Production Program

in a socialist economy, a target for the production and sale of a certain quantity of output of an established production list and assortment; the key section of the state plan for the development of the national economy or of the plan for a sector or enterprise (association).

The elaboration of a production program is based on a knowledge of the requirements of the national economy and the population for products. The necessary proportions between the sectors of material production are taken into account, as are the interregional ties stemming from the location of material production. In planning production programs the balance method is used, making it possible to arrive at a correspondence between the volume of production of output and national economic demand and to check on the availability of production capacity, materials, fuel and energy, and labor resources for the targets designated in the production program.

In the USSR the basic form of planning a production program is the five-year plan, with a breakdown of targets by years. The production program for a five-year plan is elaborated according to a consolidated products list, which is adjusted in the annual plan. In the national economic plans of the USSR and the Union republics, the production program of industry defines the volume and growth rates of output, subdivided for group A (the production of the means of production) and group B (the production of consumer goods), and includes an enumeration of the most important goods (in physical units) in the various sectors. The basic index of the production program in the national economic plan is the gross output. The production program of a sector defines the volume of output and the list of products to be manufactured and sold.

The five-year and annual plans of enterprises (associations) for the volume of the production of output and sales are elaborated on the basis of the state targets. The enterprises independently plan the complete production list and the volume of output in conformity with state targets, as well as targets adopted as a result of direct links with customers or with marketing and trading organizations. The full product assortment—that is, the enumeration of names, types, articles, sizes, styles, and designs—is established in the contracts between suppliers and customers. The indexes of the production program of an enterprise (association) or sector include the gross output, the commodity output, and the output sold, or marketed output (seeGROSS OUTPUT OF INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISE; GROSS OUTPUT OF INDUSTRY). The volume of the marketed output and the most important production list are ratified indexes, established by superior bodies. Gross output and commodity output are calculated indexes determined by the enterprise and are used as the basis for the ratified indexes. In a number of industrial sectors, net output is used on an experimental basis instead of the marketed output, to gauge the production program. The annual production program of an enterprise is divided into planning periods and broken down by workshop, production section, and work area.