintenance; Total Productive Maintenance. Role of Information Technology in Production Planning and Control; decision support and expert systems as applied to planning and scheduling.