Patent ID: 7319911

Claim:
A production control apparatus adapted to receive a plurality of requested specifications for a target product, divide a manufacturing process of the target product into a plurality of sub-processes, and generate a production plan table for each sub-process, the production control apparatus comprising: a storage unit configured to store unit variation identifiers each assigned to one of a plurality of unit variations for a unit to be assembled in at least one of the plurality of sub-processes and further storing a components list that lists component identifiers of one or more components of each of a plurality of component types used for manufacturing the unit variations identified by the unit variation identifiers, wherein the plurality of unit variations are defined based on the plurality of requested specifications, and wherein the components list is stored in the storage unit in such a way that the component list is associated with the unit variation identifiers; and a plan table generating unit configured to generate a combination table that lists combinations of the component identifiers and further generating a production plan table for each sub-process based on the combination table.